Scramble is an ancient shmup developed by Konami and released way, way back in 1981. From what I can gather this is actually the very first side scrolling shmup period. Some even consider Scramble to be part of the Gradius lineage.
As such, this is a very basic game, where you have a forward shot and a bomb that drops in an arc to hit various objects on the terrain below. You get 3 lives to start and can get your 1 and only extend at 10K points.
You also have a fuel bar which drops unless you destroy the various fuel tanks littered throughout the 5 stages. After 5 levels the game loops back to the beginning and the only difference in subsequent loops appears to be the fuel dropping at a faster rate and perhaps the enemies being a tad more aggressive..
Scoring in the game is very basic, just destroy everything and stay alive as long as possible, the game can be looped forever assuming you don't drop all your lives. And that's pretty much it!
Scramble is early 1980's arcade gaming in it's purest form: a simple game that is surprisingly satisfying and very addictive!
20