Press Release: 1996-11-22: Blasting Onto Store Shelves, SegaSoft's Rocket Jockey Has Begun Shipping In Time for the Holiday Season

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: SegaSoft (archived)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (November 22, 1996) - SegaSoft, Inc., today announced Rocket Jockey, its coveted combat-action game for Windows 95 CD-ROM, has shipped. Rocket Jockey is a gladiator-style combat game that combines brutality, strategy, and quick response in a new extreme sport competition played atop blazing rocket cycles. In addition, gameplay is set to the music of surf guitarist Dick Dale. Rocket Jockey was developed by Rocket Science Games.

"Rocket Jockey was designed specifically for the gamer who seeks thrills, fast action and furious gameplay," said Haven Carter Dubrul, vice president of marketing, SegaSoft. "Based on focus-group feedback, we anticipate it to be extremely popular with adults and teens this Christmas and beyond."

"Rocket Jockey has been backed by an aggressive sales and marketing campaign, including participation in diverse lifestyle events which provided trial opportunities to potential customers. More than half a million free demo disks have been distributed through retail channels, at consumer events and in response to consumer requests. Promotions included: Robot Wars in San Francisco, The Vans/Hard Rock Cafe World Championships of Skateboarding in Los Angeles, and College Fest '96," said Dubrul.

"The ad campaign includes both print and television (ESPN 2 and MTV) targeting gamers, extreme sports fans, and alternative music enthusiasts," concluded Dubrul.

In a recent Rocket Jockey preview, C/Net Gamecenter noted, "Playing Rocket Jockey is thrilling, chilling, and, ultimately, a laugh riot." In emphasizing its originality, Gamespot website said "While Rocket Jockey is at its core a combat racing game, it bears almost no resemblance to anything that has come before."

Three Games In One
Within the game there are three separate modes of play; Rocket War, Rocket Racing, and Rocket Ball, which provide more than 30 levels of gameplay.

Rocket War: An explosively fast head-on combat game in which players square off against other jockeys throughout 10 levels of sheer hell. The last jockey who survives on his rocket is victorious.
Rocket Racing: The object of the competition is to maneuver through pylons as fast as possible while dodging obstacles and other competitors on this death-trap course. Players will buzz, reel and sky rocket past savage competitors who don't play by any rules as they try to beat the clock.
Rocket Ball: A game that is a part polo, part lacrosse and all action. Piloting through the arena, gamers must pick up a variety of objects (sticky balls, footballs and tires) each with its own physical property. Players' skills will be challenged as they attempt to adjust to the physics of each ball and try to score points by tossing the objects through the goal posts located around the arena.
Action! Action! Action! 
Rocket Jockey brings innovative gameplay to the PC, requiring players to master a whole new game mechanic. Turns must be negotiated solely by shooting a pair of cables (one on each side of the bike) equipped with grappling hooks that can be fired and latched onto various pylons located around each playing field.
The cables also have less sportsman-like uses: players will quickly learn to rig nasty clothesline traps to sabotage unsuspecting opponents, or to rip other riders off of their rockets, fling them around the arena, or propel them into stadium walls. But be careful, less adept players can also torpedo their rockets into a walls if they've miscalculated their timing.

There are several types of cables are available for players to zoom, soar and propel themselves around the arena, including: invisible, glow-in-the-dark, and barbed-wire cables for the ultimate in damage. These cables are strategically scattered throughout the game for players to pick-up.

Players can also acquire better rockets as they progress within the game, or they can take a short cut and "upgrade" by means of a hostile takeover of an opponent's vehicle. Each rocket varies in speed, control and maneuverability. In addition, multiple fields have varying elements and obstacles, including trap doors, a variety of tools, barriers, and power-ups deposited throughout the levels. An up-to-the-second radar screen makes contestants aware of playing conditions (i.e. if there is an unmanned rocket or a fast-approaching adversary on the horizon).

Price, Availability, and System Requirements 
Rocket Jockey is available at most major computer game retailers and has a suggested retail price of $49.99. Rocket Jockey Requires: PC-CD ROM drive; Pentium 75; 16 MB RAM; Windows 95 operating system; 16 bit video card; 4X CD-ROM; and a 16-bit audio card. A fully networkable version of Rocket Jockey (for up to six players across a LAN) will be available in January 1997.

About the Company 
SegaSoft was founded in 1995 and develops interactive software and content for delivery on all platforms, including PCs, gaming consoles and the Internet. A joint venture of CSK Corporation and Sega of America, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the $4 billion Sega Enterprises Ltd., a global leader in interactive digital entertainment media, SegaSoft is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., where it employs 170. For more information on SegaSoft, please visit http://www.segasoft.com.