Satan's Hollow, 1981 Arcade Engineering/Bally/Midway (20 From 1980 #18)
13Galaxian-type of shooter with some interesting unique elements; none moreso than direct references to the Prince Of Darkness himself, Satan! Not to mention Beelzebub, Lucifer and "Old Nick". This generated some mild controversy among the more religious types (oh brother). Religious opinions aside, this is also interesting due to the fact that enemies can steal your reserve lives, you can get bonus points for PAST levels you've beaten, and building a bridge to cross and challenge Satan can get you these bonus points! Some interesting and unique elements make this a cut above your average Galaxian knockoffs of the day. The gist of the game is to move your ship left and right at the bottom of the screen and destroy gargoyles that swoop down and drop bombs. Each gargoyle destroyed leaves a piece of bridge which you must go collect from the left side of the screen and haul over to the right. Continue to do this with each piece until you've built the bridge and can cross it over to the lair of Satan himself, where he will pelt you with tridents and maybe swirling fireballs. But if you can shoot him, not only will you get bonus points for each flag collected from levels past you have beaten (an amusing scene involves a gargoyle fluttering over to deposit the flag for you), at 1,000 points each; but he also grants you a firepower boost (more shots at once as well as double shots, with a total of 2 upgrades)! The generals of Satan will also menace you-- they will breathe fire upon you (the shield can't really save you here; you must get out of the way) and if a bridge has not been made or few parts have been built, you have very little room to maneuver! If you take a long time they will eventually go away. Later in the game, the gargoyles will start to drop bombs/eggs.. these are REALLY annoying because they can break holes in your bridge that you will have to repair with more bridge pieces. Arrrrgh!!! This is still an inventive little shooter, with a rich Rise Of The Valkyries score. Perhaps not super-remarkable but certainly with enough unique twists worth checking out.