Atari 2600 Friday’s #51 – Scuba Diver

I feel like I should make an interesting note about this game here. Scuba Diver comes in the standard cartridge as most Atari games do, however, it only has an end label, there is no front label.

The Story: This really looks a lot like the NES version of Jaws when you go underwater to hunt fish. It’s just a diver looking for treasure, how rich will he get?

From the Manual: Nothing in the Manual, goes right into how to play the game.

From the Box: No information on the back of the box. Mostly Copyright Info.

The Gameplay: The manual says there are two levels. Hunting for fish, and searching for treasure. You start with your diver sitting in his boat. You can jump into the water when no fish are below you and thus the game begins. You gain control of your diver when h reaches a certain depth and you have 4 divers to work with. When you gain control, you can start shooting fish. While underwater, the scoreboard disappears and a 60-second oxygen timer is shown. So, there is a time limit to how long you can stay under.  Then you have to return to the boat to deposit your catch and catch your breath before going back in. It is worth note that you will have to be careful with your aim as you will not be able to move until your harpoon returns, so only shoot when it’s safe to do so.

When you catch all the fish on the screen and move into the sunken ship, the game moves on to Level 2. Watch your oxygen supply, it continues from level 1. Watch the walls, they are sticky and hard to get free from. There are also 3 sea monsters inside the ship you cannot harm, they protect the treasure and can move through walls. Apparently, you can only grab one chest at a time, so keep that and your oxygen in mind.

The Controls: Up/Down/Left/Right Movement. Red Button fires the harpoon.

Post Review: I’m going to start off by saying I was excited to try this unusual cart. However, on trying to play it, I find that I literally cannot even, it is pro tier difficult. The fish all come straight for you, the harpoon easily misses its target, and the most asinine part of this game would be, that when you jump into the water, your diver goes most of the way to the bottom  before you gain control, it is almost impossible to get in the water without dying before you can move, only to shot maybe on fish before another one near it has swarmed you. All it takes is one pixel from the tail to kill you. I want to play this game, but it’s going to take of time and patience waiting for things to line up to even consider jumping into the water. Maybe you will have more luck than I did.

High Score: 0