River Raid
1982 games Atari gamesCommodore 64 gamesZX Spectrum games
Classic shoot’em up - fly through a narrow canyon above a river and shoot the obstacles.
River Raid was one an instant hit when it was first released on Atari 2600 (with only Ms. Pac-Man beating it in 1983 when it comes to sales). The reason behind the popularity of this title could be described in just two words: simplicity and challenge.
The game was very simple - you fly a plane in a narrow canyon above a river, there are different obstacles in your way, from ships and helicopters, to island and more complex traps. You have your faithful gun / missile launcher aboard, which will help you solve that problem. Each sort-of level of the game is separated from the next one by a choke point in a form of a bridge that you have to destroy in order to move forward.
You can fly faster or slower, move right or left, but you cannot just stop moving, which makes this game challenging. That and the fact that you need to refuel your plane. You can do it by flying over refuel stations, camouflaged using large letters F, U, E and L.
Once you progress beyond each bridge, the difficulty jumps up a bit with the introduction of new obstacles or more complex ways they try to stop you. The game has no beginning or ending, you can just fly forever.
★★★★☆
★★☆☆☆
★★☆☆☆
★★★★☆
add commentRiver Raid videos
River Raid screenshots
Games like River Raid
Wavy Navy
1983
Interesting variation to the classic Space Invaders arcade game - you shoot the formations of enemy planes while dealing with the giant waves.
Beverly Hills Cop
1990
Arcade game based upon the action / comedy movie starring Eddie Murphy.
Depthcharge
1994
Amiga version of classic 1977 arcade game - sink the enemy submarines using depth charges.
Space Invaders
1978
Shooter game that conquered the arcade machines market in late 1970s and remained an icon not only for the genre, but video games as a whole.
