Sky Jinks was designed by Bob Whitehead for Activision in 1982; he also designed Boxing, Skiing, Chopper Command and Stampede, the game behind DiRoccoVision's ROUNDUP. His tips in the original manual still hold: "The key to winning any race is speed. But, in pylon air racing, you'll have to match your speed with flying skills." And a warning every Cloud Racer pilot will recognise: "The path to becoming a 'Sky Star' takes lots of patience and plenty of crashes."
Cloud Racer's rules were read straight out of the original cartridge's program: how the racer accelerates and banks, how each course is laid out, where the trees and balloons go and how the clock runs. The ColecoVision version was then run side by side with the Atari original in an emulator, frame by frame, until the two matched. The code also settled two points the 1982 manual got wrong: a pass on the wrong side of a pylon costs nothing at the time, because the 3 seconds are added at the finish for every pylon still on the counter, and letting go of the button only slows the racer back to cruising speed, never below it.
The manual invited anyone who beat 37.0 seconds on Game 1 without missing a pylon to send in a photo of their television screen and join the Activision "Sky Stars". Cloud Racer keeps the club going: fly Polo Grounds that fast and clean, and the game tells you so.
Published by CollectorVision GamesCartridge release published and distributed by CollectorVision Games. Visit their store →
Speech Synthesizer EnabledThis game talks when the ADAM Speech Synthesizer by Lundy Electronics is connected.
