How to play Street Racer online
Street Racer was made for the paddle controllers. The emulator switches to paddle mode automatically for this game.
- Steer: left and right arrow keys (turning the knob)
- Accelerate, thrust or fire: Space bar (the paddle button)
- Start a game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game number (1–27): F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Lose a point for every collision: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch (F9 for Player 2)
- Switch between paddle and joystick mode: Alt + L
The cartridge supports up to four players with two pairs of paddles. The emulator has only two paddles, so the three- and four-player games (3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 23, 24, 26 and 27) can’t be played here. Everything else works for one or two players.
The six games
All six games use the same idea. Each player has a vertical lane, you steer from side to side with the knob, and objects come down the screen towards you. A game ends after 2 minutes and 16 seconds, or when someone reaches 99 points. Your score flashes during the last 16 seconds. In one-player games you play against the clock, and in some of them a computer player drives the other lane.
- Street Racer (games 1–6): steer around oncoming cars. You score a point for every car you pass.
- Slalom (games 7–12): ski through gates for a point each. With the difficulty switch on A, the gates are narrower as well.
- Dodgem (games 13–16): hold the button to drive up the track, and let go to roll back. You score each time you reach the top.
- Jet Shooter (games 17–20): the button fires missiles at enemy jets coming the other way, a point per hit.
- Number Cruncher (games 21–24): ride a motorcycle over the numbers 2, 4 and 6 and score their value.
- Scoop Ball (games 25–27): catch balls for a point each, then drive into the computer’s scooper to bank them for three more.
In position B of the difficulty switch, a crash only costs you time. In position A it also costs you a point.
Tips
- Hit numbers with the nose. In Number Cruncher only a clean hit with the front of the bike counts. A sloppy one is a crash. Go for the 6s when you can.
- Bank your balls in time. In Scoop Ball, a crash before you reach the computer’s scooper loses the balls you are carrying.
- Speed pays in Street Racer. Points come from passing cars, so holding the accelerator scores faster, but the traffic gets harder to dodge.
- Learn on B. Keep the difficulty switch on B until you can steer cleanly, since crashes on A take points away.
History
Street Racer was one of the first games Atari made for its new console, alongside titles such as Air-Sea Battle and Video Olympics. When it came out, Video magazine gave it a middling score, and later critics have been much harsher about its simple, blocky look. One retrospective singled out Number Cruncher as the best of the six games. In a 2007 interview, Kaplan admitted the game lacked good gameplay. He said he had removed the moving playfield because it did not flow well and tended to flicker. Kaplan later co-founded Activision, where he made Kaboom!, one of the best-selling 2600 games.
