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Loren Carpenter was the computer Guru that did the programming necessary to create the 'Genesis Effect' scene in the movie Star Trek II. David Fox challenged him with the idea of doing the effect on the 1.79mhz Atari 800. He did.

Tricks usually used in stop motion animation were utilized for this game to get the more out of the graphics than the computer could actually do. Such as dimming the screen when there was a bright object seen (explosion or laser), making the object seem brighter and giving the illusion that the computer has more shades of colors than it actually does.

The game designers and a few other people from Lucasfilm appear in the box and manual pictures.
David Fox is the Valkyrie pilot on the outer box cover.
Loren Carpenter is the middle pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back cover.
Charlie Kellner is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Peter Langston is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Gary Winnick is on the inside of the back box cover.
David Levine, and Noah Falstein are on the inside of the back box cover.


The name of the Jaggi homeworld is 'Tepdi Vad Neroleil Rahcre' which are the backward names of the programmers (loren daVid peTer charlie)

Non-copy-protected disks containing beta versions of this game were reluctantly loaned by Lucasfilm to the marketing department of Atari. This was so marketing could check out the game. About a week later Lucasfilm discovered pirate versions of the game in all the usual pirate hangouts. These beta copies contributed to poor sales of the Atari 8-bit version. This is how the joke title 'Behind Jaggi Lines' became known to the public.

Just before this game was about to be released, Jack Tramiel purchased Atari and all of Lucasfilm's contracts had to be renegotiated. Negotiations failed and Lucasfilm went to Epyx who insisted the game be released on disk instead of cartridge. All this delayed the release by nine months. RoF was finally released in Spring, 1985.

The term 'jaggies' is used to describe when straight lines in a computer image appear like stair steps. Antialiasing is a coloring process that smooths out 'jaggies' making lines appear less stair like. Observe:

Jaggies were the enemies. For movie images, home system graphics, and for this game (both literally and figuratively). The programmers never found a way to antialiase on the Atari 800 so they made fun the situation by referring to the game as 'Behind Jaggi Lines'
Many years later, a way to antialiase was found

Loren Carpenter was the computer Guru that did the programming necessary to create the 'Genesis Effect' scene in the movie Star Trek II. David Fox challenged him with the idea of doing the effect on the 1.79mhz Atari 800. He did.

Tricks usually used in stop motion animation were utilized for this game to get the more out of the graphics than the computer could actually do. Such as dimming the screen when there was a bright object seen (explosion or laser), making the object seem brighter and giving the illusion that the computer has more shades of colors than it actually does.

The game designers and a few other people from Lucasfilm appear in the box and manual pictures.
David Fox is the Valkyrie pilot on the outer box cover.
Loren Carpenter is the middle pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back cover.
Charlie Kellner is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Peter Langston is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Gary Winnick is on the inside of the back box cover.
David Levine, and Noah Falstein are on the inside of the back box cover.


The name of the Jaggi homeworld is 'Tepdi Vad Neroleil Rahcre' which are the backward names of the programmers (loren daVid peTer charlie)

Non-copy-protected disks containing beta versions of this game were reluctantly loaned by Lucasfilm to the marketing department of Atari. This was so marketing could check out the game. About a week later Lucasfilm discovered pirate versions of the game in all the usual pirate hangouts. These beta copies contributed to poor sales of the Atari 8-bit version. This is how the joke title 'Behind Jaggi Lines' became known to the public.

Just before this game was about to be released, Jack Tramiel purchased Atari and all of Lucasfilm's contracts had to be renegotiated. Negotiations failed and Lucasfilm went to Epyx who insisted the game be released on disk instead of cartridge. All this delayed the release by nine months. RoF was finally released in Spring, 1985.

