Zaxxon, 1982 Sega/Gremlin (20 From 1982 #7)
15Super-impressive isometric 3/4 perspective shooter that simulates 3D from a 3rd person viewpoint (called "Axonometric Projection", which ZAXXON gets its name from). Use a flight joystick with flight-type controls to steer your ship through 2 space fortress and the space sequence between them. It's INCREDIBLY important to know at least two things: One, how to master the flight controls-- you must pull back on the stick to make your plane ascend, and away from you to DIVE down; and Two; you must fire your shots VERY often-- this is especially important as you approach a wall, since you can see the shots disintegrate and this tells you whether you need to climb or dive, or move left or right to be able to clear the wall (or perhaps fly through a gap in the wall). Sooooo important to know these things, since you can die right off the bat as you approach the wall of the first fortress to start the game. Once you know these things, you'll be able to survive at least for a while. As you enter the first fortress, you'll want to dive down and take out some ground targets with your firepower. You don't generally score a ton of points in this game so get your points where you can-- red radar dishes are a nice 1,000 points! You'll also want to keep from running out of fuel (deadly) and red fuel tanks will also be ground targets here. The fortress will have multiple walls or force fields you'll want to hurdle or dive under. Later in the game a missile will need 5 or so shots to destroy-- this also belongs to the robot boss at the end of the 2nd fortress. Also of note for ground targets in the 1st fortress are enemy ships-- shoot them! They count towards the 20 you need to shoot for a 1,000 point bonus. Speaking of which, you enter a space shootout with them after clearing the first fortress. Here, you can make good use of your altimeter trying to shoot the enemy ships. Move up or down to try to get enemies in your sights (they do the same to you; it's sometimes good to let them get in your sights on their own accord and then blast them). You can often fly over or under them or their shots, and they appear smaller or bigger depending on their altitude. After clearing this sequence you face the 2nd fortress (another wall to fly over to enter). The enemy ships aren't parked in this fortress so if you wanted the bonus you needed to finish off all 20 by this point-- tough to do! More ground targets await you here (some shoot), as do tougher walls to fly over/through. Finally you will reach the robot boss. He will move about in front of you for a handful of seconds before firing a missile from his arm. Don't let him fire it-- you get a 1,000 point bonus if you can shoot the red spot on that arm where his hand would be (where the missile would shoot from). Shoot him enough times there and he is destroyed. If he releases the missile, you must blast it around 5 times QUICKLY or you'll likely be destroyed by it-- you can't really dodge it too well as it's a homing missile. If you do blast it you get a lame 200 point bonus. In either event you advance to the next fortress. Note that in space your fuel supply barely trickles away, but it drains MUCH, MUCH faster within the confines of the fortresses. So you'll need to shoot the fuel tanks a lot (they're 300 points apiece). This was a super-impressive game for 1982, with unheard-of graphics and a unique perspective and spin on the space shooter genre. Still kind of cool after all these years (admittedly not many "cool" things going on these days)!