When I decided I was going to support the home brew community full tilt by purchasing everything they produced (and reviewing everything too), Rip Off was a game I wasn't excited for. When it came in the mail I took notice to how beautiful and well designed the box was, but chucked it in the pile in favor of baby pac man, t:me salvo and every other game I was more excited for. When I finally got around to playing Rip Off, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it!
I don't usually like faux vector graphics but the developer did a FANTASTIC job here. And while that's all fine and good, it's the gameplay that had me by the marbles. Simple to pick up but difficult to master describes this perfectly and I've found myself enjoying this one for hours at a time, trying to protect my Doritos from increasingly faster and more dangerous enemies. The developer deserves all the praise in the world and if you pass this one up like I might of then you need to take a second look. Do yourself a favor and buy a boxed copy now!
ATARIAGE STORE ON VACATION UNTIL JULY 8TH.
The AtariAge Store is currently on vacation until July 8, 2022. While you can place orders during this time, orders placed after May 15th WILL NOT SHIP until mid-July. Orders placed on or before May 15th will ship as normal. If you have any questions, you may use our contact form to send us a message.
The AtariAge Store is currently on vacation until July 8, 2022. While you can place orders during this time, orders placed after May 15th WILL NOT SHIP until mid-July. Orders placed on or before May 15th will ship as normal. If you have any questions, you may use our contact form to send us a message.
Rip-Off is a top-down vector shoot 'em up arcade game released by Cinematronics in 1980 and brought to the Atari 7800 by Robert DeCrescenzo. It is the first shoot 'em up arcade game to feature cooperative gameplay and to exhibit flocking behavior.
When you start a new game, your pirate-destroying ship will appear on the right side of the screen. In a two player game, a second pirate-destroying ship will appear on the left side of the screen. Your canisters will be in the center. You must guard your canisters from the pirates who will try to steal them. The pirates can appear from anywhere on the screen. Steer your ship with the joystick for left and right rotation. Move your ship forward by pressing the left button or up on a single button joystick.
Press the right button to fire lasers at the pirates. The pirates can be destroyed by colliding with them, but you will then have to wait for your new pirate-destroying ship to appear before you can fire more lasers. The game is over when all the fuel canisters are stolen.
Skill Levels
As you pass each six waves of pirates, you start with the first pirate wave again, and the pirates start at a faster speed until all six pirate waves are at the maximum speed.
- Easy: You start out with one pirate per round and one round per wave. This applies for both one and two-player games. You have to defend 8 canisters.
- Normal: For one-player games, you start out with two pirates per round and one round per wave. For two-player games, you start out with all three pirates per round and two rounds per wave. You have to defend 8 canisters.
- Hard: You start out with all three pirates per round and two rounds per wave. This applies for both one and two-player games. You have only 4 canisters to defend, and the pirates have an increased speed.
Get a Rip-Off Box!
If you'd like a boxed copy of Rip-Off, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Rip-Off to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Rip-Off cartridge in place. We want you to play our games, so we have not sealed or shrinkwrapped the boxes in any way, allowing you easy access to the game cartridge and manual.
These boxes are the same size as boxes Atari produced for their games "back in the day". They look great sitting on a shelf with your other boxed homebrew games, or alongside games from the classic Atari library. We only have a limited number of boxes for each game, and there is no guarantee they will become available again once our supplies are exhausted. Click on the images to the right to see larger photos of the box.
Additional Information
Includes cartridge and full-color, four-page manual. Available in NTSC and PAL television formats, please select above.
| Number of Players | 1 - 2 |
| Controller | Joystick |
| Cartridge Size | 16K |
| Programming | Robert DeCrescenzo |
Another Cinematronics game that I ignored as a kid that I've learned to love thanks to Bob DC. (Thank you, sir!) The two player co-op play is a blast!
There's not much depth in game play but if you like the arcade game you'll like this translation.
There's not too much to this little game, but it's still TONS-O-FUN. A very unique game in the Atari 7800 library, but after a few minutes, your sessions will likely end in favor of other more addictive, longer 7800 games.
I haven't seen or played this game since I last saw it in an arcade back in the early 80s. In those days I always enjoyed the vector graphics games that were Cinematronics' specialty. With those memories in mind, I took a chance and purchased this cart. I was not disappointed. The gameplay was everything that I remember. The pace and intensity of the gameplay is as fast as I remember it. Also, the 7800 does an excellent job of rendering the vector style graphics with a minimal flicker. Excellent job on this Bob. How about Starcastle or Tailgunner for the 7800? Maybe Omega Race too? Keep it up!
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