Astro Fighter, 1979 Data East/Sega/Gremlin

Channel:

crazyclimber80

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Published on August 21, 2018 10:08:41 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V0368etpTA

Game:

Astro Fighter (1979)

Duration: 9:17

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16

Influential vertical space shooter with 4 waves of enemies and a boss ship/enemy mothership-- which could be a first in arcade video games! Move your (rather slow) ship back and forth at the bottom of the screen, trying to take out the enemy ships, which can shoot straight down at you or at a wicked diagonal angle. Falling comets get in the way of you shooting enemies but are 60 points. Most enemies only move in unison with the whole formation and often make small movements left, right or upwards as they gradually descend towards you. DO NOT LET THEM GET PAST YOU!! If an enemy goes below the screen, ALL the enemies in that wave will return and you have to destroy them all again! Since you have a finite fuel supply, this is a very bad situation to be in-- and your ship gets pushed upwards a bit towards the enemy to boot! If you have at least one ship to spare and the last enemy threatens to get by you, it may not be a bad idea to ram it to prevent the whole formation from returning. The 3rd wave of enemies is different from the first two in that the enemies move towards the edges of the screen and bounce back upwards (and they look like Tie Fighters). And the 4th wave moves straight down-- no side-to-side movement, so they're easier to destroy. Then you face the boss, and it moves back and forth at the top of the screen, pelting you with both types of shots. It must be shot straight through the middle (and it often looks like you did so but it doesn't count somehow). Destroying it with your first shot (or maybe 2nd or 3rd) may net you a full 950 points! Running out of fuel is NOT an option, since it's game over if you do! The enemies shoot more often, and move more quickly in later rounds, and the comets appear more frequently. Impressive game for its time (generally licensed to US release for Sega/Gremlin in 1980) with some influential gameplay quirks. Despite its release on a cabaret version of the DECO Cassette System cabinet this was not a DECO Cassette System release. A hidden trick involving only missing the enemies TWICE through the whole 4 waves plus boss ship run may net you 10,000 points!

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