Riverstrike
A free vertically scrolling river shooter in 16-bit pixel art. You fly a jet up an endless river, blow up bridges, dodge helicopters, boats and jets, and refuel over buoys before the tank runs dry. It is a tribute to Carol Shaw's River Raid (Activision, 1982), rebuilt for the browser with new code and new art.
About
Riverstrike is for anyone who wants a quick arcade run without installing anything: a round takes a few minutes, the controls fit on one hand, and the pressure comes from one simple resource, fuel. Every few hundred metres a bridge spans the river. Destroying it is your checkpoint and opens the next, harder zone with narrower channels, more islands and faster enemies.
What makes it different from a plain shooter is the fuel trade-off. Speeding through a zone scores time but burns fuel twice as fast; the buoys you need are often guarded or sit on the far side of an island, so every fork in the river is a small decision between safety and points.
How to play
- Steer with ← → or A D. Touching a riverbank or an island ends the life.
- Change speed with ↑ ↓ or W S. Faster is riskier and thirstier; slower saves fuel.
- Fire with Space or Enter. Shoot helicopters, boats, jets and bridges for points.
- Refuel by flying over a FUEL buoy. The gauge sits in the panel at the bottom; an alarm sounds when it runs low.
- Pause with P, toggle sound with M. On a phone use the on-screen buttons or drag your finger to steer; a gamepad also works.
- You start with three spare lives and earn another one every 10,000 points. After a crash you restart at the last destroyed bridge.
Quick facts
- Genre
- Vertically scrolling shoot 'em up, arcade, retro
- Players
- 1, endless mode with a local high score
- Controls
- Keyboard, touch buttons, touch drag, gamepad
- Devices
- Desktop and mobile browsers, portrait or landscape
- Price
- Free, no account, no install
- Language
- English
- Graphics & sound
- AI-generated 16-bit pixel art; sound synthesised live with the Web Audio API
- Made by
- Zdenek Petrak (mucker.cz) with AI-assisted coding
- Content reviewed
Tribute to Carol Shaw
River Raid was designed and programmed by Carol Shaw for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1982. Shaw was one of the first women to design and program commercial video games. Her river was generated procedurally rather than stored, which let an endless, varied course fit into a cartridge of only a few kilobytes. The game became a million-seller, and in 2017 Shaw received the Industry Icon Award at The Game Awards.
Riverstrike is an independent fan tribute. It does not reuse any original code, graphics or sound, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Activision. River Raid is a trademark of its respective owner.
FAQ
Is Riverstrike the original River Raid?
No. It is an independent fan tribute with new code and new art. It borrows the idea of a fuel-limited flight up a river from Carol Shaw's River Raid (Activision, 1982) and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Activision.
How do I refuel?
Fly over a striped FUEL buoy and hold your course; the gauge at the bottom fills while you are above it. You can also shoot a buoy for points, but then it is gone.
Why does my fuel drain faster sometimes?
Fuel use depends on speed. Flying at full throttle burns roughly twice as much as cruising, while braking stretches the tank.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Use the on-screen arrows, throttle and FIRE button, or drag a finger across the screen to steer. A gamepad works too.
Is my high score saved?
Your best score is kept in your browser's local storage on this device. There is no online leaderboard and no account.
Limits
The river layout, enemy behaviour and scoring are loosely modelled on the 1982 game, not a faithful recreation. The difficulty curve has not been tuned against the original, and scores are not comparable with Atari 2600 scores.