Atari‘s 1980 hit Battle Zone was one of the first ever video games to use 3D polygonal vector graphics to represent the playfield.
It’s a tank game, and you’re basically hunting down tanks, flying saucers, and other baddies. Shooting them before they can shoot you.
Phoenix is another great vertical shoot ’em up from the golden age of video gaming. It was developed by Amstar Electronics of Arizona and manufactured by Centuri in 1980, and featured even more progressive gameplay than Space Invaders and Galaxian.
Galaxian is an iconic video game from the golden age of gaming history.
In fact, Galaxian was Namco‘s response to Space Invaders. It came out in 1979 and enthralled gamers with its hypnotic but brutal gameplay. Which it still does, to this day.
Released into arcades in 1980, Stern Electronics‘ Berzerk is a simple multi-directional shooter where the aim is to rack up as many points as possible by shooting robots in a maze.
Space Invaders, owned and manufactured by Taito, is the best-selling video game and highest-grossing entertainment product of all time.
I have a fondness for old arcade shoot ’em ups. Particularly the first colour arcade shooters of the early Eighties. Just hearing the sound effects takes me back to my childhood… Playing Space Invaders at the local leisure centre. Galaxian at the video lending library. Phoenix at the seaside…
I’ve covered a few old arcade shooters already on here, but this ‘special’ is meant to fill in a few gaps. Particularly with regards to pioneering video games of the early ‘colour era’ of arcade machines.
The King of Grabs 