Tempest Gameplay - Arcade 1UP - Beating High Scores
5Some Tempest gameplay on my Arcade 1UP Machine trying to beat my high scores..
Tempest is a 1981 arcade video game by Atari, Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface divided into lanes, sometimes as a closed tube, and viewed from one end. The player controls a claw-shaped "blaster" that sits on the edge of the surface, snapping from segment to segment as a rotary knob is turned, and can fire blaster shots to destroy enemies and obstacles by pressing a button.
Tempest was one of the first games to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first to let players choose their starting level (a system Atari called "SkillStep"). This feature increases the preferred starting level, which therefore could also be used to allowing the player to continue the previous game if they wished. Tempest was one of the first video games with a progressive level design where the levels themselves varied rather than giving the player the same layout with increasing difficulty.
The goal in Tempest is to survive for as long as possible, and score as many points as possible, by clearing the screen of enemies that appear on the playing field. The player controls a blaster at the near end of the field, moving it left and right using a rotary knob. The player's blaster can rapid-fire shots down individual lanes of the field, destroying any enemies within the same lane. The blaster is also equipped with a "Superzapper" which, once per level, destroys all enemies currently on the field, a second use of the Superzapper in the same level destroys one random enemy. The Superzapper is recharged between each level.