Night Driver is a racing video game created and sold by Atari, Inc. in 1976 for arcade machines. It is one of the earliest games that let players see the world from the driver’s perspective and is often thought to be one of the first games to use real-time graphics showing the player’s view. The game uses a black and white screen with a plastic cover that shows the front of the player’s car. The road is shown as rectangles that represent markers along the edges.
Two types of arcade machines were made: one that stands upright and one where players sit. The upright machine has a special light inside that makes the frame around the screen glow.
In 1980, Atari released a color version of the game for the Atari Video Computer System.
Gameplay
The player controls a car that must be driven along a road at nighttime without crashing into the sides of the road, which are marked by reflectors. The game uses a single pedal for speeding up, a wheel for turning, and a lever with four options for changing gears. The coin-operated game allows players to choose from three difficulty levels—novice, pro, or expert—before starting. More difficult tracks have sharper and more frequent turns. As the game continues, the road becomes narrower and more curved.
The game lasts for 50, 75, 100, or 125 seconds, depending on an internal setting. After earning 300 points, players receive extra time equal to the game’s original time. However, the score resets to zero when reaching 1000 points, meaning players can earn 300 points more than once. Because harder difficulty levels give more points, playing on the expert setting becomes easier for earning extra time once the game is mastered.
The car the player drives is not shown on the screen. Instead, it is printed on a plastic piece placed in front of the monitor.
Development
When Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, started working on video games, he originally planned to create a driving game inspired by Speedway (1969), a first-person driving electro-mechanical game made by Chicago Coin, which was a licensed version of Kasco's Indy 500 (1968). However, Bushnell worried that a driving game might be too difficult for Allan Alcorn’s first project, so they chose to make a simpler game called Pong (1972) instead. Night Driver shares similarities with arcade driving electro-mechanical games, which used a scrolling road instead of a fixed view.
The development of Night Driver was led by Dave Shepperd at Atari, who was asked to create a first-person driving video game. Shepperd said he was given a piece of paper showing a game cabinet with only a small part of the screen visible. He believed it might be a German game but never saw it played, except for a few small white squares on the screen. Using that idea, Shepperd designed Night Driver. The game’s nighttime setting explained the simple graphics, as details like streets and buildings were not visible in the dark. Although Shepperd did not know the name of the German game at the time, it was later identified as the coin-op Nürburgring 1, a first-person driving video game released in 1976.
Atari used leftover arcade cabinets from Hi-way (1975), a top-down vertically scrolling racing game, to create Night Driver.
Release
The arcade game started being made in October 1976. Atari showed the game at the AMOA event in November 1976. At this event, Atari displayed several driving games, including Sprint 2 and Namco’s electric and mechanical F-1. F-1 was the most popular driving game at the show. Night Driver was also compared to Midway Manufacturing’s Midnight Racer (later renamed Datsun 280 ZZZAP) at the same event. Earlier, a German night driving video game called Nürburgring 1 was shown at the German IMA event in Spring 1976.
In 1980, Atari released a version of the game for the Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600). Rob Fulop programmed this version. He added color, showed the player’s vehicle, other vehicles to avoid, and included houses and trees along the road. A paddle-shaped controller was used to steer the vehicle. Pressing a button made the vehicle move faster. This version did not include gear shifting. There are eight different game modes. Some modes have time limits, and players try to earn as many points as possible in 90 seconds.
In 1982, Commodore released a version of the game for the Commodore 64.
Reception
In Japan, it was the tenth most successful arcade video game in 1976.
In the United States, according to Play Meter magazine, Night Driver was the sixth highest-selling arcade video game in 1977. According to RePlay magazine, it was the seventh highest-selling arcade video game in 1977. Play Meter later listed it as the ninth most successful arcade game in 1978 and the eleventh highest-selling arcade video game in 1979.
The Atari VCS version sold 161,352 copies in 1980, becoming one of the top five best-selling Atari VCS games that year. It continued to sell over 1.9 million copies by 1983. Video Games Player magazine reviewed the Atari VCS version, giving the graphics and sound a B rating and an overall A− rating. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version 59th on their "Top 100 Video Games" list.
Legacy
Two other first-person racing games were released soon after: Midway's Midnight Racer in November 1976 (later renamed Datsun 280 ZZZAP in March 1977) and Micronetics' Night Racer in March 1977. Bill Budge created a Night Driver clone for the Apple II using the same name as the original.