Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

From Sega Retro

n/a

Buckrogers Title.png

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
System(s): VCO Object, SG-1000, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, MSX, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Shooting

















Release Date RRP Code
ColecoVision
US
1983 $? ?

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom is an early arcade game developed by Sega which uses the Buck Rogers comic book/television license. It was one of Sega's first licensed video games, along with Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, debuting in 1982. The game shares the same hardware used in Turbo and is a pseudo-3D rail shoot-'em-up - revolutionary at the time of release. It was also one of the first games to fit this genre that did not make use of vector graphics. Like Turbo, many sections of the HUD such as score were kept on external LED displays, meaning extra precautions must be taken when the game is emulated in programs such as MAME.

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom was originally titled Zoom 909 (ズーム909), and a few early machines still use this title. Zoom 909 has a different title screen, but other than this it is identical.

Planet of Zoom saw a much wider release than Turbo as it was brought to more home consoles and computers. It was ported to the Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, MSX, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20 and ZX Spectrum between 1982 and 1985, each suffering slightly due to weaker hardware. Strangely Zoom 909 was ported to the SG-1000 and MSX computers as a slightly different game, meaning the MSX had two different ports of this game.

Under the Buck Rogers license the game was never ported to a Sega console, and has not been re-released as Sega no longer own the license to produce Buck Rogers games.

Physical Scans

Arcade Version

SG-1000 Version

SG-1000, JP
Zoom909 SG1000 JP cover.jpg
Cover

Apple II Version

Apple II, US
BuckRogers AppleII US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngBuckRogers AppleII US Box Front.jpg
Cover

Atari 2600 Version

Atari 2600, US
Buckrogers Atari2600 US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngBuckrogers Atari2600 US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Buckrogers Atari2600 US Cart.jpg
Cart
Atari 2600, EU

Buckrogers Atari2600 EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Atari 2600, BR
Buckrogers Atari2600 BR Intellivision Box.jpg
Cover
Buckrogers Atari2600 BR Intellivision Cassette.jpg
Cassette

Atari 5200 Version

Atari 5200, US
Buckrogers Atari5200 US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngBuckrogers Atari5200 US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Buckrogers Atari5200 US Cart.jpg
Cart

Atari 8-bit Family Version

Atari 8-bit, US
Buckrogers Atari8bit US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngBuckrogers Atari8bit US Box Front.jpg
Cover
BuckRogers Atari8bit US Cart.jpg
Cart

Colecovision Version

Commodore 64 Version Version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
38 №1
Commodore 64
38
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Zzap!64 (UK)
45
[1]
Commodore 64
45
Based on
1 review

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

Commodore 64, US
BuckRogers C64 US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngBuckRogers C64 US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Commodore 64, EU
BuckRogers C64 EU Box.jpg
Cover

MSX Version

MSX, JP
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Cover

PC Booter Version

TI-99/4A Version

TI-99/4A, US
BuckRogers TI994A US Box Front.jpg
Cover

VIC-20 Version

VIC-20, US
BuckRogers VIC20 US Box Front.jpg
Cover

ZX Spectrum Version

ZX Spectrum, EU
Buckrogers Spectrum EU Box.jpg
Cover