How to play Desert Falcon online
- Fly higher: down arrow (pulling the joystick back)
- Land, hop or swim: up arrow (pushing the joystick forward)
- Move left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Fire darts: Space bar
- Use a super power: press Space twice quickly
- Options screen: F11 (Select), then up and down arrows to pick the skill level and one or two players
- Start the game: F12 (Reset) or Space
- Two players: the second player uses T/F/G/H and A
Gameplay
Gems, golden eggs and silver ingots lie among the pyramids and obelisks. To collect one, fly low over it or hop across it on the ground. Vultures, scarabs, flying fish and other creatures attack from the air, and Burrowing Uwes climb out of the sand to charge at you. Your darts destroy most enemies, but one hit or one crash into scenery costs a life. You start with five.
Each trek ends at the Howling Sphinx, which spits darts and creatures at you. You have to hit it in the middle of its face to get past. Beating it opens a timed bonus round where nothing attacks you and you just collect as much treasure as you can.
Every flying enemy you shoot raises the base value of all treasure, and every treasure you pick up raises the multiplier for its kind, which pays off in the bonus round. The first Sphinx is worth 5,000 points and each later one is worth 1,000 more, up to 10,000. You get an extra life every 10,000 points.
Hieroglyphs and super powers
Hop over any three of the hieroglyphs in the sand and you earn a power, shown below the playfield. The order matters as well as the symbols: the manual gives Bird, Cane, Bowl as Warp (a high-speed flight straight to the Sphinx), while Cane, Bird, Bowl gives Air Bomb. Other powers include invincibility, a decoy, Omnicide (clears the screen), Hold Sphinx and free points. On harder levels some combinations give a handicap instead, such as Shackles, which stops you hopping.
Tips
- Watch the shadows. In the isometric view, a flying enemy’s shadow on the sand tells you its height better than the sprite does.
- Save the good powers. A new power replaces the old one after three more hieroglyphs, so pick up symbols when the power will help, for example Hold Sphinx or Warp just before the end of a trek.
- In the bonus round, go for the treasure type with the highest multiplier. Bumping into things there only costs time.
The story behind Desert Falcon
Atari showed the game in 1984 as part of the 7800 announcement, under the working titles Sphinx and Nile Flyer. General Computer Corporation built the 7800 version, which came out in 1988. The 2600 cartridge was finished by September 1987, the date on the final build preserved by AtariProtos, but its manual carries a 1988 copyright, and sources disagree on exactly when it reached shops. An Atari 8-bit computer version followed in 1989. Reviews of the 7800 and computer versions compared it to Zaxxon, liked the graphics and the use of shadows, and found the theme less exciting than the look.
