Zone Hunter

Zone Hunter[lower-alpha 1] is a virtual reality first-person rail shooter video game developed and published in conjunction by Taito and Virtuality in 1994 for arcades, though the former is not credited in-game.[2]

Zone Hunter
Attract title screen
Developer(s)Taito, Virtuality
Publisher(s)Taito, Virtuality
Designer(s)Andy Smith
Programmer(s)Jason Woodward
Tarique Naseem
Artist(s)Mark Hardisty
Composer(s)Mike Adams
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)First-person shooter, rail shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (up to two players)
Arcade system2000SU[1]

Gameplay

Zone Hunter is a first-person shooter, and was one of the first VR arcade games.

Development and release

Zone Hunter was developed at the same time as Sega's virtual reality Model 1 arcade game TecWar,[lower-alpha 2] which was also developed by Virtuality.[3] Taito, who conceived the project and worked alongside Virtuality as a deal to bring the game into Japanese arcade markets under their banner.[2] Due to low sales in the region, Taito terminated the deal between them and Virtuality, with the latter opening their offices in Japan afterwards.[2]

A port for the Atari Jaguar was announced and planned to be released alongside the Jaguar VR headset peripheral at launch,[4][5][6] with a demo created for demonstration purposes,[7][8][9] but both the port and the peripheral were never released due to problems between Virtuality and Atari Corporation in their deal.[10][11]

Reception

Next Generation stated that "It's sad this game is neither as fun or playable as Doom, or as good looking as Virtua Cop, its closest kindred. But we're keen on future titles looking and playing better, and we're sure companies like Virtuality are, too."[12]

Notes
  1. Japanese: ゾーン ハンター, Hepburn: Zōn Hantā
  2. Also known as ElectronicBrain.[3]

References
  1. "Zone Hunter". arcade-history.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  2. Pedrazzini, Fabrizio; Williams, Kevin. "TAITO - VIRTUALITY - ZONE HUNTER - (VIRTUAL REALITY GAME)". The Strange (and Rare) Videogame Pics Page. Archived from the original on 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  3. Pedrazzini, Fabrizio; Williams, Kevin. "SEGA - TECWAR aka ELECTRONICBRAIN - (VIRTUAL REALITY GAME)". The Strange (and Rare) Videogame Pics Page. Archived from the original on 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  4. "ATARI AND VIRTUALITY PREVIEW FIRST VIRTUAL REALITY GAME SYSTEM FOR THE CONSUMER MARKET AT E3". Nine Lives. May 16, 1995. Archived from the original on 2018-07-18. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  5. François, Tommy; Msika, David (June 1995). "Reportage - E3 - Atari - Le Virtuel, Ça Marche". CD Consoles. No. 8. Pressimage. pp. 42–43. Archived from the original on 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  6. "E-3 The Biggest And Best Electronic Entertainment Show Ever! - Atari Debuts Jaguar Virtual Reality At E3". GameFan. Vol. 3 no. 7. Shinno Media. July 1995. p. 37.
  7. NAVGTR (June 21, 2007). E3 1995 (2min 22sec). YouTube. Archived from the original on 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  8. Vendel, Curt (August 26, 1995). "Payment Schedule for Jaguar games to Developers" (PDF). atarimuseum.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  9. "CVG News - Connected - A Zone In The Dark". Computer and Video Games. No. 166. Future Publishing. September 1995. p. 12. Archived from the original on 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  10. "Reportaje - La Realidad Virtual entrará en los hogares de la mano de Atari". Hobby Hi-Tech (in Spanish). No. 6. Axel Springer SE. September 1995. pp. 88–89.
  11. Thompson, Clint. "Jaguar VR - INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL REALITY MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM". JagCube. Atari.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  12. "Finals - Arcade - Zone Hunter". Next Generation. No. 10. Imagine Media. October 1995. p. 130.
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