Night Driver

Name:	Night Driver
Company:	Atari
Model #:	CX-2633
Programmer:	Rob Fulop
Year:	1980
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Port of the 1976 Atari Coin-Op

Night Driver was one of Atari's earliest car racing games.  Being such an early arcade game, there was no way for the game to display the complex graphics like modern racers have so Atari cheated by setting the game at night.  The only graphics you'll see are the little bars that represent the sides of the road as it weaves and winds its way around.  In fact the arcade game didn't even have graphics for the car!  Instead there was a decal of a car situated in the center of the screen.  Despite the lack of fancy graphics, Night Driver really did a nice job at simulating speeding around a dark winding road.

The goal of Night Driver is simple, avoid cars and hitting the sides of the road while scoring as many points as possible before the timer expires.  Points are scored by passing certain points on the course.  Speed is the name of the game as the faster you go, the more distance you can cover before time runs out.  The controls are fairly simple, the fire button accelerates (you ain't got any breaks!) and the paddle controller acts like a steering wheel.  If you hit a car or the sides of the road you'll stop dead and the screen will flash for a few seconds, eating up precious time but leaving your car no worse for wear.

Unlike most Atari 2600 arcade ports where features were stripped out, the 2600 version actually adds some in!  Not only is the game now in color, but there are also now other cars to avoid and some scenery on the side of the road (trees and houses).  This is because the arcade version was a fairly primitive and already several years old by the time the 2600 port was made.  These new features add a lot of replay value to a rather simple game.  The 2600 port even adds randomized roads and the ability to play indefinitely with no timer.  One thing the 2600 port did take out is the ability to shift gears (due to only having one button available), but this really doesn't detract from the gameplay.  The left difficulty switch controls whether or not cars honk before they appear (to give you warning) and the right switch controls your cars maximum speed.

There's an bug.  If you've got the paddle turned all the way to the left and then turn it very quickly all the way to the right on a turn when the screen is very busy (lots of objects on the screen) the game code will miss the screen retrace due to it processing too much data and cause the screen to roll.  This situation only happens very rarely in actual game play and most players will never see it.  Another bug involves the timer not immediately starting after the game is reset, but this bug seems to be harder to trigger.

Although it's quite a simple game, Night Driver is one of the better earlier 2600 titles.  While the 2600 version doesn't scroll as smoothly as its arcade cousin, it still simulates a great sense of speed.  While it won't win any awards for its graphics (your car looks more like a cannon), the gameplay is solid and that's what counts.

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