Firefox (video game)

Firefox is a 1984 shoot 'em up arcade video game based on the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name.[4] It was produced in 1984[5][6] as Atari, Inc.'s only LaserDisc video game. Like Atari's first-person Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, Firefox came as both an upright and sit down cabinet with a yoke style controller.

Firefox
Developer(s)Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)Atari, Inc.
Designer(s)Dave Ralston
Mike Hally
Programmer(s)Greg Rivera
Norm Avellar
Artist(s)Dave Ralston
Composer(s)Earl Vickers
Jeff Gusman
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade systemAtari Laserdisc

Development

Firefox was primarily designed by Mike Hally and Dave Ralston, and programmed by Greg Rivera and Norm Avellar.

The cabinet featured stereo sound with an additional headphone port and volume control in the front. All Firefox cabinets shipped with a 19" Amplifone raster monitor, and utilized an Atari quad-POKEY. Firefox's power requirements necessitated the use of two Atari AR-II power supplies.

To collect the LaserDisc video, developers Mike Hally and Moe Shore sifted through 20 to 30 hours' worth of footage shot for the film. Most of the resulting footage was first-person shots filmed from helicopters flying over Greenland and Scandinavia.[7]

Firefox shares a cabinet with I, Robot, although significantly fewer I, Robot machines were produced.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Firefox on their April 1, 1984 issue as being the third most-successful upright/cockpit arcade unit of the month.[8] In the United States, it was the top-grossing laserdisc game on the Play Meter arcade charts in July 1984.[9]

See also

References
  1. Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 110. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  2. "FIRE FOX". Media Arts Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  3. "Arcade Action". Computer and Video Games. No. 30 (April 1984). 16 March 1984. pp. 26–7.
  4. "Firefox Takes Off" from Atari employee newsletter (page 1)
  5. Atari Vax emails "And to my knowledge, Coin-op has yet to sacrifice quality to get an on-time delivery. Firefox was supposed to start production 1/23/84; millions in parts are all staged ready for production, but it has not started (1/31/84) because the software is not ready."
  6. Schematic Package Supplement to Firefox Operators Manual (PDF), Atari
  7. "Firefox Takes Off" from Atari employee newsletter (page 2)
  8. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 233. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1984. p. 27.
  9. "National Play Meter". Play Meter. August 15, 1984.
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