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Tempest

Tempest

Atari, Electric Dreams Software, Superior Software Ltd., Atari Corporation

Tempest is a 1981 arcade game by Atari Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface, sometimes wrapped into a tube, which is viewed from one end and is divided into a dozen or more segments or lanes. The player controls a claw-shaped spaceship (named Blaster) that crawls along the near edge of the playfield, moving from segment to segment. Tempest was one of the first games to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level (a system Atari dubbed "SkillStep"). This feature increases the maximum starting level depending on the player's performance in the previous game, essentially allowing the player to continue. An official port was released for the Atari ST. An official port that bears the Atari logo was released by Superior Software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1985, and another by Electric Dreams for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987. Versions for the Atari 2600 and 5200 were in the works in Atari, Inc. during 1984, and unfinished prototypes exist for both of them.

ArcadeShooter
Swordquest: Earthworld

Swordquest: Earthworld

Atari, Polyvox

Swordquest is an unfinished series of video games produced by Atari, Inc. in the 1980s as part of a contest, consisting of three finished games and a planned but never released fourth game. All of the games came with a comic book that explained the plot, as well as containing part of the solution to a major puzzle that had to be solved to win the contest. Each game had essentially the same gameplay: Logic puzzle adventure style gaming interspersed with arcade style action gaming. The character wanders through each screen, picking up and dropping items, playing simplified variants of current 'twitch' games of the time between screens. If the correct items are placed in a room, a clue shows up, pointing the player to a page and panel in the comic book included with the game. There, the player would find a word that was hidden in that panel. If the player found all five correct clues, amongst all the hidden words (hinted by a hidden clue in the comic), they could send the sentence to Atari and have a chance to compete in the finals and win a prize. Earthworld was the first of the four games. Its room structure was based on the signs of the zodiac.

Adventure
Demons to Diamonds

Demons to Diamonds

Atari

Players attempt to shoot demons in a "cosmic carnival" and then pick up the diamonds left behind by them, while dodging shots from enemy skulls. The player operates a laser base at the bottom of a multi-row playfield, using the paddle controller to move it from side to side and the controller's action button to fire a laser beam vertically up the playfield. The player can control how far onto the playfield the beam advances by releasing the button at the desired height. The player receives one point for each demon and ten points for each diamond successfully shot. Points are multiplied by the distance from the base to the target. For example, a demon shot one row above the player is worth one point, while a demon shot four rows above the player is worth four points. In multiplayer mode, the second player operates a laser base at the top of the screen, firing from top to bottom. Again, the second player must shoot demons that match the color of its gun in order to produce diamonds. However, diamonds may be shot by either player. Also, skulls are capable of shooting both up and down the playfield. In select variations of the game, the players can shoot their opponent's laser gun in order to deplete their stock of extra lives. In both single and multiplayer versions, players begin with five lives. One life is lost when the player's laser base is hit by a laser beam fired by a skull or by an opponent, depending on the game variation being played. The game ends when all lives are lost; in multiplayer versions, the surviving player receives a bonus for each life remaining.

ArcadeShooter
Gravitar

Gravitar

Atari

Gravitar is a color vector graphics arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The player controls a small blue spacecraft in a fictional solar system with several planets to explore. If the player moves his ship into a planet, he will be taken to a side-view landscape. Unlike many other shooting games, gravity plays a fair part in Gravitar: the ship will be pulled slowly to the deadly star in the overworld, and downward in the side-view levels. In the side-view levels, the player has to destroy red bunkers that shoot constantly, and can also use the tractor beam to pick up blue fuel tanks. Once all of the bunkers are destroyed, the planet will blow up, and the player will earn a bonus. Once all planets are destroyed, the player will move onto another solar system.

AdventureArcadeShooter
Warlords

Warlords

Atari

Warlords is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong (an early Atari arcade game) in the sense that not only can up to 4 players play the game at the same time, but also the "forts" in the four corners of the screen are brick walls that could be broken with a flaming ball. Warlords uses spinner controllers for player control, and came in both an upright 2 player version and a 4 player cocktail version. The upright version uses a black and white monitor, and reflects the game image onto a mirror, with a backdrop of castles, giving the game a 3D feel. The upright version only supports up to two simultaneous players, which move through the levels as a team. The cocktail version is in color, and supports 1-4 players. 3-4 player games are free-for-all's where the game ends as soon as one player wins. 1-2 player games play identical to the upright version.

ArcadeShooter
Asteroids

Asteroids

Atari, Polyvox

Asteroids for the Atari 2600 is a port of the arcade space shooter released in November 1979. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The objective of the game is to destroy both, asteroids and saucers. The triangular ship can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.

Shooter
Gravitar

Gravitar

Atari

Gravitar is the Atari 2600 port of the arcade game of the same name, which is a color vector graphics arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The player controls a small blue spacecraft in a fictional solar system with several planets to explore. If the player moves his ship into a planet, he will be taken to a side-view landscape. Unlike many other shooting games, gravity plays a fair part in Gravitar: the ship will be pulled slowly to the deadly star in the overworld, and downward in the side-view levels. In the side-view levels, the player has to destroy red bunkers that shoot constantly, and can also use the tractor beam to pick up blue fuel tanks. Once all of the bunkers are destroyed, the planet will blow up, and the player will earn a bonus. Once all planets are destroyed, the player will move onto another solar system.

AdventureArcadeShooter
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