''FlipOut!'' is a
tile-matching
A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...
puzzle
A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by Gorilla Systems and originally 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 ...
for the
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it competed with the 16-bit Sega Genesis, the Super NES and the ...
in Europe on July 7, 1995 and later in North America on August 28 of the same year. It is one of the first titles developed by Gorilla Systems.
In ''FlipOut!'', the players are invited by the inhabitants of Cheese Planet, also known as Planet Phrohmaj in their native language, to join the Great Tile Flipping Festival hosted by King Fluffy across multiple
planet
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...
s and locations on
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, alongside their home planet. Initially an exclusive to the Jaguar, it was later ported by the same team to
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
in 1996 and was published by
GameTek
GameTek was an American video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing rig ...
. ''FlipOut!'' received mixed reception since its release, with critics being divided in regards to the game's graphics, sound, gameplay and originality.
Gameplay
''FlipOut!'' is a puzzle game where the main objective is to match the colored tiles into their respective colored spaces, with an extra tile that does not belong to the playfield being placed before starting a round and must be kept hanging in the air to match the other ones. Should the players take too long to match the tile into its respective space before landing on the ground, it will break and the round restarts as a result. There are nine stages to play through, each having their own number of rounds to play and ranging in thematic. There are also four levels of difficulty to choose from at the options screen of the main menu before starting a game, which changes the main gameplay. High-scores and other settings made by the players are automatically kept by cartridge's internal
EEPROM
EEPROM (also called E2PROM) stands for electrically erasable programmable read-only memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers, usually integrated in microcontrollers such as smart cards and remote keyless systems, or as a ...
, but progress must be saved manually by accessing the options menu at the map screen from the main mode.
On the initial level, players are tasked to match the tiles with their respective space on a 3x3 grid, with other rounds introducing new aliens that mess with the tiles and score is given after finishing each round depending on the player's performance. While gameplay remains relatively the same, stages increases in both difficulty and complexity as players progress through the game, with new aliens and obstacles being introduced to mess with the player's tiles. In addition, the playfield changes to reflect the location of the level. The final level is a 1v1 match with King Fluffy, ruler of the Cheese Planet on a 4x4 grid and defeating him results in the player being named the new ruler of the planet.
Development and release
''FlipOut!'' was one of the first titles developed by Gorilla Systems.
An early design document shows ideas that either would be implemented into the final release, were changed or scrapped altogether, such as power-ups.
Both ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' writer Michael Price and Dan McNamee of Atari Corp. were testers for ''FlipOut!''.
Price was tasked on pre-evalutating prototype builds of the game in Gorilla Systems' offices, while also giving feedback and suggestions to improve the experience.
He also stated that the project was done on a low budget.
McNamee, on the other hand, found ways to keep crashing the game but stated that he had fun with it.
''FlipOut!'' was first showcased at
E3 1995
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 1995, commonly known as E3 1995, was the first Electronic Entertainment Expo held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 11–13, 1995, with 50,000 total attendees. Highlights of th ...
, with minimal differences compared to the final release. When it launched, critics pointed out the flaws that Price suggested to improve before release but he recalls his experience with the game as a "great time and a very cool experience".
After its release, the game was available to play at Atari Corp.'s
UK division for the press.
''FlipOut!'' was also ported by Gorilla Systems for MS-DOS and published by GameTek.
Reception
''FlipOut!'' received mixed reception when it was released.
''
Next Generation'' reviewed the Jaguar version of the game, and stated that "''FlipOut!'' is an enjoyable and original puzzler on a system sadly devoid of them."
Legacy
After ''FlipOut!'' was released, Gorilla Systems started developing a horror-themed game for the
Atari Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Jaguar video game console.
Atari announced a CD-ROM drive for the Jaguar before the console's November 1993 launch. Codenamed Jaguar II during development, the Jaguar CD was released on Septemb ...
titled ''Dante's Inferno'', which was based on the
first part of
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
's 14th-century
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
'' and was scheduled for a June 1996 release, but it was never released.
In 2004, a demo of ''Dante's Inferno'' was released by the defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
compilation titled ''Jaguar Extremist Pack #1''.
References
External links
*
''FlipOut!''at
AtariAge
AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998.
Taking its name from the 1982–84 '' Atari Age'' magazine, the site ...
''FlipOut!''at
GameFAQs
GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...
''FlipOut!''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:FlipOut!
1995 video games
Atari games
Atari Jaguar games
DOS games
GameTek games
Gorilla Systems games
Puzzle video games
Single-player video games
Tile-matching video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in outer space
Video games set on fictional planets