''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

created by Bill Williams and distributed via the

Atari Program Exchange Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not ju ...

. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their oddball concepts. The player takes the role of Sam the Salmon, swimming upriver to mate. Along the way he encounters waterfalls, a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

, and

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

s. In 1983, ''Salmon Run'' was released for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...

by Synapse Software under the name Showcase Software.

Gameplay

''Salmon Run'' is an overhead view, vertically scrolling game. As the river scrolls, the player primarily movesside-to-side to avoid obstacles. Each player starts with one life and gains another for each successful round. Hitting the rocks or bank of the river drains Sam's life slightly. Along the way there are a series of rapids which will stop Sam's motion upriver until he jumps them by pressing the fire button. After landing, Sam dips underwater, and can stay there by holding down the button. More dangerous are the bears, fishermen and seagulls that will kill Sam instantly if caught, but can be avoided by careful swimming or hiding underwater. On reaching the end of the map, Sam meets and kisses Samantha, and the round starts over with a new map and more enemies.

Reception

In 1982, '' Softline'' remarked on the unusual gameplay of saving things, not destroying them. The magazine praised the "outstanding ... remarkably lifelike" sound effects, and concluded that "''Salmon Run'' is a charming game that gives the player a genuine sense of ecological accomplishment; it's also quick to learn and quite contagious".

References

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External links

''Salmon Run''
at Atari Mania
Gameplay video
1982 video games Atari 8-bit family games Atari Program Exchange software VIC-20 games Synapse Software games Video games developed in the United States