How to play Thrust online
- Rotate the ship: left arrow turns anticlockwise, right arrow clockwise
- Thrust: up arrow
- Tractor beam and shield: down arrow
- Fire: Space bar
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Abort the current game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
The cartridge also supports the Booster Grip, an add-on with an extra thrust button. The emulator does not emulate it, but the joystick controls above give you the full game.
Gameplay
Your mission is to steal Klystron Pods from planets held by the Empire. Each planet is guarded by Limpet gun batteries, powered by a nuclear reactor. Fly down into the caverns, hover above the pod and switch on the tractor beam. Once the tow-bar locks on, the pod hangs beneath your ship and its weight changes how you fly as you head back out into space.
Fuel is always running low. It is shown in yellow, and when it runs out the game is over. The tractor beam also collects fuel cells, and the same button raises your shield, which costs fuel too. Shooting the reactor weakens the power supply of the guns, but hit it too often and it goes critical: you then have ten seconds to escape before the planet explodes, and the mission fails if you are still there, even with the pod.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Destroy a Limpet gun | 750 |
| Destroy a fuel cell | 150 |
| Collect a fuel cell | 300 |
| Destroy the planet (extra) | 2,000 |
You also get a bonus for completing a mission, and a spare ship every 10,000 points. There are five variations, which differ in the planets you start on, the number of lives and the difficulty. Variation 5 is a Rookie mode with five lives, thicker atmosphere, slower rotation and fewer shots from the guns, which is the best place to start.
Tips
- Use short bursts of thrust. The ship keeps drifting, so tap the up arrow instead of holding it, or you will hit the cavern walls.
- Collect fuel on the way down. Picking up fuel cells is worth more points than shooting them, and you will need the fuel for the climb with the pod.
- Only blow up the reactor if you are ready to leave. Ten seconds is not long when you are deep underground with a pod in tow.
About the 2600 version
The 2600 Thrust is a hobbyist conversion of the computer game. Jentzsch’s manual credits Jeremy C. Smith’s original, and the computer game itself had drawn on Atari’s arcade game Gravitar. Reviewers liked the 2600 version: AtariAge lists review scores averaging 88 percent. It was released again in 2002 as Thrust+ DC Edition and in 2003 as Thrust+ Platinum, which added a title theme by Paul Slocum, other sound improvements and support for more controllers, including driving controllers.
