River Rescue is an

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

published by

Thorn EMI Computer Software Thorn EMI Computer Software was a British video games software house set up in the early 1980s as part of the now-defunct British conglomerate (company), conglomerate Thorn EMI. They released a number of games in the early 1980s, initially for the ...

in 1982. It was designed by Jeremy Smith and programmed by Will Kemp. Ports were 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, ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

in 1983 and 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 ...

in 1984. A

TI-99/4A The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...

version was advertised but never released.

Gameplay

The player guides a boat along a river, which scrolls from right to left across the screen in a top-down view. The boat must avoid colliding with various hazards in the river - these include small islands, crocodiles and logs. The aim is to rescue explorers lost in the jungle. The boat periodically passes a pair of docks arranged across from each other on either side of the river. If the boat moves to the upper dock, and explorer will run out of the jungle onto the boat. Stopping at the lower dock causes any explorers already on the ship walk back off to safety. Because of the scrolling motion, it is not possible to land at both docks in one go, you must pick up an explorer and then continue along the river until the dock reappears. Depending on the version and level, between three and five explorers have to be rescued to complete a round. Once the round is complete, the game starts again, faster.

References

{{reflist 1982 video games VIC-20 games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games Thorn EMI video games

Gameplay

See also

References