How to play Sprint Master online
- Accelerate: hold the Space bar (let go to slow down)
- Steer: left and right arrow keys
- Emergency brake: down arrow key
- Player 2: F and H to steer, G to brake, A to accelerate
- Step through the menu options: F11 (the console’s Select switch) or any arrow key
- Confirm an option / start the race: F12 (Reset) or Space
- More or less grip: F4 toggles the left difficulty switch (A = less traction and harder steering, B = more traction)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
Before each race you go through a short series of menus. First choose a one-player game, where you race against a computer car, or a two-player game. Then decide whether the cars bounce or crash when they hit something, and set the number of laps, up to 50. Next you pick a track: the current one is shown with a grid of all the available tracks above it. Finally, choose the surface: blacktop, dirt or ice.
Both cars start side by side, and the laps and times are shown at the top of the screen. The car that finishes the set number of laps in the fastest time wins. The track has a few extras on it:
- Blue boxes give you more traction.
- Red boxes give a short burst of speed.
- Tar slicks are unpredictable: they may speed you up or slow you down.
- Walls cost you time when you hit them.
- Gates on some tracks open and close, and can be used as shortcuts if you time them right.
After a race, press Reset or the fire button to run the same race again, or Select to return to the title screen.
Tips
- Pick the right box for the surface. On blacktop the red speed boxes help most. On ice the blue traction boxes are worth more.
- Take the inside line. Build up speed on the straights and keep to the inside of the curves.
- Lift off early. Releasing the accelerator before a curve is often better than sliding into the wall, which costs time.
- Be careful with shortcuts. You can cut across the grass, but there are invisible barriers that can stop you dead. A gate shortcut only works if you get through before it closes.
- Start on setting B. Leave the left difficulty switch on B until you know the tracks, then switch to A for a harder, slidier race.
History
Sprint Master was one of the new 2600 cartridges Atari still published in the late 1980s, model number CX26155. Its manual covers both the Atari 2600 and the 7800, since the 7800 could also run 2600 games. Emulator databases credit the game to Bobco and Robert C. Polaro, and list Sprint 88 and Sprint 2000 as other names it went by.
Similar games to play next
- Indy 500 – Atari’s 1977 top-down racer, including ice tracks (made for the driving controller)
- Grand Prix – Activision’s scrolling Formula One race against the clock
- Street Racer – Atari’s 1977 paddle collection, with car racing among its six games
- Enduro – a long-distance race through day, night, fog and snow