''Cosmic Ark'' is an

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...

game designed by

Rob Fulop Rob Fulop is an American game programmer who created two of the Atari 2600's biggest hits: the port of arcade game '' Missile Command'' and 1982's '' Demon Attack'', which won '' Electronic Games Game of the Year award. While at Atari, Fulop al ...

and published by

Imagic Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', '' Cosmic Ark'', and '' D ...

in 1982. The objective is to gather specimens from different planets in a spaceship which contains the survivors from the city of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

. There are two versions of the cartridge. One allows the player to toggle the starfield display with the Black & White / Color TV switch. In the other the starfield cannot be disabled.

Gameplay

In the first stage, the player must fend off meteor showers from all four sides of the screen by pushing the joystick to fire in the desired direction, similar to the 1980 arcade game ''

Space Zap ''Space Zap'' is a space-themed fixed shooter arcade video game developed by Game-A-Tron and licensed to Midway Manufacturing in 1980.The Arcade Flyer Archive." - Video Game Flyers: 005, Sega-Gremlin. The Arcade Flyer Archive, 07 Mar. 2002. Web. ...

''. The second stage requires the player to pilot a shuttle to a planet and use its tractor beam to pick up life forms. While near the planet's surface, planetary defenses will fire at the shuttle. If hit, one previously captured specimen will be freed, forcing the player to retrieve another. After a set period of time, a klaxon will warn of renewed meteor activity, and the player must return immediately to defend the ark. ''Cosmic Ark'' does not provide a set number of lives. Instead, the player's ark starts with 40 fuel units, which are lost with each meteor strike or shot fired, and gained by destroying a meteor or capturing a life form. Capturing both life forms from a planet before the warning klaxon will top off fuel reserves. If the ark runs out of energy, the next hit it takes will end the game. Like its predecessor, ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'' ends with the destruction of the Ark but the smaller shuttle ship escaping. This plot thread was not continued in other Imagic games.

Development

According to Fulop, the game was created entirely as a feat of technical one-upmanship: to show off the impressive background starfield effect to Activision programmers David Crane and

Bob Whitehead Robert A. Whitehead (born November 1, 1953) is an American video game designer and programmer. While working for Atari, Inc. he wrote two of the nine Atari Video Computer System launch titles: '' Blackjack'' and '' Star Ship''. After leaving Ata ...

. The starfield effect uses a bug in the Atari 2600 hardware.

Reception

Richard A. Edwards reviewed ''Cosmic Ark'' in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 59. Edwards commented that "Overall, it is difficult to praise ''Cosmic Ark'', though it can be fun at first. It is doubtful that this game will be played enough to justify its price, so perhaps it should be passed by."

Reviews

*''TeleMatch'' (Jan, 1983) *''

Electronic Fun with Computers & Games ''Electronic Fun with Computers & Games'' was a video game magazine published in the United States from November 1982 to May 1984. For the last two issues it was renamed ''ComputerFun''. Content The magazine was split up into the following sect ...

'' (Feb, 1983) *''

Tilt Tilt may refer to: Music * Tilt (American band), a punk rock group, formed in 1992 * Tilt (British band), an electronic music group, formed in 1993 * Tilt (Polish band), a rock band, formed in 1979 Albums * ''Tilt'' (Cozy Powell album), 1981 ...

'' (Mar, 1983)http://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Tilt/tilt_numero004/Tilt%20004%20-%20Page%20025%20(1983-03-04).jpg

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, last1=Hague, first1=James, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ {{cite web, title=Cosmic Ark, url=https://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=104, website=AtariAge, access-date=2017-11-08, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613132951/http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=104, archive-date=2017-06-13, url-status=dead {{cite web, title=Cosmic Ark Manual, url=https://archive.org/details/Cosmic_Ark_1982_Imagic, website=archive.org, year=1982 , publisher=Imagic {{cite web, url=http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_rob_fulop.html, title=DP Interviews Rob Fulop, last1=Stilphen, first1=Scott, website=Digital Press

External links

''Cosmic Ark''
at Atari Mania 1982 video games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Imagic games Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games set in outer space Science fiction video games