''K-Razy Shoot-Out'' is a clone of the arcade game '' Berzerk'' developed by K-Byte, a division of Kay Enterprises, and released 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, ...

in 1981. The game was written by Torre Meeder and Keith Dreyer, and was the first Atari 8-bit cartridge from a

third-party developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

. An

Atari 5200 The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200' ...

version followed in 1983. The team of Dreyer and Meeder also wrote the 1983 Atari 8-bit game '' Boulders and Bombs''. ''K-Razy Shoot-Out'' is part of a series of titles with the "K-" prefix, including ''K-Razy Kritters'' and ''K-Star Patrol''. All of them were published on cartridge. After CBS Software purchased K-Byte, the games were published under the CBS brand, including the Atari 5200 port of ''K-Razy Shoot-Out''.

Gameplay

As in ''Berzerk'', the goal is to destroy all of the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

s occupying a series of randomly generated

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

s. In ''Berzerk'', if the player takes too long to clear a maze, an indestructible bouncing

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

("Evil Otto") drives the player to an exit. ''K-Razy Shoot-Out'' uses a visible timer instead. If the timer runs out, the game ends. If the player exits a maze without clearing it, the player has to replay one or two mazes without getting points.

Reception

''K-Razy Shoot-Out'' sold 35,000 copies by June 1982.

John J. Anderson John J. Anderson or J.J. Anderson (November 8, 1956 – October 17, 1989) was a writer and editor covering computers and technology. The New Jersey native was Executive Editor of '' Computer Shopper'' and ''Atari Explorer''. At the time of his ...

of '' Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games'', wrote that as a ''Berzerk'' clone, "the only element that's missing is the speech ... lots of fun, and has a great deal of staying power". It won the 1983 Arcade Award for "Best Arcade/Action Computer Game" from ''

Electronic Games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

'' magazine. The '' Berzerk'' similarity was mentioned, but also that the game has "a unique flavor all its own."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal, last1=Ahl, first1=David, title=1983 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, journal=Creative Computing, date=April 1983, volume=9, issue=4, page=18, url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n4/18_1983_Winter_Consumer_Elec.php, last2=Staples, first2=Betsy {{cite journal, title=1983 Arcade Awards, journal=Electronic Games, date=January 1983, page=34 , url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_11_1983-01_Reese_Communications_US/page/n33 {{cite web, title=K-Razy Shoot-Out, url=http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-k-razy-shoot-out_6759.html, website=Atari Mania {{cite web , last1=Hague , first1=James , title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers , url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ 1981 video games Action video games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games Multidirectional shooters Video game clones Video games developed in the United States CBS Software games

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References