The term 'jaggies' is used to describe when straight lines in a computer image appear like stair steps. Antialiasing is a coloring process that smooths out 'jaggies' making lines appear less stair like. Observe:

Jaggies were the enemies. For movie images, home system graphics, and for this game (both literally and figuratively). The programmers never found a way to antialiase on the Atari 800 so they made fun the situation by referring to the game as 'Behind Jaggi Lines'
Many years later, a way to antialiase was found

Loren Carpenter was the computer Guru that did the programming necessary to create the 'Genesis Effect' scene in the movie Star Trek II. David Fox challenged him with the idea of doing the effect on the 1.79mhz Atari 800. He did.

Tricks usually used in stop motion animation were utilized for this game to get the more out of the graphics than the computer could actually do. Such as dimming the screen when there was a bright object seen (explosion or laser), making the object seem brighter and giving the illusion that the computer has more shades of colors than it actually does.

The game designers and a few other people from Lucasfilm appear in the box and manual pictures.
David Fox is the Valkyrie pilot on the outer box cover.
Loren Carpenter is the middle pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back cover.
Charlie Kellner is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Peter Langston is the right pilot inside the front cover of the manual and is on the inside of the back box cover.
Gary Winnick is on the inside of the back box cover.
David Levine, and Noah Falstein are on the inside of the back box cover.


The name of the Jaggi homeworld is 'Tepdi Vad Neroleil Rahcre' which are the backward names of the programmers (loren daVid peTer charlie)

Non-copy-protected disks containing beta versions of this game were reluctantly loaned by Lucasfilm to the marketing department of Atari. This was so marketing could check out the game. About a week later Lucasfilm discovered pirate versions of the game in all the usual pirate hangouts. These beta copies contributed to poor sales of the Atari 8-bit version. This is how the joke title 'Behind Jaggi Lines' became known to the public.

Just before this game was about to be released, Jack Tramiel purchased Atari and all of Lucasfilm's contracts had to be renegotiated. Negotiations failed and Lucasfilm went to Epyx who insisted the game be released on disk instead of cartridge. All this delayed the release by nine months. RoF was finally released in Spring, 1985.

The term 'jaggies' is used to describe when straight lines in a computer image appear like stair steps. Antialiasing is a coloring process that smooths out 'jaggies' making lines appear less stair like. Observe:

Jaggies were the enemies. For movie images, home system graphics, and for this game (both literally and figuratively). The programmers never found a way to antialiase on the Atari 800 so they made fun the situation by referring to the game as 'Behind Jaggi Lines'
Many years later, a way to antialiase was found

Rescue on Fractalus has been out and about on the Atari for quite a while now and, under the alternative name of Behind Jaggi Lines, has become almost legendary and a game which a threatened Atari owner could always show a doubting Commodore owner and say 'look at THIS then chum'!

Quite right he'd be too, but now Activision have secured the rights to the Commodore conversion . . . but does it stand up to the Atari version at all?

Fractalus puts you in a seek and rescue situation. Starting from an orbiting mothership, you blast down to the surface of Tepidi Vad Neroleil Rahcri, a barren planet in one of the darker sectors of the galaxy. You have to seek and rescue pilots who've crashlanded and been stranded on the surface, surrounded by the marauding J'Haggari Kachatki, an evil bunch of intelligent thingies who aren't too keen on the human race.

Luckily, your Valkyrie fighter is equipped with all the latest instruments to help you in your task. Anti-Matter Torpedoes (AMB's) can be fired from the front of the craft and, if they're on target, will destroy anything, including heat-seeking missiles and gun emplacements. To protect you from enemy fire and crashing into the rocky surface is a Driac mirror shield; this is indicated by an energy bar, if it reaches zero then the next hit from a laser blast or bump into a rock will destroy the craft.

You also have the newest weapons warning system and radar scanner available and during the game these are vital to your survival.

When you fly down to the planet, the first thing that strikes you is what a totally miserable place it is. The atmosphere isn't so fresh either, in fact it's Cyanitric acid gas -- not something to be sniffed at by any means. The surface is horribly mountainous, with towering peaks and thin canyons which you have to negotiate to reach some of the pilots.

