720° is a skateboarding video game released in arcades by Atari Games in 1986. The player controls a skateboarder skating around a middle-class neighborhood. By doing jumps and tricks, the player can eventually gain enough points to compete at a skate park. The game's name comes from the "ultimate" trick, turning a full 720° (two complete circles) in the air after jumping off a ramp.

Plot

From official materials:

Gameplay

The game begins with the player controlling a skateboarder skating around a middle-class neighborhood using common objects as ramps for jumps. The player begins with a number of "tickets", each of which grants admission to one of four skate parks, or "events" in Skate City, the "hub" between the parks. When a park is entered, one ticket is expended. The player gains additional tickets by earning points. Whenever the player isn't in an event, a bar counts down the time remaining until the arrival of a swarm of killer bees accompanied by the caption of "SKATE OR DIE!". Once the bees arrive, the player still has a small amount of time to make it to a park. The longer the player delays this, the faster the bees become until they are unavoidable. Getting caught by the bees ends the game, but on default settings, the player may elect to continue by inserting more money. Reaching a park with a ticket gives the player the chance to earn points, medals and money. The money is used to upgrade equipment and the timer will reset upon completion of an event. The player constantly races to perform stunts, both in the events and in the park itself, to earn the points needed to acquire tickets. Thus, the player's score is directly tied to the amount of time available to play the game. In order to win, the player must complete a total of sixteen events through four hubs.

Structure

The game is four levels each consisting of four events: Scattered in the levels are several "map" icons placed on the ground which when activated show a map with the roads, parks, shops, and the player's location marked on it. Also scattered about the level are hazards and obstacles; jumping over hazards earns points. The player earns points and money for high scores in each event, and doing well at the events earns the cash needed to buy equipment that improves player performance, and a chance at a bronze, silver, or gold medal. Completing all four events in all four classes finishes the game.

Equipment

There are four types of skating equipment to be purchased at different shops. The prices for each are the same, beginning at $25. Upon each return to Skate City after visiting a park, the price increases by $25, to a maximum of $250.

Arcade cabinet

The speakers for the game are mounted atop the cabinet in a structure resembling a boombox, in line with the game's skate-rat theme. The display is larger, and higher resolution (512x384 - same as Paperboy), than that of a contemporary arcade game. The joystick is rigidly mounted to a disc at a steep angle and moves in a circular fashion, instead of in compass directions like standard joysticks. The game also has two buttons, one for "kicking" (which refers not to actual "kicking", but to pushing the skate board with a foot for speed) and the other for jumping.

Development

The game program for the arcade version was written in BLISS, and utilized the Atari System 2 hardware.

Other versions

The game was released to the Commodore 64 (twice) in 1987, the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum in 1988, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1989, and the Game Boy Color in 1999. There is also an unreleased port for the Atari Lynx. The Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and the first Commodore 64 versions were developed by Tiertex Design Studios and published by U.S. Gold. Sinclair User described it as "US Gold's finest hour". The Game Boy Color version was developed by Game Brains and published by Midway Games. It was originally released in March 1999 in North America and Europe.

Reception

The game received an overall positive reception among both users and critics. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 79th on their "Top 100 Video Games", writing that it was "addicting" and completely unique for its time.

Legacy

Emulated versions of the game are included in Midway Arcade Treasures, released in 2003 and 2004, Midway Arcade Origins, released in 2012.