This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2007) |
Armored Car | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Stern Electronics |
Publisher(s) | Stern Electronics |
Designer(s) | Chris Oberth Gunars Licitis |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release | 1981 |
Genre(s) | Maze |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (alternating turns) |
Armored Car is an overhead view maze arcade video game released by Stern Electronics in 1981. The player drives an armored car as the maze scrolls from right to left, collecting money, and avoiding criminals.
Armored Car is a maze game where the player must drive the titular armored car through a city from an top-down view which scrolls right to left. Some intersections are marked with directions that must be followed. The player can pick up money to deliver to banks while avoiding criminals by dropping sawhorses in the road. Points are scored by number of city blocks travelled, picking up money, and blowing up robbers. Fuel levels need to be replenished at gas stations throughout the city. [1] The player can speed up by pressing a button to shift the car into a higher gear. [2] Other vehicles appear as the player progresses through the game. The steam roller changes directional arrows to sawhorses. The street sweeper will sweep up sawhorses and directional arrows. The T.N.T. truck moves in a straight line from right to left, unless it views the armored car, where it will pursue the player in a straight line. If the truck crashes into a wall, the player gains 1000 bonus points. [1] [3]
Armored Car was developed by Chris Oberth and Gunars Licitis. It was inspired by the video game Targ . [1]
Bill Kunkel for Electronic Games described Armored Car as "a fairly unique, and highly interesting, game concept" that uses "interesting audio and graphics to create a game that even young arcaders should enjoy", in addition that it was a "delightful" and "fun" contest. [4]
Berzerk is a multidirectional shooter designed by Alan McNeil and released for arcades in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. Following Taito's Stratovox, it is one of the first arcade video games with speech synthesis. Berzerk places the player in a series of top-down, maze-like rooms containing armed robots. Home ports were published for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Vectrex.
Scramble is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released in 1981. It was developed by Konami and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels, and it established the foundation for a new genre.
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.
Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing Pac-Man, the audience for arcade video games in 1981 became much wider. Pac-Man influenced maze games began appearing in arcades and on home systems. Pac-Man was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. Nintendo's Donkey Kong defined the platform game genre, while Konami's Scramble established scrolling shooters. The lesser known Jump Bug combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include Defender, Frogger, and the Galaxian sequel Galaga.
1980 saw the release of a number of games with influential concepts, including Pac-Man, Battlezone, Crazy Climber, Mystery House, Missile Command, Phoenix, Rally-X, Space Panic, Stratovox, Zork, Adventure, and Olympic Decathlon. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, while the best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch. The Atari VCS also grew in popularity with a port of Space Invaders and support from new third-party developer Activision.
Super Cobra is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Konami, originally released as an arcade video game in 1981. It was published by Konami in Japan in March 1981 and manufactured and distributed by Stern in North America on June 22. It is the spiritual sequel to the Scramble arcade game released earlier in 1981. Super Cobra contains eleven distinct sections, versus six in Scramble, and is significantly more difficult, requiring maneuvering through tight spaces early in the game.
Targ is a maze shoot 'em up developed by Exidy and released as an arcade video game in 1980. It depicts vehicular combat in a future world. It was released in North America by Exidy in June 1980 and in Japan by Sega in July.
Dodge 'Em is a driving-themed maze game programmed by Carla Meninsky and published in 1980 by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS. Similar to Sega's 1979 Head On arcade game, Dodge 'Em is played on a single screen of four concentric roadways. Sears released the game for the "Sears Video Arcade" as Dodger Cars.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is an Intellivision game and was one of the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games to be licensed by TSR, Inc. It was later retitled to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain to distinguish it from the sequel, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin. It is the first Intellivision cartridge to use more than 4K of ROM.
A side-scrolling video game is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics during the golden age of arcade games was a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.
Astro Chase is a multidirectional shooter written by Fernando Herrera for Atari 8-bit computers. It was published by First Star Software in 1982 as the company's first game. Parker Brothers licensed it, releasing cartridge versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200 console in 1983 and a Commodore 64 version in 1984. Exidy licensed it for arcade use with its Max-A-Flex cabinet.
Armoredcar or vehicle may refer to:
Christian H. "Chris" Oberth was a video game programmer who began writing games for the Apple II in the late 1970s. He also developed handheld electronic games for Milton Bradley, arcade video games for Stern Electronics and other companies, and ported games to home computers and consoles.
Gorgon is a clone of the arcade game Defender, a horizontally-scrolling shooter, for the Apple II. It was programmed by Nasir Gebelli and published by Sirius Software in June 1981.
Turtles is a video game developed by Konami and published in arcades in 1981 by Stern and Sega. The Sega version was published as Turpin (ターピン). Turtles is a maze game where the player is a turtle trying to bring baby turtles to their homes while avoiding beetles.
Auto Racing is a racing video game written by Larry Zwick and released by Mattel for its Intellivision video game console in 1980. Auto Racing pits two players against each other using a top-down perspective on one of five different race courses. Auto Racing was released under the same name by Sears for its private-label version of the Intellivision console, the Super Video Arcade.
Lady Bug is a maze chase video game produced by Universal and released for arcades in 1981. Its gameplay is similar to Pac-Man, with the primary addition to the formula being gates that change the layout of the maze when used, adding an element of strategy to the genre. The arcade original was relatively obscure, but the game found wider recognition and success as a launch title for the ColecoVision console.
Getaway! is a crime-themed, multidirectional-scrolling maze game for Atari 8-bit computers. It was designed by Mark Reid and published by the Atari Program Exchange (APX) in 1982. In Getaway!, the player drives around a large city stealing cash, valuable items, and the contents of armored trucks, then must return the loot to their hideout. Three different police vehicles pursue, getting more aggressive as more crimes are committed.
The Scrolls of Abadon is a maze game designed by Frank Cohen and published in 1984 by Access Software for Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64.