Shoot'em Up! / Shoot'em Up! - Horizontal Scrolling · 1983

Sky Blazer

Published by Brøderbund Software · Developed by Star Craft, Inc.

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Information

Genre: Shoot'em Up! - Horizontal Scrolling
Language: Machine Language
Controls: Joystick
Players: 1, Demo
Programmer(s): Suzuki, Tony
Year: 1983
Publisher: Brøderbund Software
Developer: Star Craft, Inc.
Country: USA
License: Commercial
Medium: Disk
Rarity: 8
Serial: ATDSK-117

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 7.6/10 · Votes: 25 · Downloads: 2,386 · Hits: 9,957

Additional Comments

NTSC only!

Screenshots (4)

Cover Art (2)

Book / Magazine Reviews (1)

Electronic Games · October, 1983

All gamers who thought they'd go mad if forced to deal with one more videogame whose title begins with Star- ought to give a cheer for the folks at Broderbund. When Tony Suzuki set to work at programming an Atari version of his Apple II classic, Star Blazer, not only was a new Star- not born, the company actually renamed the program, Sky Blazer. Obviously, Broderbund didn't want this hot little number lost among the "stars".

For those familiar with the Apple II edition of this program, seeing the Atari version is like déjà vu. The action graphics so distinctive to games generated on an Apple have never before been so completely translated. The legendary hero, Sky Blazer, takes his west-to-east scrolling skycraft to obliterate hostile radar stations, ICBM's, two deadly tanks (one of which fires heat-seeking missiles) and, ultimately, enemy headquarters.

The multi-function bombs-and-phasers element is represented by the use of height-dictated triggering. When the craft is above a certain altitude blasts, the juggernaut drops bombs.

All in all, this is a fine translation, but it may take Atarians a while to adjust to the sparser Apple-style graphics. The addition of Atari audio, however, should be universally applauded.

Comments (4)

GadZombie — 1 Aug 2021
Sky Blazer is one of the best Atari 8-bit horizontal shooters. The controls are different than in other games like this but when you get used to it you can feel you're flying a plane. It's pretty hard but you can learn to play after a while. It's very uncommon game with a few innovative elements like parachutes, bombs or guns, running enemies from you (they are not so stupid). AFAIR it has only a few levels and you start all over again.
fashion police — 7 Oct 2015
oops penalize me. Game started on a apple II in 1981 and the atari adaptation probably didn't come out until 1983, says magazine article here. Maybe there shouldn't be 1981 on game screen then, being that it wasn't even known by the name "Sky blazer" back then.
fashion police — 7 Oct 2015
sky blazer is 1981, it says 1983 in the scan stuff but that typically means the box and manual got a rewrite long after the game was programmed.
JohnM — 6 Aug 2007
One of my fav's of the horizontal scrolling shooters. What makes it different is the ship's movement - you can't just instantly move up/down/left/right rather you have to take into account the ship's momentum. This adds a totally different gameplay as it moves away from basic arcade towards simulation and while much harder it does keep you going back for another try.