Gate Racer

The object is to race through the gated race course as fast as you can, avoiding the oil slicks. You have to deal with the inertia of your car as you move back and forth, and navigate random oil slicks that get in your way on the racetrack. New to this version is the addition of road debris (represented by a large playfield-colored block) that bounces around the racetrack occasionally. Hitting it will temporarily obscure your car, take time off the clock (the timer stops while you're in contact with it), and serve as a general distraction while you're trying to drive.

New to this version: There can now be two oil slicks on the road at one time rather than one.

Pressing the fire button will give your car a quick speed boost, which can be useful for quick maneuvers if there's an oil slick in the way, or to quickly speed past some road debris. Timing is everything with that.

Winning the Game:

This is new to this version. Because the timer rolls over after 10 min, I added a winning condition when you reach 9 minutes on the clock. You'll be presented with a trophy and a celebration tune if you beat the game. This will write "9:00:00" to your high score, and is the highest score you can achieve.

Difficulty Levels:

Below is a table that outlines the options enabled for each difficulty level.

Kids: Oil Slick Off, Small Car, Powerups On, Velocity Control Off

Easy: Oil Slick Off, Small Car, Powerups On

Standard: Oil Slick On, Small Car, Powerups On

Advanced: Oil Slick On, Large Car, Powerups Off

Expert: Oil Slick On, Large Car, Powerups Off

Notes on Game options:

Velocity is whether or not your car has inertia, and is only turned off for the kids level.

The Oil slick causes your car to slide back and forth and can potentially slam you against a wall or gate.

The Larger car makes it more difficult to navigate the gates on the racetrack, requiring more precise movement.

The powerup appears occasionally, and provides you with two gates worth of invincibility. It's a flashing block.

High Score Saving:

Your high score will be written to the AtariVox or the Save Key, but only for the standard difficulty level. High Scores for Novice and Expert will display on-screen as long as the game is not turned off, however they will not save as your high score.

Your high score will NOT be displayed on screen unless you've selected the standard difficulty setting.

You will see "Savekey Check" when the game attempts to read or write to the SaveKey. If you'd like to clear your high score, hold the joystick down on powerup. You will see the SaveKey check screen turn blue to indicate that your score has been cleared.