Sprint 2

Sprint 2 is a two player overhead-view arcade racer released in 1976 by Kee Games,[1] a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari. It was the first auto racing arcade game with computer-controlled opposing drivers.[2]

Sprint 2
Developer(s)Kee Games
Publisher(s)Kee Games
Designer(s)Dennis Koble & Lyle Rains
Programmer(s)Dennis Koble
Lyle Rains 
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
  • NA: November 2, 1976
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)One-player or Two-player game
CabinetUpright
CPU6502
DisplayRaster (black and white), standard resolution

Technology

Sprint 2 evolved from Gran Trak 10 and Gran Trak 20, but included a microprocessor (the 6502), a first for racing games. This allowed Sprint 2 to include two computer-controlled cars, better graphics, and more tracks. Unlike Gran Trak, this machine did not have brake pedals, but the players could still make their cars "fishtail" by turning their steering wheels abruptly.

Legacy

Sprint 2 was the first in a long series of games, some of which bore its name into the 1980s.

  • Sprint 4 and Sprint 8, a 4 player and 8 player version respectively, were released in 1977. Both were full color raster versions of the game.
  • Sprint 1 was released in 1978. The "1" and "2" designations reflect the number of players, rather than indicating it was a prequel.
  • Super Sprint, a 3 player version with updated graphics, was released by Atari Games in 1986.
  • Championship Sprint, a 2 player version of Super Sprint, was released by Atari Games in 1986.
  • Badlands, a 2 player post-apocalyptic setting update of Championship Sprint, was released in 1989.

Sprint 2 was one of the first Atari products to feature the now well-known "Atari arcade font" (first introduced in the Quiz Show).[3]

In 2016 a reverse engineered version to JavaScript became available.[4]

References
  1. "Sprint 2 Killer List of Video Games Entry". Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  2. "An Interview with Dan Van Elderen". Next Generation. No. 35. Imagine Media. November 1997. p. 81.
  3. "The 8-bit arcade font, deconstructed". Vox. YouTube. April 6, 2020.
  4. Forty-Year-Old Arcade Game Reveals Secrets of Robot Path Planning on hackaday.com by Dan Maloney (April 28, 2016)
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