Solar Fox
Solar Fox Cartridge
Atari 2600 cartridge
Developer(s)Bally/Midway
Publisher(s)CBS Electronics
Commodore
Programmer(s)Atari 2600
Bob Curtiss[1]
Commodore 64
Judy Braddick[1]
Platform(s)Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore 64
Release1981: Arcade
1983: Atari 2600, C64
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player, two-player alternating

Solar Fox is an arcade game released in 1981 by Bally/Midway. It was ported to the Atari 2600 console and was also released as a Commodore-published cartridge for the Commodore 64 computer in 1983.[2]

Gameplay

Arcade screenshot

The player's task is to pilot a starship through a series of squared solar cell matrixes inside a rack. While capturing the cells the player must dodge waves of fireballs that are being thrown by Sentinels. These Sentinels move continuously along the perimeter of each cell formation. When an entire field of squares is completed (by flying through each square), the game advances to the next rack. The faster a matrix is cleared, the more points are received. [3]

There are 26 solar cell matrix shapes. Every fifth matrix is a Challenge rack. During challenge racks there are no fireballs; the goal is to clear the entire field before the time runs out. Completing each Challenge round awards a letter, to form the mystery word Helios.[4]

Port

The game would later be released on the Atari 2600 console and was also developed as a Commodore-published cartridge for the Commodore 64 computer in 1983.[2]

An Atari 5200 port program written by Van Tran (of Wabbit fame) was completed but never released.[5]

Tie-in

A comic book ad was released in 1983 to support the story of the game.[6]

Reception

The reception of the game was probably good as there was an Atari port.

References

  1. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. 1 2 Solar Fox at Lemon 64
  3. ↑ AtariAge Solar Fox Info
  4. ↑ 2600 Connection Solar Fox Info Archived 2013-02-24 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Bunch, Kevin; Willaert, Kate (May 13, 2022). "Pioneer Rediscovered: The Woman Who Brought Female Representation To Games: The year-long search for Van Mai comes to a happy conclusion". GameHistory. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  6. ↑ Solar Fox Comics
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