Michael Powell‘s Powerdrome is a futuristic 3D racing game that pre-dates WipEout. It was first published by Electronic Arts for the Atari ST in 1988.
Tag Archives: American
Leaderboard, Atari ST
For a while, in the mid Eighties, Access Software‘s Leaderboard hung on to the title of “best golf game on the planet”. Starting on the Commodore 64 and ending here on the Atari ST (and Amiga) in 1986.
Sinistar, Arcade
People forget how early Sinistar was – 1983. Which was a hell of a year for old arcade shooters!
Of the first colour arcade shooters, the class of 1983 were definitely second or third generation – in terms of ideas, patterns, movement, challenge, and sophistication. Graphically they were becoming a great improvement over early shoot ’em ups.
Sinistar is a good example of this. The graphics are much more detailed and colourful than the old arcade shooters of 1980/81.
Tron, Arcade
The 1982 arcade version of Tron is well-remembered by many gamers. It was developed by ENCOM International and manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway.
It features a four-stage video-gaming challenge via some of the scenes from the famous film (ironically, about video games).
Gorf, Arcade
Gorf is an early arcade shooter that feels like a poor relative to many of its peers of the time.
It borrows most of its features from other games (one wave is actually called “Galaxians” although I do believe that the developers properly licensed it from Namco) and doesn’t bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay, but it did pioneer one thing. And that is: in the use of synthesised speech. Gorf was one of the earliest video games to use it (and although clear, it is quite robotic).
Tempest, Arcade
Tempest, by Dave Theurer, is one of the first ever ‘tube shooters’. It was released by Atari in 1981.
You control a spider-like yellow craft that walks along the edge of a 3D playfield, often taking the form of a cylindrical tube. You shoot bullets down the tube at enemies that are rising upwards to get you. Thus the name ‘tube shooter’.
Centipede, Arcade
Designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, Centipede is a superfast fixed-screen shoot ’em up from the arcades of 1981.
Battle Zone, Arcade
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, Arcade
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.
Berzerk, Arcade
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.
The King of Grabs 