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Dropzone
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Dropzone is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Arena Graphics in 1984. It is a bi-directional, horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up in the style of Defender. It was designed and written by Archer MacLean, his first commercial video game. In fact, "Arena Graphics" is just a shell name for MacLean himself. It was released for the Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo.
Dropzone borrows many elements from the Defender, including the same font style, alien depictions and title screen depictions.
he surface of Jupiter's moon, Io, a scientific research base is under attack by aliens.
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Encyclopedia
Dropzone is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Arena Graphics in 1984. It is a bi-directional, horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up in the style of Defender. It was designed and written by Archer MacLean, his first commercial video game. In fact, "Arena Graphics" is just a shell name for MacLean himself. It was released for the Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo.
Dropzone borrows many elements from the Defender, including the same font style, alien depictions and title screen depictions.
Story
On the surface of Jupiter's moon, Io, a scientific research base is under attack by aliens. The player dons a jetpack armed with a laser, a cloaking device and three smart bombs, to rescue the scientists and return them to the base.
Gameplay
The gameplay is much in the style of Defender, as well as Stargate, Scramble and even Robotron: 2084. Players control the hero trying to rescue the scientists on a horizontally side-scrolling game field. Players must elude or engage various aliens—some slow, others faster—and return the scientists to the base's eponymous dropzone. The aliens capture scientists walking along the ground. The player must shot the enemy aliens and catch the falling scientists. Sometimes the aliens will carry lethal androids instead, which must be avoided.
The ranks awarded to players at the end of a game are (in order):
- Not Listed - practice recommended
- Dextral Dodger
- Trekie
- Moon Cadet
- Planetsman
- Ace
- Planet Marshal
- Planet Lord
- Star Warrior
- Solar Prodigy
- Megastar - mission completed
Development
MacLean purchased one of the first Atari 800's to be imported into the UK and started writing the game. It was then converted to the Commodore 64 (C64) by MacLean himself.
Of the C64 version of the game, MacLean said:
The name Dropzone wasn't settled on until shortly before the game went gold.
Publishing
MacLean entered into a publishing deal with a large UK publisher for the European distribution of the game. After 18 months, however, they stopped paying him royalties claiming that the game was no longer selling (in reality, the game kept selling for five to six years). In addition, MacLean travelled a great deal and saw it for sale in areas outside of Europe and even in the United States. After seeking legal advice, four years of legal wrangling with the publisher followed, until they finally settled out of court for copyright infringement. With the proceeds from the settlement, MacLean bought his first Ferrari, a 288 GTO.
Awards
- The Commodore 64 version of the game was awarded a Gold Medal in issue 3 of Zzap!64 magazine, with an overall rating of 95%.
Sequel
The sequel, Super Dropzone, added new weapon types and end-level bosses. It is available for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation.
External links
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