| Destroyer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | 1977 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Arcade system | Atari 6800 |
Destroyer is a single-player arcade game developed and published by Atari, Inc. in 1977. [1] The player attempts to sink ships and destroy submarines from the perspective of a naval destroyer.
The playfield displays a ship moving across the surface (displayed as a wavy line) and submarines moving across the screen. The target depth is set using a dial control (displayed as a dashed line). Depth charges are dropped by pushing the dial control. The speed of the ship is controlled using a speed lever control. Charges that miss make a low boom. Charges that hit make a louder boom and trigger an explosion sequence. Points are awarded for successful hits. The game is timed, so the goal is to sink or destroy as many submarines as possible before the time expires. [2]
Destroyer is a microprocessor-based game, using the Motorola 6800. [3] The hardware is similar to Drag Race and Firetruck released by Atari and Kee Games within a year.
In 1978, coupled with Atari's Canyon Bomber was a game called Sea Bomber which was "basically a port of Destroyer". [4]
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a fuze set to detonate the charge, typically at a specific depth. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, and helicopters.
Battleship is a strategy type guessing game for two players. It is played on ruled grids on which each player's fleet of warships are marked. The locations of the fleets are concealed from the other player. Players alternate turns calling "shots" at the other player's ships, and the objective of the game is to destroy the opposing player's fleet.
A submarine simulator is a video game in which the player commands a submarine. The usual form of the game is to go on a series of missions, each of which features a number of encounters where the goal is to sink surface ships and to survive counterattacks by destroyers. Submarine simulators are notable for the highly-variable pace of the game; it may take hours of simulated time to get into position to attack a well-defended convoy, and sub simulators typically include an option for players to adjust the ratio of real time to simulated time up and down as desired.
Kaiten were crewed torpedoes and suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II.
Stargate is a side-scrolling shooter game released for arcades in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar. Some home ports of Stargate were renamed to Defender II for legal reasons.
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon is usually a projectile, missile or bomb that is optimized to destroy submarines.
Polaris is a fixed shooter arcade video game released in 1980 by Taito. The player controls a submarine which can shoot missiles upward. The goal is to destroy all of the airplanes in each level while avoiding bombs dropped from the aircraft, as well as mines launched by enemy submarines and depth charges dropped from boats that speed by. Versions for the Atari 2600 and VIC-20 were released by Tigervision in 1983.
Depthcharge is a black-and-white arcade video game released in 1977 by Gremlin Industries. The game shows a side view of a section of ocean with a destroyer on the surface and submarines passing beneath it. The player-controlled destroyer can be moved left and right and drop depth charges to destroy the submarines below.
Air-Sea Battle is a fixed shooter developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS. It was one of the nine launch titles for that system when it was released in September 1977. Air-Sea Battle is partially based on the 1975 Atari arcade video game Anti-Aircraft where each player uses a ground-based gun to shoot passing aircraft. The cartridge adds other variants, such as planes dropping bombs on ships and a carnival-themed shooting gallery.
Blasteroids is the third official sequel to the 1979 multidirectional shooter video game, Asteroids. It was developed by Atari Games and released in arcades in 1987. Unlike the previous games, Blasteroids uses raster graphics instead of vector graphics, and has power-ups and a boss.
Zarch is a computer game developed by David Braben in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost all releases of the Acorn Archimedes.
Tank is an arcade game developed by Kee Games, a subsidiary of Atari, and released in November 1974. It was one of the few original titles not based on an existing Atari property developed by Kee Games, which was founded to sell clones of Atari games to distributors as a fake competitor prior to the merger of the two companies. In the game, two players drive tanks through a maze viewed from above while attempting to shoot each other and avoid mines, represented by X marks, in a central minefield. Each player controls their tank with a pair of joysticks, moving them forwards and back to drive, reverse, and steer, and firing shells with a button to attempt to destroy the other tank. The destruction of a tank from a mine or shell earns the opposing player a point, and tanks reappear after being destroyed. The winner is the player with more points when time runs out, with each game typically one or two minutes long.
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typically carried out to protect friendly shipping and coastal facilities from submarine attacks and to overcome blockades.
Arashi(嵐, "Storm") was a Kagerō-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Wolfpack is a World War II submarine simulator published by Broderbund in the 1990s, for Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, and Macintosh. It simulates combat actions between wolf packs of German U-boats and convoys of Allied destroyers and merchant vessels in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Nautilus is a video game for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers created by Mike Potter and published by Synapse Software in 1982. The players control a submarine, the Nautilus, or a destroyer, the Colossus, attempting to either destroy or rebuild an underwater city. The game the first to feature a "split screen" display to allow both players to move at the same time.
Sea Wolf is an arcade video game designed by Dave Nutting and released by Midway in 1976. It is a video game update of an electro-mechanical Midway game, Sea Devil, itself based on Sega's 1966 electro-mechanical arcade submarine simulator Periscope. The game was released in Japan by Taito. In Sea Wolf, the player, piloting an unseen submarine, launches torpedoes vertically in an attempt to sink ships moving horizontally across the screen before time runs out. The screen is viewed through a faux periscope mounted on the cabinet.
Sub Hunt is a submarine simulator video game released by Mattel for its Intellivision video game system in 1982. Players take control of a wolfpack of submarines attempting to stop an enemy invasion.
Submarine Commander is a simulation video game for the Atari 8-bit family written by Dean Lock and published by Thorn EMI Computer Software in 1982. A VIC-20 port by Gary York was released in 1983, and an Apple II version by Patrick Buckland the same year. The Atari version was re-released in 1985 on cassette on the Sparklers budget label. A version for the TI-99/4A was announced but was not released until 1986 when a third party bought the rights.
Final Legacy is a shoot 'em up video game released on cartridge by Atari Corporation for the Atari 8-bit family in November 1985. The game takes place in 2051 with the player in control of a highly advanced ship, attempting to fend off an attack by a nuclear-armed doomsday computer. The game was developed by Atari, Inc. and completed in 1984 but was not released until late 1985 due to the ongoing turmoil within the company. A 3rd party Atari ST port was published in 1988.