Gorf (Arcade, Atari 800/2600, BBC Micro, ColecoVision, C64) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 350
14Comparing this space defender on 6 different retro systems... let's go!
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Gorf
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorf
Gorf is an arcade game released in 1981 by Midway Mfg., whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a multiple-mission fixed shooter with five distinct modes of play, essentially making it five games in one. It is well known for its use of synthesized speech, a new feature at the time.
Gorf's most notable feature is its robotic synthesised speech, powered by the Votrax speech chip.[1] One of the first games to allow the player to buy additional lives before starting the game, Gorf allows the player to insert extra coins to buy up to seven starting lives.
The underlying hardware platform for Gorf allowed arcade operators to easily swap the pattern, CPU, and RAM boards with other similar games, such as Wizard of Wor. Only the game logic and ROM boards are specific to each game.
The player controls a spaceship that can move left, right, up, and down around the lower third of the screen. The ship can fire a single shot (called a "quark laser" in this game), which travels vertically up the screen. Unlike similar games, where the player cannot fire again until the existing shot has disappeared, the player can choose to fire another shot at any time; if the previous shot is still on screen, it disappears.
Gorf consists of five distinct "missions", each with its own patterns of enemies. The central goal of each mission is to destroy all enemies in that wave, which takes the player to the next mission. Successfully completing all five missions will increase the player's rank and loop back to the first mission, where play continues on a higher difficulty level. The game continues until the player loses all their lives. The player can advance through the ranks of Space Cadet, Space Captain, Space Colonel, Space General, Space Warrior, and Space Avenger, with a higher difficulty level at each rank. Along the way, a robotic voice heckles and threatens the player, often calling the player by their current rank (for example, "Some galactic defender you are, Space Cadet!"). Some versions also display the player's current rank via a series of lit panels in the cabinet.
Gorf was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and ColecoVision game consoles and the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20 personal computers in 1982. Due to copyright issues, the Galaxians mission was removed from all ports.[4] In 2006, it received a arcade-perfect port for the Atari Jaguar CD by 3D Stooges Software.
On July 17, 2011, Keith Swanson set a new Gorf world record score of 1,129,660 points, recognized by Twin Galaxies. His game spanned 826 missions across 6.5 hours. Swanson is the first person to ever score one million points on 3-ship settings. The previous world record was set by John McCann in 2009 with a score of 943,580.