''Jetpac'' is a

shooter video game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

developed and published by

Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for ...

and released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 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 the ''ZX81 Colou ...

and

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 ...

in 1983 and the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

in 1984. It is the first game to be released by

, the company which later became Rare. The game follows Jetman as he must rebuild his rocket in order to explore different planets, while simultaneously defending against hostile aliens. It was written by Ultimate co-founder Chris Stamper with graphics designed by his brother, Tim Stamper. Reviewers praised ''Jetpac''s presentation and gameplay, and it won "Game of the Year" at the

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...

in 1983. ''Jetpac'' has since been included in as an unlockable minigame in 1999's ''

Donkey Kong 64 ''Donkey Kong 64'' is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first 3D game in the '' Donkey Kong'' series. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores themed levels to collect it ...

'' and part of the 2015 compilation '' Rare Replay''. It was later included in a game compilation on the

ZX Spectrum Vega The ZX Spectrum Vega is a modern redesign of the ZX Spectrum in the form of a miniaturized TV game, that comes preloaded with several games from the platform, created with the involvement of Sir Clive Sinclair. Hardware The Vega mimics the ...

. It spawned two direct sequels and a 2007 remake, ''

Jetpac Refuelled ''Jetpac Refuelled'' is an arcade-style shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released worldwide on the Xbox Live Arcade service on March 28, 2007. The game is the fourth installment of the ''Jetman'' s ...

'', which was released for the

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

service.

Gameplay

The game world is presented in a horizontal wraparound and consists of three platforms which Jetman can manoeuvre onto. Jetman must assemble his rocket (which spawns in pieces scattered around the map), and then fill it with fuel before taking off to the next planet, where the procedure is broadly repeated with alternate procedures. In addition, the player has to defend themselves from the planet's aliens, and for bonus points collect valuable resources which occasionally fall from above. After the first level, the rocket stays assembled and just requires refuelling. However, every four levels, the rocket resets (giving the player an extra life) and the replacement has to be built before it can be refuelled for takeoff. Each new model has a new design with a higher number written on it, although the core gameplay remains unchanged. The enemies change forms each level (cycling back to the first after eight levels) and each alien has a different pattern of movement which means they can be dealt with in a different manner.

Development

Ultimate Play the Game was founded by brothers

Tim and Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developer ...

, along with Tim's wife, Carol, from their headquarters in

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshir ...

in 1982. They began producing multiple video games for the

throughout the early 1980s. The company were known for their reluctance to reveal details about their operations and then-upcoming projects. Little was known about their development process except that they used to work in "separate teams"; one team would work on development whilst the other would concentrate on other aspects such as sound or graphics. While developing ''Jetpac'', the Stamper brothers closely studied the burgeoning Japanese gaming market and had started to practice developing games for their then-upcoming console, the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

, later predicting that the ZX Spectrum had a limited lifespan. ''Jetpac'' was one of the few Spectrum games also available in a ROM format for use with the Interface 2, allowing "instantaneous" loading of the game when the normal method of cassette loading took minutes. The game was also able to run on the 16K version of the Spectrum.

Reception

The game sold 300,000 copies for the ZX Spectrum and generated £1 million in revenue for Ultimate Play the Game, which enabled the Stamper brothers to gain a foothold in the early video gaming market. The game was critically acclaimed. ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

'' praised the graphics and presentation, citing that they were of "the highest standard" and added that it was "difficult to find any real faults" with the game. '' CVG'' similarly praised the graphics, stating that the presentation was "superb" and the gameplay was considered addictive. In a retrospective review, Chris Wilkins of

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...

noted that the colourful graphics and sound effects were advanced for the time, but what truly made for a "faultless" experience was its simple gameplay. ''ZX Computing'' praised the game's playability and replay value, stating that ''Jetpac'' was "a very well put together piece of software". The game was number one in the first Spectrum sales chart published by ''CVG''. The ZX Spectrum version was voted number 73 in the ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time'' in 1993 and was voted the 14th best game of all time by the readers of

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

for an article that was scheduled to be in a special ''Your Sinclair'' tribute issue. The game won the title "Game of the Year" at the 1983

Legacy

After the game's release, ''Jetpac'' was parodied in a long-running ''

'' comic strip named ''Lunar Jetman''. The strip, designed by John Richardson, lasted from July 1984 to October 1991 and gained popular reception from readers. To develop the comic, photographs had to be processed manually on a photomechanical tone and then transferred to paper, being fully colorized in the late 1980s. ''Jetpac'' was followed by two sequels: ''

Lunar Jetman ''Lunar Jetman'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and later on the BBC Micro. In this sequel to '' Jetpac'', the second installment of the ''Jetma ...

'' (1983) and ''

Solar Jetman ''Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship'' is a multi-directional shooter video game developed by Zippo Games and Rare and published by Tradewest in North America and by Nintendo in Europe. It was released in North America on 14 October 1 ...

'' (1990). The latter, however, was not released for the ZX Spectrum due to disappointing sales of the original NES version, although a version for the Commodore 64 was finished but never released. Since its release, ''Jetpac'' has been included in a number of other games developed by Rare. The game is playable in ''

'', where it could be unlocked to play in Cranky Kong's laboratory after obtaining 15 Banana Medals. Beating Cranky Kong's high score rewards the player with the Rareware Coin, which is necessary to beat the game. The game was retained in the April 2015

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, U ...

re-release of ''Donkey Kong 64'' on the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. ...

, despite the property being technically owned by Microsoft. An

enhanced remake A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software s ...

of ''Jetpac'', entitled ''

'', was released on the

in March 2007. Microsoft's

E3 2015 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 (E3 2015) was the 21st E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 2015, with 52,200 total attendees. Major exhibit ...

press conference unveiled the compilation title '' Rare Replay'', which has a selection of thirty games from Rare's lifetime game library, including the original ''Jetpac'' and its two sequels and remake, making the ''Jetman'' series the most represented in the collection.

References

External links

* *
''Jetpac''
at Ultimate Wurlde {{Golden Joystick GOTY 1983 video games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games VIC-20 games Europe-exclusive video games Rare (company) games Microsoft franchises Science fiction video games ZX Spectrum games Shooter video games Single-player video games Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year winners Video games developed in the United Kingdom