Gato (video game)
{{Short description|1984 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = GATO
|image = GATO-video-game-box-cover.jpg
|developer = Spectrum HoloByte
Xanth F/X (Atari 8-bit){{cite journal|last1=Wen|first1=Howard H.|title=Gato Review|journal=Video Games & Computer Entertainment|date=January 1989|url=https://archive.org/details/vgce_02}}
|publisher = Spectrum HoloByte
Atari Corporation
|designer = Paul Arlton
Ed Dawson
|released = 1984: MS-DOS, Mac
1985: Apple II
1986: Atari ST
1987: Atari 8-bit
|genre = Submarine simulator
|modes = Single-player
|platforms = MS-DOS, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Mac, Commodore 64
}}
GATO is a real-time submarine simulator published in 1984 by Spectrum HoloByte for MS-DOS. It simulates combat operations aboard the Gato-class submarine {{USS|Growler|SS-215}} in the Pacific Theater of World War II. GATO was later ported to the Apple IIe, Atari ST, and Mac. In 1987, Atari Corporation published a version on cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers, to coincide with the launch of the Atari XEGS.{{cite web|title=GATO XE Label|url=https://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareID=3796|website=Atari Age}}
Gameplay
The player is tasked with chasing Japanese shipping across a 20-sector map while returning for resupply as necessary from a submarine tender. The islands are randomly generated and not based on real-world geography. Combat is conducted using a screen with a view through the periscope and at various gauges and indicators. The game has multiple difficulty levels, the highest of which requires the player to translate mission briefings that are transmitted only as audible Morse Code.
The MS-DOS and Apple IIe versions contain a boss key which replaces the game screen with a spreadsheet.
Development
Reception
Billboard magazine reported in June 1985 Gato coming in at number 6 of a national sample of retail sales and rack sales reports.{{cite news|title=3D Living Today - The Top 10|newspaper=Miami Herald|date=29 June 1985}}
In 1985, Computer Gaming World praised the game for being simultaneously easy to play and having deep, detailed strategy.{{citation | date = Apr–May 1985 | last = Sipe | first = Russell | magazine = Computer Gaming World | title = IBM Goes to War | pages = 24–25}} 1991 and 1993 surveys in the magazine of strategy and war games, however, gave it one and a half stars out of five, stating that "it was adequate in its time, but not exemplary in any regard".{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=88 | title=Computer Strategy and Wargames: The 1900-1950 Epoch / Part I (A-L) of an Annotated Paiktography | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1991 | accessdate=18 November 2013 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=138}}{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=110 | title=Brooks' Book of Wargames: 1900-1950, A-P | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=September 1993 | accessdate=30 July 2014 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=118}} Compute! stated that "Gato promises realism, and it delivers ... [it] lives up to its claims".{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1985-11-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_066_1985_Nov#page/n91/mode/2up | title=Gato For Apple And IBM | work=Compute! | date=November 1985 | accessdate=30 October 2013 | author=Williams, Michael B. | pages=90 | type=review}} Jerry Pournelle wrote favorably of the game in BYTE, stating he wished he could slow the game down, but "I've certainly wasted enough time with it ... Recommended", and that he preferred the black-and-white Macintosh version to the color IBM PC version.{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1985-09/1985_09_BYTE_10-09_Homebrewing#page/n329/mode/2up | title=PC, Peripherals, Programs, and People | work=BYTE | date=September 1985 | accessdate=27 October 2013 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | pages=347}}
Reviews
- The V.I.P. of Gaming Magazine #2 (Feb./March 1986)
- Jeux & Stratégie #34{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/jeux-et-strategie-34/page/40/mode/2up | title=Jeux & stratégie 34 | date=August 1985}}
- Jeux & Stratégie HS #3{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/jeux-et-strategie-hs-3/page/86/mode/2up | title=Jeux & stratégie HS 3 | year=1986}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{moby game|id=/gato|name=GATO}}
- {{Internet Archive game|id=msdos_GATO_1984|platform=MS-DOS}}
- [http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000069.php Of AJAX, GATO, and Bill Scott]
- [https://archive.org/details/games-58-1984-december/page/50/mode/2up Review] in Games magazine
Category:Atari 8-bit computer games
Category:Cancelled Atari 7800 games
Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture
Category:Pacific War video games
Category:Single-player video games
Category:Spectrum HoloByte games
Category:Submarine simulation video games