Scuba Diver

Scuba Diver for the Atari 2600

Scuba Diver (later released as Aquatak and Sea Hunt) is an action game for the Atari 2600. The goal of the game is to guide a diver to a sunken galleon, retrieve all of the treasures, and make it back to the surface alive!

Scuba Diver utilizes a side view and consists of two screens. The game begins with the diver in a boat at the top of the screen and the galleon at the bottom with several, dangerous fish swimming back and forth. To get past this first screen, players will need to use a harpoon to clear the screen of all the fish and then swim into the galleon. Should the diver come into contact with any of the fish, a life is lost and the next diver begins again in the boat. Players will need to use careful timing; when first jumping into the water momentum carries the diver downward for a distance before players are able to take control making it necessary to wait for fish to move out of the way first. Additionally, when harpooning a fish the diver is unable to move making him vulnerable to an attack from another fish.

If players can harpoon all of the fish and reach the galleon, the second screen begins. This part of the game takes place inside the galleon with several treasures along the bottom of the screen. Sea monsters guard the treasure and can not be harpooned, so players need to avoid them! Additionally, the walls of the maze-like galleon are sticky; contact with them will slow the diver down wasting valuable time. Once all treasures are collected, players need to swim back to the surface while avoiding all of the sea monsters and fish.

Each diver has only 60 seconds worth of oxygen; once a diver enters the water, the treasure needs to be recovered within this time limit or a life is lost. The game begins with four divers and ends when all have been lost. Four differen difficulty levels are available which control the speed of the fish and sea monsters.