''Rally Speedway'' (also known as ''John Anderson's Rally Speedway'') is a top-down racing game developed by John Anderson 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, ...

and published by Adventure International in 1983. The Atari version was released on cartridge. It was ported to the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

and published by Commodore in 1985. The game includes an editor allowing players to create and save their own race tracks.

Gameplay

''Rally Speedway'' shows a birds-eye view of a small section of a larger race track that scrolls. Single-player and two-player modes are available, with no computer-controlled opponents present in either mode. In the single-player game, the player races against time. The only goal is to improve one's lap time while avoiding various roadside objects. In the two-player mode, players race against each other over a set amount of laps (three by default). Both players share the same view of the track. Player vehicles get near the screen's edges when the distance between them grows. Once one player gets too far behind, she receives a 5-second time penalty, and both players are placed together at the current location. A player that crashes receives a 10-second penalty. There are options for changing top speed and acceleration, road surface, and even enabling immunity to crashes. ''Rally Speedway'' includes an editor for creating new tracks and loading saving them on cassette or disk.

Reception

Lee Pappas Lee H. Pappas is an American entrepreneur and founder of a number of technology publications. He co-founded Atari 8-bit family enthusiast magazine ''ANALOG Computing'' in 1981. After the Atari ST was released, ''ANALOG Analog or analogue may ref ...

of ''

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 ...

'' wrote in January 1984 that ''Rally Speedway'' "is one of the nicest designed and executed games for the tari 8-bit. In the May 1984 issue of '' Electronic Games'', Bill Kunkel praised the graphics and the variety of menu options for customizing the game, calling it "a virtual role model for games of this type." A 1984 review in ''Hi-Res'' magazine called ''Rally Speedway'' "graphically gorgeous" but criticized the top-down perspective for being less exciting than a behind-the-car view.

Legacy

''Rally Speedways concept of two-player gameplay served as a template for the implementation of the head-to-head mode in the Codemasters game '' Micro Machines''. In the latter, the concept was modified by introducing a scoring system instead of time penalties.

References

External links

''Rally Speedway''
at Atari Mania *
Review
in ''

GAMES A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

'' magazine 1983 video games Adventure International games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Top-down racing video games Video games developed in the United States {{racing-videogame-stub

Gameplay

Reception

Legacy

See also

References

External links