Road Runner © 1986 Atari Games.
The player takes on the role of the Road Runner - from the much-loved Warner Bros. cartoon series - and must outrun and outsmart the villainous Wile E. Coyote, in this abstract side-scrolling racing game from Atari.
A variety of traps and pitfalls await the Road runner - including cannons, land mines and cliff-top drops - that must be carefully avoided or negotiated. It is possible, however, to lure Wile E. Coyote into these traps to put some valuable distance between the Road Runner and his pursuer.
Piles of birdseed are littered throughout the levels and Road Runner must eat them (by running over them) whenever possible, as missing five seed piles will cause Road Runner to feel faint and stop running, resulting in him being caught by Wile E Coyote. A 'Seed Meter' at the top of the screen indicates Road Runner's seed energy level.
Road Runner's colourful, beautifully-drawn graphics capture the spirit and humour of the legendary cartoons perfectly. The music and sound effects are also faithful to the cartoon series.
Game ID : 136040
Runs on the "Atari System 1" hardware. It was available in the Upright configuration AND as a conversion kit for Marble Madness, Peter Pack Rat or Indiana Jones.
For operators who would like to utilize prize redemption, the game is compatible with the System 1 'Vend-A-Ticket' game option.
Control: stick
Buttons: 3
Road Runner was released in July 1986 (even if the title screen says 1985).
Road Runner, as with all Atari System 1 games, was arguably one of the most distracting games in the arcade. If not setup properly, the Road Runner game would play all the background music during the intro. The Atari System 1 speaker system had a great acoustic arrangement. Players would be immersed in a sea of sound allowing them to really get into the game play. Unfortunately for others, they could hear the same thing on the other side of the room!
Some Road Runner units were produced (757 exactly) from the factory. Most arcade owners purchased the conversion kit which was marketed and readily available from Atari at a lower price ($695) than a new system ($1895). An Atari System 1 cabinet could be converted into a different game (but only with other Atari System 1 games) in a day.
A graphically enhanced version of this game (Apparently running on Beat Head hardware) was planned, where each stage would have a Road Runner cartoon scene as an intermission, spooled from a laserdisc. However, although a master was produced (now in the hands of a private collector of Atari prototypes), no discs were ever pressed and it is likely that no ROMs were ever burned.
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