On the surface are gun emplacements that fire laser beams and heat-seeking missiles which drone around and home in on your craft. If a laser blast or missile hits you then you'll get a considerable amount of energy knocked off your supply.

When you pick up a pilot on your scanner, move towards it, although be careful of any jutting outcrops of rocks. When you get near enough to it, the blip on the scanner will flash. Land and switch off the external shield -- if you don't, then the pilot won't emerge from his wrecked ship. Once the shields are off, the pilot will run towards you in perfect 3D, walk round the back of the ship, climb up the stairs and bang on the airlock door. If you open the door he'll climb in and the door will shut automatically. Be careful of not switching on your shields when the pilots are outside -- this will kill them. Leaving a pilot outside is a good laugh, he/she gets really cheesed off and eventually practically smashes the airlock door in.

Once a pilot has been picked up you can then lift off and search for the next pilot. You have to collect a certain amount of pilots on each level, the higher the level the more pilots you have to collect. Once enough are collected, you can return to the mothership, although you can stay and pick up more pilots for a bigger bonus.

On really high levels you have to start rescuing pilots on the south side of the planet, the side always shrouded in darkness where there isn't enough light to activate your visual display and where instrument flying is a necessity.

GET IT RIGHT
There are quite a few controls on the panel under the cockpit window, and all play a vital role in the game.

ALTIMETER
There are two bars on the altimeter itself, one light blue and one red. The red one indicates the height of the actual landscape as you fly over the rocky peaks, and the blue one indicates your height. If the blue bar disappears then it means you're scraping along the surface of the rock.

ENEMY INDICATOR
This blue screen is situated in the centre of the control panel and has a cursor in the middle of it. It will pick up anything alien and indicate it on the screen as a blob. Move the craft until the cursor is over the blob and fire. If you have got it right then the enemy thing will be destroyed.

ENEMY LOCK-ON
This series of dots at the bottom of the screen tell you if the enemy are tracking you. They do this by picking up stray radiation from your craft. If they lock on successfully then all dots will be lit and they will fire at you accurately and your energy will diminish swiftly. To evade lock-on, fly erratically until the dots flash randomly.

LONG RANGE SCANNER
This is a radar and has to be used as you fly around. It will indicate the presence of any stranded pilots and show them up as a blip on the scanner. You can then direct the craft towards the pilot and move close enough to be able to land and pick him/her up.

ENERGY BAR
When you blast down to the planet's surface you have a full quota of energy. If you hit the sides of a canyon, top of a mountain, or get hit by an enemy laser or missile, then you'll have energy knocked off your total. If this energy reaches zero then your craft will explode and the game will end.

From the start this game impressed me as an authentic space craft simulator on exactly the same lines as the older Atari version. The graphics are quite impressive though slightly lacking in colour and variety, the landscape being continuous dull brown mountain ranges. The handling of your craft is quite tricky but a great deal of help is provided by the detailed instrument panel; additionally it also provides an accurate radar screen on which to trace the stranded pilots.

As you travel over the mountains or along the ravines it is difficult to judge the distance of your craft from the sides of the valley and from the mountain peaks, your only indication of contact and damage caused being a small orange light on the right of the control panel. Bonuses are obtained by collecting extra pilots or by destroying heat-seeking missiles and the few flying saucers that appear, which means the game requires a skilful touch. After my first game I found it enjoyable, exciting and addictive, and have returned to it for many more games.

Presentation 88%
Good options, controls and instructions.


Graphics 92%
Fast and furious with . . .

Sound 80%
. . . Cool tunes and FX.

Hookability 92%
Superb controls and flying effect make the action addictive.

Lastability 92%
Sixteen levels and plenty of blasting interest.

Value For Money 85%
Would be nice if it was a bit cheaper but it's still worthy.

Overall 91%
Excellent shoot-em-up that has been worth the wait.