K-Razy Shoot-Out

K-Razy Shoot-Out is a clone of the arcade game Berzerk developed by K-Byte, a division of Kay Enterprises, and released for the Atari 8-bit family in 1981.[2] The game was written by Torre Meeder and Keith Dreyer,[3] and was the first Atari 8-bit cartridge from a third-party developer.[4] An Atari 5200 version followed in 1983. The team of Dreyer and Meeder also wrote the 1983 Atari 8-bit game Boulders and Bombs.[1]

K-Razy Shoot-Out
Developer(s)	K-Byte
Publisher(s)	K-Byte CBS Software
Designer(s)	Keith Dreyer Torre Meeder[1]
Platform(s)	Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200
Release	1981: Atari 8-bit 1983: Atari 5200
Genre(s)	Multidirectional shooter

K-Razy Shoot-Out is part of a series of titles with the "K-" prefix, including K-Razy Kritters[5] and K-Star Patrol.[6] All of them were published on cartridge. After CBS Software purchased K-Byte,[7] the games were published under the CBS brand, including the Atari 5200 port of K-Razy Shoot-Out.[8]

Gameplay

As in Berzerk, the goal is to destroy all of the robots occupying a series of randomly generated mazes. In Berzerk, if the player takes too long to clear a maze, an indestructible bouncing ball ("Evil Otto") drives the player to an exit. K-Razy Shoot-Out uses a visible timer instead.[9] If the timer runs out, the game ends. If the player exits a maze without clearing it, the player has to replay one or two mazes without getting points.[10]

Reception

K-Razy Shoot-Out sold 35,000 copies by June 1982.[11] John J. Anderson of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games, wrote that as a Berzerk clone, "the only element that's missing is the speech ... lots of fun, and has a great deal of staying power".[4] It won the 1983 Arcade Award for "Best Arcade/Action Computer Game" from Electronic Games magazine.[2] The Berzerk similarity was mentioned, but also that the game has "a unique flavor all its own."

See also

• Robot Attack
• Robon
• Thief

References

1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
2. "1983 Arcade Awards". Electronic Games: 34. January 1983.
3. "K-Razy Shoot-Out". Atari Mania.
4. Anderson, John J.; Small, David; Wolcott, Eric F. (Spring 1983). "Atari Personal Computer Games". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games. p. 93.
5. "K-Razy Kritters". Atari Mania.
6. "K-Star Patrol Manual". archive.org.
7. Ahl, David; Staples, Betsy (April 1983). "1983 Winter Consumer Electronics Show". Creative Computing. 9 (4): 18.
8. Iida, Keita. "Atari 5200 Review: K-RAZY SHOOT-OUT". AtariHQ.com.
9. "K-Razy Shoot-Out". Atari Protos.
10. K-Razy Shoot-Out. CBS Software. 1981.
11. Maher, Jimmy (2012-03-26). "The Wizardry Phenomenon". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 9 July 2014.