Tempest, 1980 Atari (20 From 1980 #4)
18Extremely popular 3D color vector game, with a unique premise-- fire down from the top of shafts as enemies rise from below. There are small sections of the shaft that you move across as you turn the spinner control left or right and the enemies ride up those sections to get to the top where you are. You have a laser that you can fire-- and you can hold down the button for a quick burst of 4-5 shots or so at once-- and you also have a smart bomb of sorts called a "Superzapper". The Superzapper has one single use but will then take out one single enemy if you use it again, but every stage you complete earns you a Superzapper recharge. Save it for a time when enemies fill the screen; you are also given a free one (automatically expended) at certain point values. The biggest draw for me is the geometric shapes that comprise the shafts-- they're even cooler in the hack TEMPEST TUBES. Enemies include red Flippers which flip across the shaft sections and are destructible when they are NOT flat, on the rim of the shaft where you are; Spikers, which aren't really a threat of themselves (you're best served to ignore them) but leave spikes which can kill you on your way to the next shaft; Tankers which are purple diamonds and serve to release other enemies when shot or when they reach the top; Fuseballs which show up at stage 11 and jumps among the shaft particles (250, 500 or 750 points); and Pulsars which show up on stage 17 and, as electrical impulses, can destroy you from afar if you're above the same shaft particle as them. I like that the game warns you to avoid spikes as you move to the next stage. GREAT sound effects in this game; I could instantly recognize Tempest from afar in the arcades. Although I'm not as crazy about this as many gamers back in the day, I certainly appreciate its unique gameplay/design. A programmer-designed trick apparently involved getting a score over 160 or 170,000 points and certain point values after that to get you extra credits, lives, or various effects apparently existed at some point but I could never get it to work.