Every time I play this I remember my mother and I playing this.......first time IT happened, it had us all screaming. Scared the Dickens outta us. Now it makes me laugh. Good times, good times
Man, I imagine kids playing that game back in the 80s. It must've been mindblowing considering how humble were the consoles back then. Lucasfilm really took full advantage of this technology and made a very original game. Even the cutscenes are really good. Some people said that when the alien attacks the ship it was sort of a jumpscare moment.
A few details on the game's development from one of the programmers, David Fox (future lead programmer on Return to Monkey Island), revealed over Twitter: - The aliens masquerading as pilots was added to the game later in production at George Lucas's suggestion. They deliberately left out this mechanic in the instruction manual and in marketing so players would be taken completely off-guard. - The symbols on the alien's uniform are the initials of the programmers' names rotated on their sides. This was back when Atari didn't allow in-game credits, so this was the developers' workaround (LucasFilm was allowed to credit them in the manual, however.) - The box cover features several pilots, all played by Fox himself. For one of them, he made sure to show his wedding ring for dramatic effect.
It was actually developed under the working title of 'Behind Jaggi Lines'. My dad had a pirated copy of it on disk under this title. They changed the name when they finally released it.
@@crooker2 Well, yes, but after a few levels, the aliens got smart and began camouflaging their heads, so they were no longer green. They "learned" after being fried so many times by you.
This was one of the first games i played on my Atari when i was about 5 years old. Me and my brother had no idea the aliens were in the game and at the time there was no reason to believe games could even be scary. When that first alien appeared i fell out my chair crying. What a time :D
The first time I played this I was about 9. The first time I accidently tried to rescue an alien and he banged on the window instead of the door I screamed. Good times.
I liked how if you left the pilot outside for a while, their knocking gradually slowed as they ran out of air, and if you finally did let them inside, it sounded like they could barely make it in. It was a really nice touch.
In '86, when we were about 16 years old, I let a friend play this for the first time. When the Jaggi jumped up, my friend jumped out of the chair. Good times!
To most people LucasFilm (by 1991 changed to LucasArts) is Monkey Island, Loom, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and later The Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max. For me it's Ballblazer, the Eidolon, Koronos Rift and this one. That's because in 1985 my father bought an Atari 800XL and I saw advertising in magazine like Compute! and Family Computing for these games. Too bad I never got those games because they featured great graphics for an Atari 8-bit. I never heard of Monkey Island, Loom and the likes because our family couldn't afford a PC so even then (1990) I still had the Atari, as well as an even older TI-99/4A my father bought at the end of 1981. It also happened that I stopped buying those magazines by 1988 when they stopped featuring BASIC programs for all platforms so I couldn't see advertisements for new games.
This is a great game........ As a kid I felt that I was actually doing somthing, saving lost pilots in a alien world. This game was excitement to me, I prepared myself before every game.
Being a C64 fanboy I have no objection to admitting that the Atari version is the most superb version of this game. It's a remarkable programming feat + awesome design and concept.
I used to play the hell out of this game. Once I had the quota of rescued pilots, and the mothership was in range, I'd purposely let a Jaggi alien into the ship. He pounds the piss out of your ship from the inside, but won't destroy it unless you turn the systems on. BUT, you can hit the booster to return to mother ship. The Valkyrie has a hard time getting up there with the alien still slugging away in the back, but eventually gets killed. Not sure how, but someone back there must have kicked his ass inside out, lol.
4:40 - Count me in as one of those who literally fell out of their chair when that happened. Not a lot of games at that time could incite a reaction like that!
I used to go out of the room as a kid when the ship landed and i wasn't able to see the rescued pilot's head. One day a neighbour visited and my father was playing this game. When the alien appeared the neighbour get so scared that he slipped backwards from chair and spilled his cofee on the carpet.
this is crazy for 1985. it's nuts to think how the math of this world was there in the computer, and it was just a challenge of extracting it to show it within the limits. if that makes sense.
That alien banging on the windscreen brings back brilliant memories! Used to love playing this on my Atari 800, waiting for ages each time for the cassette tape to load.
Nice seeing this posted here! The B&W launch sequence, animated by Jim St. Louis, was created for the disk version. We had to add Epyx's copy protected disk loader - it took so long to load that we wanted to offer something fun. Jim's specialty was doing shaded metal effects in lores. Check out the robot he did in Koronis Rift, our 2nd gen games that also used the fractal landscapes pioneered for Rescue (by Loren Carpenter, now of Pixar).
Twenty years have passed and I still feel complete fear in those seconds before the pilot start banging the airlock. I don't care if I saw the pilot was on my side was legit: the horror I felt the first time that green monster jumped to the screen is imprinted forever in my memory and I'll always keep a finger over the shields button, just in case.
gjeldrez I feel you're pain, lol I know this comment is 4 years old but watching this video now ..... even now I held my phone away with the sound down, even tho I play much scarier games to this day the fear from this game is still there
@@theannoyedmrfloyd3998 Correct. My dad had a pre-release (pirated version) on disk and it was called Behind Jaggi Lines. It's a much better name and I have no idea why they changed it.
