Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

n/a

VCO Object Apple II Atari 2600 Atari 5200 Atari 8-bit ColecoVision Commodore 64 Commodore VIC-20 IBM PC MSX TI-99/4A ZX Spectrum
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
System(s): VCO Object, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, MSX, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum
Publisher: Sega Enterprises, Inc. (US) Coleco (US) CBS Electronics (EU) U.S. Gold (UK) Philips
Developer: Sega Enterprises, Inc. Sega Electronics
Distributor: Parco Electrics (UK)
Licensor: The Dille Family Trust
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1982-12 $? ? UK 1983 £? ? US 1984-03 EU 198x US 1983-11 005-01 EU 1983 005-10 BR 1983 C 3032 US 1983-11 005-02 US 1983 005-05 UK (Disk) 1984 £12.9512.95 UK (Cassette) 1984 £9.959.95 IT 198x 69,000£69,000 UK (Cassette) 1985 £7.957.95 US 1984 UK 1983 £11.9511.95 US 1983 005-08 US 1983-11 005-03 IT 198x 59,000£59,000 US 1983-11 005-04 EU 1983 005-12 IT 1983 69,000£69,000 005-12

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Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom is an early arcade game developed by Sega for VCO Object hardware. It uses the Buck Rogers comic book/television license, and stands as one of Sega's first licensed video games, along with Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, both debuting in 1982. The game is adapted from the earlier Zoom 909, a largely identical game seen predominantly in Japan.

Gameplay

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom is one of the earliest examples of a "rail" shoot-'em-up game. Gameplay is played in a pseudo-3D third-person perspective, with enemies and obstacles moving towards the camera. 2D sprites are scaled in real-time to give an illusion of depth - technology which would serve as a basis for a plethora of arcade games produced by Sega in the 1980s.

In its original arcade form, each "round" is divided into 8 "sectors", each with slightly different aesthetics and gameplay. When a round is complete, the game loops, becoming more challenging in the process.

History

Legacy

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom was brought to a wide variety of home consoles and computers between 1982 and 1985, including the Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, IBM PC (as a PC booter), TI-99/4A, VIC-20 and ZX Spectrum, each suffering slightly due to weaker hardware. Due to odd circumstances, the MSX received two ports of the game by different developers and publishers, one under the Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom name, and another as Zoom 909.

An Amstrad CPC version was advertised by Amsoft in 1985 but was not released.

Versions

Most of the home conversions opt only use two different types of levels - a "ground" level which acts as a hybrid between the arcade sectors 3 and 7, and a "space" level which plays like sector 2 (albeit often without a background). Only the ColecoVision version attempts to replicate the arcade game's content in full - it still drops some sectors (there are six in total, and called "sections" in this port), but by featuring tunnels, it remains the closest home conversion of the game (though home ports of Zoom 909 for the MSX and SG-1000 also feature tunnels).

Production credits

Sega Enterprises R&D Department

• Progrm by: Hideki Ishikawa
• Seculity by: Masatoshi Mizunaga

Source:

Internal ROM text

Magazine articles

Main article: Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom/Promotional material.

Photo gallery

• 

  Sit-down cabinet

• 

  Upright cabinet

Physical scans

VCO Object version

VCO Object, US
Manual

Apple II version

Apple II, US
Cover
Disk

Atari 2600 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (DE) 40 (FR) 80

	60
Based on 2 reviews

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

Atari 2600, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Atari 2600, EU
Cart

Atari 2600, BR
Cover
Cassette

Atari 5200 version

Atari 5200, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Atari 8-bit Family version

Atari 8-bit family, US
Cover
Cart Manual

ColecoVision version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (UK) 72

	72
Based on 1 review

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

ColecoVision, US
Cover
Cart

ColecoVision, EU
Cover

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (UK) 45

	45
Based on 1 review

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

Commodore 64, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Commodore 64, UK
Cover
Cassette Manual

MSX version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (UK) 93

	93
Based on 1 review

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

MSX, EU
Cover
Cassette

PC Booter version

IBM PC, US

TI-99/4A version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (UK) 90

	90
Based on 1 review

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

TI-99/4A, US
Cover

VIC-20 version

VIC-20, US
Cover

ZX Spectrum version

ZX Spectrum, UK
Cover
Cassette Manual Manual (Rear)

References

Buck Rogers games for Sega systems
	Planet of Zoom (1982)
	Planet of Zoom (1983) | Caverns of Zagreb (unreleased) | Marathon of Zenda (unreleased) | Secrets of Zadar (unreleased)
	Planet of Zoom (1983)
	Planet of Zoom (1983)
	Planet of Zoom (1983)
	Planet of Zoom (1983)
	Planet of Zoom (1983)
	Planet of Zoom Super Game (1983)
	Planet of Zoom (1984)
	Planet of Zoom (1984)
	Planet of Zoom (1985)
	Amstrad Triple Gold I (unreleased)
	Countdown to Doomsday (1991)