Atari A to Z: Zeppelin

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve done it! Well, we’ve done it once, anyway.

Yes, indeed, with this week’s Atari A to Z video, we finally make it all the way to Z, with Cathryn (formerly William, as seen on the title screen) Mataga’s Zeppelin, an interesting multi-directional adventure shoot ’em up in which the challenge is not just from shooting bad guys and avoiding environmental hazards, but also from navigation and item manipulation.

This is a great example of the sort of quality software publisher Synapse became well-known for, although that quality tended to come at a price — Zeppelin was a whopping $34.95 when it came out in 1983, or nearly $90 in today’s money, taking inflation into account! And if Mataga’s name is familiar, you may have come across another Synapse-published title called Shamus that I’m sure will feature on this series at some point in the near future! But that’s a story for another day…

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

2 thoughts on “Atari A to Z: Zeppelin”

  1. I myself am pretty close to having reviewed a game for every letter of the alphabet, so I know that feeling of accomplishment you’re talking about. Funnily enough, “Z” is the last letter I need as well.

    It was pretty innovative of how Zeppelin manages to be a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up that scrolls in various directions and not just horizontally. That was a lot of foresight on the developers’ part that you’re allowed to shoot in multiple directions at once as a result.

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