Stampede (video game)

Stampede
Developer(s) Activision
Publisher(s) Activision
Designer(s) Bob Whitehead
Platform(s) Atari 2600, Intellivision
Release date(s) 1981, 1982
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single-player video game

Stampede is a video game cartridge which was released in 1981 for the Atari 2600 video game console, and the Intellivision video game console in 1982. The game is a left-to-right side-scroller with an overhead, third-person view. It was published by Activision.

Gameplay

Stampede on the Atari 2600

An Activision catalog from 1982 advertised Stampede in the following way:

"Ready for a little round up? With Stampede by Activision, you'll have to ride fast and rope even faster. Those little dogies seem to be everywhere, and they're all worth points. But, be careful! Your ol' horse can get a little edgy, especially when you take your eyes off the trail. So, head out West for hours of fun with Stampede!" [1]

The objective of Stampede is to round up all of the cattle you encounter. To do so, the player must lasso each one in order to capture it. The player is initially only allowed to let two cattle pass; if a third one slips by, the game is over.

An important caveat to this is that the player gets one extra free pass for every 1,000 points scored. So, if a player were at 2,000 points and had not yet let any cattle pass, then he or she would be allowed to let four cattle pass before the fifth one ended the game (assuming he or she did not reach 3,000).

This makes it possible for an expert player to repeatedly beat the game—as after about 5,000 points or so the game essentially "resets," and the same pattern is repeated. According to David Yancey, there is a bug which makes it so that the game will typically only allow you to play in a loop for 8 play throughs; apparently, however, there is a version of the game with a different binary which allows one to continue to accrue points until the score 99,999 is reached.[2]

Reception

Stampede was favorably reviewed in 1982 by Video magazine where it was described as a "thrilling representation of rope ridin'" boasting "charming visuals". The reviewers noted that although the game only utilized 2k of ROM, it demonstrated Activision's success in "marketing new and unusual games" and showed that "expanding memory isn't the only way to create solid, playable games".[3]:42

In 1983, Video Games stated that the Intellivision version of Stampede was easier than the difficult Atari 2600 original, with identical graphics.[4]

Ports

The Atari 2600 version of Stampede was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs in May 2010.

References

  1. ↑ Atari Age. "Catalog - Activision (AG-940-08)," (retrieved on March 17th, 2009)
  2. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBPmwTeoFLc&feature=related
  3. ↑ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (April 1982). "Arcade Alley: Ropin', Ridin', and Skatin' with Activision". Video (Reese Communications) 6 (1): 42–43. ISSN 0147-8907.
  4. ↑ Wiswell, Phil (March 1983). "New Games From Well-Known Names". Video Games. p. 69. Retrieved 26 May 2014.

External links

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