Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, known as Zoom 909 in Japan, is a pseudo-3D rail shooter released as an arcade video game by Sega in 1982. The player controls a spaceship in a third-person perspective, adapting the three-dimensional perspective of Sega's earlier racing game Turbo (1981) for the space shoot 'em up genre. It used the Buck Rogers license, referencing the space battles, though Buck himself is never seen.
| Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom | |
|---|---|
Atari 2600 cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, SG-1000, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Coleco Adam, ColecoVision, Intellivision, MSX, Commodore 64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Arcade system | Sega VCO Object |
The arcade game debuted at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show, held during November 18–20, 1982, where it was considered one of the show's best games and a milestone for demonstrating the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay. Ports were released for the SG-1000, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, Coleco Adam, ColecoVision, Intellivision, MSX, Commodore 64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, Apple II, and ZX Spectrum. The IBM PC version uses CGA graphics. The ColecoVision version was released in April 1984.