I still remember as I played this game the first time. The music game me goose bumbs. And I was so scared as I saw the Alien the first time. Thank you for uploading.
If you wait long enough to let the pilot in, his knocks get slower and slower as though his life support is giving out. There was so many little things in this game that made it super immersive.
got this on a diskette, no manuals, no info, spent hours trying to figure out what to do unti I realized it was about rescuing pilots and not only blasting UFOS and cannons. What a great day it was when I saved my first pilot, and returned to mother ship afterwards.. too bad I used a B/W TV and never could realize the aliens wore green helmets
Moments in this game which sucked (even though the game itself was the furthest thing from "suck"): 1) Opening the airlock and letting the alien pilot inside. 2) Turning on the shield by accident and frying a friendly pilot. 3) Running off to grab a snack while there's a pilot running up to your ship, then coming back just in time to watch the alien pilot punch a hole through your windshield. 4) Turning into a mountainside while you're cruising around at full speed and burying your ship in one hit, all because you were too big of a dumbass to check your Wing Clearance Bars before turning. Good times, in a masochistic sort of way. Good times. :-D
I have been working on optimizing a 3d engine for miniscule power hardware and I learn about this and realized I was retreading 40 year old computer science geniuses.
The fact that they pulled off a voxel playfield at any frame rate back then in itself is amazing. Then actually put a good playable game on top of it? Bravo!
WOW this brings back memories. First Lucasfilm game I ever bought myself, back in the early 80's when it came out for the 800XL. Haven't seen that alien pilot in over 20 years, thanks for the memories :)
I cannot count the number of hours I played this game... And I remember vividly my former partner falling out of her chair the first time that alien punched a hole in the screen... Lucas Arts needs to update those old classics. Thanks for sharing
This was one of my favorites back in the day. I must've been 6 or 7 when i played this for the first time, and I'm sure my older brother got a kick out of my first experience with the green alien... AHHHhhhh!!!
I fondly remember this game, the first time I played not knowing what to expect and that alien making me nearly jump out of my seat. Lucasfilm had a great track record back then for both Atari and Commodore. Who woulda ever guessed they'd create Guybrush Threepwood and keep us into their games well past the 800xl and c64 going out, but they did. More Threepwood please. And these old games, totally need some console ports :)
GreatLakesDrifta me too mate, I was like...... five or six, yeah made me cry hahah ..... some family members still won't let me live it down, even tho I play much scarier games these days
I loved this game! So much fun. The alien always scared the crap out of me. I just remember all the detail they put into these games. like if you took too long to open the door the pilots knocking got slower and more deliberate and the fact that if you turned on the shields they got fried.
I remember playing this on our spiffy new Atari 5200 one night, all alone in the dark living room. I had been playing it for a while and was aware of the instructions' warning against aliens, but when that green bastard jumped onto the windshield that night I was so petrified I just sat there and watched him kill me. One of the greatest 80s games ever.
One of my all-time favorite Atari games! I believe this was the very first game to use fractal technology; it was mentioned in a 1985 issue of Computer Games magazine where the programmers at Lucasfilm Games were interviewed. They also talked about George Lucas's input in its development.
This and Koronis Rift in the running for the best Atari 8 bit game ever both are Master pieces Fractal graphics at the best the best 8 bit version right here
Man, I had totally forgotten about this game until today. Played this on my Atari XE. Spent hours flying around the canyons just having fun. And of course, halfway peeing myself when an alien popped up!
Yup...That was definitely a nerve wreaking experience seeing that alien for the first time, and I was about 5 or 6 then. I would LOVE to see a full run of this game though!
Thanks for a genius post. My fave 80s atari game - wish I could play it now. Those aliens were scary in the dark but I'd let the odd one in on purpose to see if I could get back to base before it destroyed my ship!!!!
You know, one of the things I like about LucasArts games is how they throw in little references to other LucasArts games. Does anyone else here remember using the telescope in Maniac Mansion, specifically what would happen if you turned it to look at the moon instead of the other part of the mansion? :-D
I've used to play this on old monochrome tv, so I didn't recognize if the pilot was alien or not, and also didn't know that green bastard will pop up before my cockpit view, uff I've nearly had shit my pants and had heartattak, but anyway that was absolute great game that days and I'm still lovit it now....
THANK YOU! I have been wondering the name of this game for years now! It was my favorite when I was a kid, and I still think about the aliens jumping out occasionally. Favorited.
I encountered this game in my mid teens and must say that to this day it remains the damn scarest I ever played. The second most scary then was "Blood" on the PC, but it came nowhere as close. Today's commercial video games just don't seem to be the thing any more :-(
I have no doubt you're correct. The original cartridge we did for the 5200 didn't have the opening sequence. When we decided to deliver the 800 version through Epyx, we added the B&W launch sequence to cover the long disk load. So if it's also on the 800 cartridge, that must have been released afterwards.
You've discovered one of the game's Easter Eggs - those are the initials of the creators of the game (Loren Carpenter, David Fox, Charlie Kellner, Peter Langston).
![Atari XL/XE - Rescue on Fractalus [Lucasfilm Games] 1985](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
