Dragster - Atari 2600

Unfortunately, this game is cur­rent­ly available only in this ver­si­on. Be patient :-)

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   Dragster, released in 1980 for the Atari 2600, is the first video game developed by Activision. It was programmed by David Crane, who later wrote Pitfall! The object of the game is to either beat the player's opponent across the screen, or to race against the clock for best time, depending on the settings used. Dragster is an unauthorized adaptation of the 1977 Kee Games coin-op Drag Race.
   Select game with game select switch. Game 1: Straight-ahead Dragster, one or two players. Game 2: Steerable Dragster, one or two players. The player's Joystick Controller is both the clutch and gear shift for his Dragster the red button is his gas pedal. Use left Joystick for the top car right one for bottom car. Hold Joystick with button in upper left. To shift gears, CLUTCH by pushing Joystick to the left and SHIFT by letting the Joystick spring back to the center. The player gives his Dragster gas by pressing the Joystick button. His car then starts each race in neutral (N). There are four gear positions - 1,2,3,4 - and the player must clutch and shift between each gear. He cannot downshift. Press game reset or push Joystick to the right to start each race. The race starts with a new countdown and both cars in neutral. When the countdown reaches 0, the player is allowed to start. If the player drops into gear too soon, before the end of the countdown, EARLY will appear on the screen and the player have to wait for the next race. The player can clutch during the countdown, but he cannot drop into 1st until 0.
   The tachometer (tach) shows how fast that the player's engine is turning over. A dark green line that starts at the left side of his television screen for each can and turns red at about the middle is his tach. When it turns red, the player are in the high power - but danger!- area. The player will find that he get his best speed in each gear by red-lining his tach close to the maximum . But watch out! If the player revs his engine too much, it will blow. So be careful. Once the player blows his engine, the race is over for him . The way to build maximum speed is to quickly clutch shift and accelerate through all four gears with maximum power at each gear level.
   Once the player starts shifting gears, he can't downshift. But if the player shifts too soon, his engine will lug (work heavily); he will accelerate slowly and lose some time. It's tricky and takes practice, but the player's patience and perseverance will be rewarded with good times.

More details about this game can be found on Wikipedia.org.

Find digital download of this game on GOG or Steam.

This ver­sion of Dragster was de­sig­ned for A­ta­ri 2600, which was com­mer­ci­al­ly ve­ry suc­ces­s­ful vi­deo ga­me con­so­le of se­cond ge­ne­ra­tion pro­du­ced by A­ta­ri from 1977 to 1992. It was the first con­so­le that used re­mo­vab­le me­mory mo­du­les with ga­mes. At the time of its grea­test fa­me, mo­re than 30 mil­li­on units of this con­so­le were sold for about $ 200 a pie­ce. To da­te, the ga­me li­bra­ry for this con­so­le con­tains near­ly 1,000 o­ri­gi­nal ga­mes. Mo­re in­for­ma­ti­on about the Atari 2600 can be found here.

You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB joystick that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a joystick, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.

5 different online emulators are available for Dragster. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic features of each emulator available for this game Dragster are summarized in the following table: