In 1979, NBC's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century reignited the public's interest in the series but the show would only last for two seasons. In 1980, Gottlieb released a Buck Rogers in the 25th Century pinball machine, and in 1982, Sega published Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, or Zoom 909 - as it was originally named in Japan.
Originally, Planet of Zoom was an arcade cabinet. The game was well received by the general public, with magazines across the world praising the game for both its graphics and high-action gameplay. While the game did use the Buck Rogers license, the character himself does not appear in the game.
The cover art for the home console games does feature Rogers on the cover, but that's the only time he's seen. This is one of the first Sega games to use a license for a video game, next to Star Trek, which was released the same year.
Gameplay
During gameplay, players control a ship, which bears a resemblance to the Starfighter as seen in the television series. The arcade cab had two versions; an upright standing cab, and two seated versions -- one enclosed, and one open. All three have beautiful artwork with the Buck Rogers logo on it, yet as far as I can see only the standing cab had Rogers on both sides of the cab. The seated ones look like a spaceship, creating an immersive experience.
The Video Game(s)
The game was ported to several at-home consoles, including the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, and the Commodore 64 -- but Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom was released on 14 different consoles. There's little difference between the games, save for a few cosmetic changes; the gameplay is still the same at its core.
If you're a Buck Rogers fan like I am, you probably want to collect every version of the game. This game can be commonly found on eBay in varying conditions and for not a lot of money. All of the WATA-graded copies on market pulls have sold for under $100.
But what if you want to buy an arcade cab?
Those are significantly harder to find. A standing cab is for sale at Vintage Arcade for $3,495. So far that's one of the only ones for sale in North America.
Certain arcade cabs, especially seated ones, can go for over $10K depending on the game. While I am biased towards Buck Rogers, without seeing any seated cabs for sale in the US it's hard to truly gauge an appropriate price point for this game. If this is a game you want for your collection you may have to build one yourself. Places such as MicroCenter will have most, if not all the tools you'll need to create your own Planet of Zoom at home.
But if you do find one in the wild, let me know! This is one arcade game I absolutely want for my collection.
