''Desert Falcon'' is a

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

developed by

General Computer Corporation General Computer Corporation (GCC), later GCC Technologies, was an American hardware and software company formed in 1981 by Doug Macrae, John Tylko, and Kevin Curran. The company began as a video game developer and created the arcade games ''Ms. ...

for the

Atari 7800 The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one o ...

and

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

and published by

Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of computers and video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than two months later when WarnerMedia, Warn ...

in 1987. It was initially announced in 1984 as one of the planned launch titles for the 7800. A cartridge version for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

, with

XEGS The Atari XE Video Game System (Atari XEGS) is an industrial redesign of the Atari 65XE home computer and the final model in the Atari 8-bit family. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1987 and marketed as a home video game console alongsid ...

-styled packaging, followed in 1988. Designed by Bob Polaro, ''Desert Falcon'' is loosely based on ancient Egyptian mythology. The diagonally-scrolling

isometric graphics Isometric video game graphics are graphics employed in video games and pixel art that use a parallel projection, but which angle the viewpoint to reveal facets of the environment that would otherwise not be visible from a top-down perspective ...

had reviewers comparing it to Sega's ''

Zaxxon is an isometric shooter arcade game, developed and released by Sega in 1982, in which the player pilots a ship through heavily defended space fortresses. Japanese electronics company Ikegami Tsushinki is also credited for having worked on the d ...

'' from 1982.

Gameplay

Development

The game was revealed in 1984 as part of the Atari 7800 announcement. It was referred to as both ''Sphinx'' and ''Nile Flyer''.

Reception

Reviewing the Atari 8-bit version for ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'' in 1989, Matthew J.W. Ratcliff wrote, "''Desert Falcon'' has good graphics, cute sound effects, and a tired, boring theme." He cited ''Zaxxon'' several times, calling ''Desert Falcon'' a visually different spin on the same gameplay. '' New Atari User'' wrote, "The scrolling in ''Desert Falcon'' isn't quite as smooth as it could be," but complimented the animation of the falcon and the use of shadows. In ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...

'', David Plotkin wrote, "The manual describes a wide variety of enemies. Unfortunately, except for some flying triangles, they all looked pretty much alike". He still concluded with "It has excellent graphics and is very playable." After playing the 7800 cartridge, Len Poggiali of ''Current Notes'' described it as "an average arcade game with a below average plot and above average visual appeal."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, last1=Hague, first1=James {{cite journal , last1=Ratcliff , first1=Matthew J.W. , title=Review: Desert Falcon , journal=ANALOG Computing , date=June 1989 , issue=73 , page=73 , url=https://archive.org/details/analog-computing-magazine-73/page/n71/mode/2up {{cite journal , last1=Rixon , first1=Paul , title=Fly Me to the Pyramids , journal=New Atari User , date=December 1989 , issue=41 , page=36 , url=https://archive.org/details/Page6-41-Dec89/page/36/mode/2up {{cite journal , last1=Poggiali , first1=Len , title=The 7800 Game Cart: Desert Falcon , journal=Current Notes , date=July 1989 , pages=62–63 , url=https://archive.org/details/Current_Notes_1989-07/page/n61/mode/2up {{cite journal , last1=Davidson , first1=Steve , title=Introducing the Atari 7800 , journal=Electronic Games , date=September 1984 , volume=2 , issue=14 , pages=28–29 , url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_02_Number_14_1984-09_Reese_Communications_US/page/n27/mode/2up {{cite journal , last1=Plotkin , first1=David , title=Newest Game Cartridges from Atari , journal=Antic , date=April 1989 , volume=7 , issue=12 , pages=10–11 , url=https://archive.org/details/1989-04-anticmagazine/page/n11/mode/2up

External links

''Desert Falcon''
for the Atari 2600 at Atari Mania

for the Atari 8-bit family at Atari Mania
Review
of the 7800 version from ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' issue 1
Review
in Power Play (German) 1987 video games Atari 2600 games Atari 7800 games Atari 8-bit family games Video games with isometric graphics Scrolling shooters Video games about birds Video games based on Egyptian mythology Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Egypt