Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters (set 1)

Arcade Video game published 35 years ago:

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters (c) 1989 Atari Games Corp.

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters is a one or two-player game in which the players must rescue Dr. Sarah Bellum from Planet X, where her research facility has been taken over by the evil Reptilons. The game is played from an isometric perspective where players control their avatars using Hall effect joysticks. The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and a magnetic field perpendicular to the current. It was discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879.

The player must shoot their way through a series of simple maze-like levels, releasing the human hostages along the way. Levers must be found and thrown to activate the escalators which allow access to new areas. Gems can be collected to increase the power of the player's ray gun, and food lockers may be broken into for a health boost.

At the end of each level the play switches to an isometric auto-scrolling sequence in which the player controls his character in a small spaceship, and must steer left or right to navigate through a maze of obstacles. If the player reaches the end of this sequence they will progress to the next level.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : 136069

Main CPU : (2x) Motorola 68000 (@ 7.15909 Mhz), MOS Technology 6502 (@ 1.7895 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.579 Mhz), Texas Instruments TMS5220 (@ 650.727 Khz)

Players : 2
Control : stick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Escape From The Planet of the Robot Monsters was released in July 1989.

371 dedicated units were produced in the USA only. The selling price was $2245.
1000 conversion kits were produced in the USA only. The selling price was $1015.

The game code shares a hidden message : HI LISA, ROBIN, MOM & DAD.

The default high score screen of "Cyberball 2072" features names of many Atari arcade games, including ESCAPE (in reference for Escape From The Planet of the Robot Monsters).

- STAFF -

Project Leader & Game Designer: Mark Stephen Pierce
Lead Programmer/Software Design: Bonnie Smithson
Programmer: David Akers
Hardware Design: Pat McCarthy
Software Support: Rich Moore, Russell Dawe, Dennis Harper, Norm Avellar
Lead Animator: Mark Stephen Pierce
Animator: Mark West
Audio: Brad Fuller, Byron Sheppard
Music: Don Diekneite
Technicians: Alex Taccir, David Wiebenson
Marketing Manager: Linda Benzler
Team Directors: Rich Moore, John Ray
Special thanks to: Lisa D.C. Pierce, Brian Smithson (the home support teams), and all the support teams and manufacturing people at Atari Games.

- PORTS -

* COMPUTERS:
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1990)
Commodore C64 (1990)
Amstrad CPC (1990)
Commodore Amiga (1990)
Atari ST (1990)
PC (1991)