Juno First – Konami’s Forgotten Arcade Space Blaster!
1🕹 Game Name: Juno First
📛 Alternate Names: ジュノファースト (Japan)
📅 Release Date: September 1983
🔫 Genre: Vertical Scrolling Shooter
👨 🏻 💻 Developers: Konami
👨 🏻 💻 Publishers: Konami / Gottlieb (North America)
🔢 Max Players: 2 (Alternating)
⁉ Cooperative: No
🕹 Game Introduction:
Juno First launched into arcades as Konami’s answer to Galaga, delivering intense vertical shooting action with a twist—360° movement across a 3D grid-like battlefield.
🕹 Game Description:
Fly a space fighter above the alien planet Juno, blasting endless waves of alien invaders before they crash into Earth’s defenses. With smooth scrolling and pseudo-3D depth, it was a fast, fluid, and futuristic shooter ahead of its time.
🎴 Game Play:
👉 🏻 Move freely left/right and up/down across a scrolling starfield
👉 🏻 Blast alien waves before they cross the threshold
👉 🏻 Rescue captured comrades to earn warp bonuses
👉 🏻 Enemies include ships that shoot, swoop, and multiply
👉 🏻 Speed ramps up quickly—demanding tight reflexes
📕 Background & History:
Released by Konami and licensed to Gottlieb in North America, Juno First was a lesser-known gem that fused Defender’s speed with Galaga’s intensity. Though it never reached hit status, it gained cult appreciation in arcade circles and later through MAME.
🐣 Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs:
👉 🏻 Rescue a friendly ship to get massive point boosts and a warp jump
👉 🏻 Certain cabinet builds allow sound test access via dip switch settings
🐱 💻 Hacks:
👉 🏻 MAME tweaks allow unlimited warps or freeze-frame gameplay
👉 🏻 Speed modifiers can create a training mode for beginners
🎉 Trivia:
👉 🏻 One of the first arcade games to simulate a “3D” background scroll
👉 🏻 The name “Juno First” has no actual relation to the planet—it was picked for style
👉 🏻 A popular clone called “Juno II” existed as a bootleg in some arcades
👓 Lonster's Review:
Juno First might be the smoothest shooter of its era. It feels like an F-Zero + Galaga mashup, and the screen never lets you relax. A hidden beast of the golden age!
🌟 Legacy:
Though not widely remembered, it’s a favorite among collectors and MAME players. Its mechanics were years ahead and influenced later shooters with free-range movement.
✨ Cultural Impact:
It didn’t dominate arcades but inspired shooter design for decades—especially with pseudo-3D environments and pressure-based wave systems.
💭 Lonster's Final Thoughts:
Fast, slick, and spacey—Juno First is what happens when arcade devs dream in hyperspeed. It still rocks a joystick today!
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