Skydiver

Arcade version of Skydiver

Skydiver (also known as Sky Diver or Dare Diver) is an action game by Atari originally released in arcades in 1978 and then ported to the Atari 2600 in 1979. The goal of the game is for one or two players to guide parachuters to a landing target to earn as many points as possible.

Skydiver features a side view of a parachuting drop zone; near the top of the screen, two planes fly will fly across. The player's goal is to guide their parachuter to the target of the same color. Each turn follows the same pattern; players need to jump from the plane, deploy the parachute, and then guide the parachuter left or right while compensating for wind in order to finally land on the target. To help out, a wind sock at the bottom of the screen shows the current wind conditions so players can attempt to compensate when jumping. If players fail to deploy the parachute or miss the target, no points are awarded; the longer players wait to deploy the parachute, the higher the score will be for a successful landing. The arcade version provides 3 misses per player after which the game is over with additional misses awarded at certain point thresholds; the Atari 2600 version always runs for nine turns with the player scoring the most points in that time being the winner.

The arcade version of Skydiver featured an unusual set of controllers which were designed to resemble the rip cord of an actual parachute. Instead of pressing a button or moving a joystick, players would need to pull on the handle to deploy the parachute and could move the handle left and right to guide their parachuter. The arcade version also had an additional bonus possible for spelling the word skydiver; the game title on the cabinet marquee had individual lights behind each letter which would cycle on and off during the game. If players made a successful landing, whichever letter was illuminated at the time the player jumped from the plane would be awarded and completing all of the letters scored bonus points.