Sega produced Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom for arcades in 1982. This was a perfect example of using a well known character to try and sell an otherwise boring game. The only thing branded “Buck Rogers” was the cabinet itself while the game had next to nothing to do with the hero’s story besides the fact that it was set in outer space. It was controlled with an eight-way joystick and two buttons with the cabinet coming in a stand up version as well as an enclosed sit down style.

The gameplay was pretty generic and rather dull with the player piloting a space ship from a “behind the ship” perspective, avoiding obstacles and shooting down enemy ships. The ship’s speed could be controlled by using the two buttons and the steering of the ship and shooting done via the joystick. Levels had you speeding through tunnels and cityscapes to reach your goal, and according to the inside of the flyer, the game even had some sort of cobbled together “plot”.