Space Jockey is a horizontally scrolling shooter designed by Garry Kitchen for the Atari VCS (renamed to the Atari 2600 later in the year). It was published under the Vidtec brand of U.S. Games in 1982 as the initial release from the company. The game shipped on a 2K cartridge at a time when most VCS games were 4K. Atari, Inc. stopped internal development of 2K games for the console in 1980.
Space Jockey (Atari 2600)
Space Jockey was the first video game designed by Garry Kitchen. He went on to program the 2600 port of Donkey Kong.
The player controls an 'attack saucer' that flies to the right over scrolling, undulating terrain. The saucer only moves vertically and stops just before it hits the ground. The goal is to shoot ground-based tanks and flying enemies: jet planes, propeller planes, helicopters, and hot air balloons. Trees and houses appear on the ground as obstacles which can also be destroyed.
Space Jockey was developed by Gary Kitchen and was his first game he made for the Atari 2600. The game was a result of a six-month effort to reverse engineer the Atari 2600 while working at James Wickstead Design Associates (WDA).
Space Jockey was one of three runners-up for the 'Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Videogame' category in the 1983 Arcade Awards. According to a 2014 interview with Kitchen, Space Jockey sold over a million copies, but he believes most of those were at a discount. A February 1983 Billboard article on retailers lowering game prices mentioned, 'US Games recently sold off one of its older hits, the 2K Space Jockey, at rock bottom prices through its distributors.' Dan Gutman wrote in Electronic Fun with Computers & Games, 'The graphics here don't knock you out. The sound is nothing to phone home about. Space Jockey is a pure test of your reaction time and doesn't pretend to be anything more.'
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Space Jockey 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.
Recommended Game Controllers:
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.
Available online emulators:
5 different online emulators are available for Space Jockey. 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 Space Jockey are summarized in the following table:
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This version of Space Jockey 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 
