Night Driver Thoughts?

[BurritoBeans]

The game doesn't look great, but I like enjoy it. Games 5-8 are fun, just driving with no time limit.

[BassGuitari]

I have a special love for all those early games - Space War, Air-Sea Battle, Indy 500, Street Racer, Combat, etc., I remember playing Star Ship at someone's house and not knowing what the fuck was going on but still loving it.

 

It is a unique experience to go through those games from the beginning, I'm not sure how modern young fans of the 2600 can tolerate them compared to the much better games that came out later for it.

I don't know how young or modern I qualify as at 30 (my most modern console is a Wii that I never use), but the early Atari games are some of my favorites as well. I could write a small novella trying to psychoanalyze myself and the reasons why I like stone age games from the '70s when I was born in 1985, but I do. Maybe it's because I own and have played Odyssey, Channel F, Studio II, and numerous dedicated consoles around and in between, and I appreciate their context. Compared to those systems, the first couple of years' worth of VCS games are revelations.

[karokoenig]

Night Driver was my first contact with the Paddle controllers when my parents got me both for my birthday after the christmas I got my VCS. I found it boring back then, never played it much, and even failed to see the immense potential of paddle controls. For me back then, Atari meant Joystick, and I considered the paddles as kind of a weird oddity no one really needs. That changed a little later when I was introduced to games like Breakout and GI Joe Cobra Strike by my friends. A love that grew with games like Arkanoid on the C64 and still burns today - paddle controllers are the most awesome controllers on the face of the Earth.

 

Today, I still don't really like to spend much time playing Night Driver. I have a copy in my collection for nostalgic reasons. My general dislike of driving games might play a role.

 

However, when I think about it today, squeezing all this gameplay into 2k is quite the achievement, and I appreciate that aspect of the game a lot.

[YANDMAN]

O.k last night i played the game but only with viewing what i assumed was a car as a hood ornament as someone suggested earlier and i can say it feels totally different. if gives you an instantly sort of elevated play position. try it out if you can see beyond the years of viewing it as a car.

[bohoki]

i was a kid of like 8 or 10 when i first played it and me and my yonger brother came to the conclusion that it was an out of control wheelchair avoiding crayons

[GameGirl420]

The Atari 2600 version is a classic,but personally I like the original arcade of the game even better. Love the sound effects of when the car crashes!

[NE146]

I had fun with it, but even in the early 80's do remember feeling the VCS version wasn't all that strong a game since the patterns of the turns it gave you seemed too limited and repetitive. I was pretty familiar with the arcade game so it made it's shortcomings much more apparent to me. So, I really didn't end up popping in the Night Driver cartridge all too much except in short bursts.

 

A few years later when Enduro came out, THAT was the type of racer that made me play for an extended time.

[YANDMAN]

i was a kid of like 8 or 10 when i first played it and me and my yonger brother came to the conclusion that it was an out of control wheelchair avoiding crayons

ha ha ha

[rob fulop]

So fun to read the comments! Two Night Driver tidbits to share

 

1) There is an annoying buggy screen roll that was never fixed - triggered (I think) by turning paddle all the way to right and then quickly all the way to the left - I believe the code takes a big too long to calculate in this one condition thus causing the screen to roll because the code gets to the "wait for VBLANK" loop too late - and thus the display misses a frame which causes the screen to roll. It's an ugly bug, and probably easily fixable, I just never got around to it at the time. Still annoys me every time I've played the game since - only viewable when playing on an actual Stella console, not in emulation

 

2) I did an early demo of the game to Atari marketing department - it was my very first time presenting anything to a room full of suits and high heels - and they did not disappoint - very distinct memory of high heels gingerly click clacking on the linoleum floor of the lab just making it extra clear that these people had zero business being there in the first place. The demo set the tone for my interactions with marketing for years to come. VP Marketing looks at the self running attract mode and says "whoa, that's so cool, where did you come up with THIS idea?". I'm like "Well, Night Driver is one of Atari's most popular coin operated games" to which he responds "hmmm, I've been meaning to check out some of our games actually" - followed by nods of agreement and murmering all around - like - "yeah, you know, we probably SHOULD know what games we actually put out, huh?"

[VectorGamer]

"whoa, that's so cool, where did you come up with THIS idea?". I'm like "Well, Night Driver is one of Atari's most popular coin operated games" to which he responds "hmmm, I've been meaning to check out some of our games actually" - followed by nods of agreement and murmering all around - like - "yeah, you know, we probably SHOULD know what games we actually put out, huh?"

 

I remember you saying that in HSW's Once Upon Atari. Off with their heads!

[Zonie]

Waited for it to be released. Played the hell out of it when it was.

[mikey.shake]

So fun to read the comments! Two Night Driver tidbits to share

 

1) There is an annoying buggy screen roll that was never fixed - triggered (I think) by turning paddle all the way to right and then quickly all the way to the left - I believe the code takes a big too long to calculate in this one condition thus causing the screen to roll because the code gets to the "wait for VBLANK" loop too late - and thus the display misses a frame which causes the screen to roll. It's an ugly bug, and probably easily fixable, I just never got around to it at the time. Still annoys me every time I've played the game since - only viewable when playing on an actual Stella console, not in emulation

 

2) I did an early demo of the game to Atari marketing department - it was my very first time presenting anything to a room full of suits and high heels - and they did not disappoint - very distinct memory of high heels gingerly click clacking on the linoleum floor of the lab just making it extra clear that these people had zero business being there in the first place. The demo set the tone for my interactions with marketing for years to come. VP Marketing looks at the self running attract mode and says "whoa, that's so cool, where did you come up with THIS idea?". I'm like "Well, Night Driver is one of Atari's most popular coin operated games" to which he responds "hmmm, I've been meaning to check out some of our games actually" - followed by nods of agreement and murmering all around - like - "yeah, you know, we probably SHOULD know what games we actually put out, huh?"

 

 

Neat to hear your thoughts, Rob. It's a real head trip to me the way the internet has allowed for this kind of communication/community. My wife and I were just marveling at some of your work this morning.

 

That story about the marketing department is priceless. Thanks for sharing.

 

Any tips to help us Night Driver-impaired players? I feel like I'm drunk every time I play it. But I love the presentation so much I keep going back to it.