Tail Gunner, 1979 Vectorbeam/Cinematronics

Channel:

crazyclimber80

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Published on December 2, 2017 11:19:46 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o0LDqM9OtU

Game:

Tail Gunner (1979)

Duration: 5:35

394 views

14

Enjoyable little monochrome vector space shooter from a first-person perspective. As 3D space ships fly towards you, aim your crosshairs at them with a joystick and fire at them with your trigger button. Missed ships can just fly past you, but you don't want a total of 10 ships to get by, or it's game over. Fortunately you have a shield in your corner (activated by a second button); this bumps the enemies backwards. They will fly back out of sight and the next wave of enemies will appear, unless you shoot the repelled enemies. Wave after wave of 3 enemies just keep coming. Simplistic but the 3D effect for 1979 was pretty impressive. The shield button can be held down, but this saps the shield energy considerably more than just hitting it as the enemies are about to get past you. When the energy for the shield runs out you don't have it any more. There was a version of this game called TAIL GUNNER II; this is NOT a sequel, nor is it a different game at all-- this was just a cocktail cabinet licensed to Exidy. Suggested by YouTube user ms3bani. Sorry for the poor score but the controls don't emulate too well in MAME (the up/down flight emulation was reversed and I couldn't change it); if you know of a good setup that works particularly well in MAME let me know!