Released in November 1979, Atari‘s Asteroids was an instant hit with gamers.
It featured a vector graphic-based, black and white display, with a player-controlled triangular ship, moving in space and firing at moving rocks.
Tag Archives: space
Star Fire, Arcade
Exidy‘s Star Fire is one of the earliest colour video games ever made. It was first released into arcades in 1979, when most arcade games of the time used black and white displays.
Nemesis/Gradius, Arcade
Known as Gradius in Japan – but Nemesis everywhere else – Konami‘s classic 1985 shoot ’em up is one of the earliest progressive weapons blasters, with distinct levels and boss battles.
The game is somewhat reminiscent of the classic side-scrolling Scramble (also by Konami), but in Nemesis you fly a ship called the “Vic Viper”, and which has a variety of different weapons which can be powered-up by collecting capsules left by destroyed enemies.
Mad Planets, Arcade
Developer Gottlieb released Mad Planets into video game arcades in 1982.
Paradroid ’90, Amiga
Mmmm. Paradroid ’90 is one of those “classic” games that should have been great, but unfortunately was a big, fat missed opportunity.
Its parent – the Commodore 64 classic Paradroid, by Andrew Braybrook – is a perfect example of simple-but-amazingly-compelling gameplay.
This remake pretty much loses everything that made the original great, in spite of original author Braybrook‘s involvement.
Jet Pac, ZX Spectrum
Ultimate Play The Game‘s amazing Jet Pac is an early ZX Spectrum classic, first released onto an unsuspecting world in 1983.
Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis, Atari ST
Damocles: Mercenary II, Atari ST
Developer Paul Woakes takes the Mercenary series much further in Damocles (1990) – the second game in the series.
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Arcade
Sega‘s Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom was first released into arcades in 1982, and – to play it now – you’d wonder what all the fuss was about, but this game made waves when it was first released.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, GameCube
Throughout history, man has always striven to recreate the original Star Wars battles on video-gaming hardware, to enable grown men to act like children…
And 2003‘s Rebel Strike is a veritable ORGY of Star Wars-related combat, from run-and-gun style, third-person shooter sections, to piloting virtually every craft in the Star Wars universe (including an enemy scout walker).
Continue reading Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, GameCube
The King of Grabs 