Skeet Shoot
| Skeet Shoot | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Games by Apollo |
| Publisher(s) | Games by Apollo |
| Designer(s) | Ed Salvo |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Sports (skeet shooting) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, two-player alternating |
| Review score | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| AllGame |   |
Skeet Shoot is a skeet shooting video game for the Atari 2600 and the first game released by Games by Apollo. Players assume the role of a skeet shooter shooting clay pigeons. There is a two-player mode where the players alternate. It was developed by programmer Ed Salvo in his Iowa home and purchased by Pat Roper for release in December 1981 under the newly formed Apollo. Despite negative reviews, it was a financial success, and led to Salvo's continuation with the company, where he became Director of Development.
The player controls a skeet shooter who is shooting clay pigeons. By pressing the button on the controller, a clay pigeon is sent out and pressing the button again will shoot; moving the joystick changes the gun's angle. A point is earned if the bullet hits. Difficulty varieties adjust the speed of the pigeons.
Two two-player gameplay variations exist and are activated by modifying the Atari 2600's difficulty switches. There is an alternating version where players take turns shooting the clay pigeons, and another variation features one player shooting while the other controls the angle of the clay pigeons. Other variables that can be changed are the position of the shooter and the direction the bird will enter the screen from.
Ed Salvo developed Skeet Shoot independently. Salvo had self-taught himself to program for the 2600 after purchasing an Atari 800; the dealer wanted a flight simulator for the 2600 so he contracted Salvo to make one. The game was never released as the dealer had lost interest. According to Salvo, the development of Skeet Shoot took him around a month at night in his home to finish. After his friend sent him an advertisement from a Dallas newspaper by newly founded studio Games by Apollo that asked for programmers, he contacted Apollo founder Pat Roper and showed him Skeet Shoot. Roper decided that Skeet Shoot was a good enough game for a first time. He offered Salvo a job at Apollo, which Salvo declined, believing it would be too risky. When Salvo returned to his Iowa home, Roper contacted him and told him he would buy Skeet Shoot for five thousand dollars which Salvo accepted.
Skeet Shoot still had glitches when it was released; one caused the image to flip vertically. Salvo learned of the glitch and fixed it, and the only cartridges that bear the bug are European versions.
...
Wikipedia