Centipede is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.
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.
Shamus is a shooter with light action-adventure game elements written by Cathryn Mataga and published by Synapse Software. The original Atari 8-bit computer version was released on disk and tape in 1982. According to Synapse co-founder Ihor Wolosenko, Shamus made the company famous by giving it a reputation for quality. "Funeral March of a Marionette", the theme song from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, plays on the title screen.
Time Bandit is a maze shoot 'em up written for the TRS-80 Model I by Bill Dunlevy and Harry Lafnear and published by MichTron in 1983. It was ported to the TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon 32, but enjoyed its greatest popularity several years later as an early release for the Atari ST. It was also released for the pseudo-PC-compatible Sanyo MBC-55x with 8-color display. Amiga and MS-DOS versions were ported by Timothy Purves.
Oil's Well is a video game published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. The game was written for the Atari 8-bit computers by Thomas J. Mitchell. Oil's Well is similar to the 1982 arcade game Anteater, re-themed to be about drilling for oil instead of a hungry insectivore. Ports were released in 1983 for the Apple II and Commodore 64, in 1984 for ColecoVision and the IBM PC, then in 1985 for MSX and the Sharp X1. A version with improved visuals and without Mitchell's involvement was released for MS-DOS in 1990.
Pac-Man is a 1982 maze video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. under official license by Namco, and an adaptation of the 1980 arcade game Pac-Man. The player controls the title character, who attempts to consume all of the wafers in a maze while avoiding four ghosts that pursue him. Eating flashing wafers at the corners of the screen causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue and flee, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points. Once eaten, a ghost is reduced to a pair of eyes, which return to the center of the maze to be restored.
Spy's Demise is an action game written by Alan Zeldin for the Apple II and published by Penguin Software in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A, and Vector-06c. The game contains a puzzle which at the time of release could be solved for a Spy's Demise T-shirt. According to Antic magazine in June 1984, only four people had solved it. The game was followed by a 1983 sequel, The Spy Strikes Back.
Datasoft, Inc. was a software developer and publisher for home computers founded in 1980 by Pat Ketchum and based out of Chatsworth, California. Datasoft primarily published video games, including ports of arcade video games, games based on licenses from movies and TV shows, and original games. Like competitor Synapse Software, they also published other software: development tools, word processors, and utilities. Text Wizard, written by William Robinson and published by Datasoft when he was 16, was the basis for AtariWriter. Datasoft initially targeted the Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, and TRS-80 Color Computer, then later the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari ST, and Amiga. Starting in 1983, a line of lower cost software was published under the label Gentry Software.
Jawbreaker is a Pac-Man clone programmed by John Harris for Atari 8-bit computers and published by On-Line Systems. Released in 1981 before an official version of Pac-Man was available, it was widely lauded by reviewers and became a major seller. The story of its creation and Harris's Atari 8-bit implementation of Frogger form a portion of Steven Levy's 1984 book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
Rear Guard is a horizontally scrolling shooter written for Atari 8-bit computers and published in December 1981 by Adventure International. Neil Larimer created the game with assistance from Sparky Starks. It was ported to the Apple II, TRS-80, and TRS-80 Color Computer.
Serpentine is a maze video game written by David Snider for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. Serpentine's gameplay and visuals are similar to the Konami arcade game, Jungler, released the previous year. It was ported to the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers. A VIC-20 version was licensed to Creative Software.
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.
Wayout is a 3D first-person perspective video game programmed by Paul Allen Edelstein and published for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1982. It was released for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1983. Wayout is among the first maze games to offer full 360 degree 3D perspective and movement, and its graphics were considered state-of-the-art upon its release. There were many pseudo-3D maze games at the time, but they used a fixed perspective and limited the player to four orientations.
Canyon Climber is a video game designed by Steve Bjork and James Garon for the TRS-80 Color Computer and published by Tandy Corporation in 1982. Ports to other home computers were published by Datasoft. Canyon Climber is a three-screen platform game with an American Southwest theme. Two of the screens are direct analogs of those in Donkey Kong.
Bug Attack is a fixed shooter video game written by Jim Nitchals for the Apple II and published by Cavalier Computer in 1981. A version for Atari 8-bit computers was released in 1982. Bug Attack is based on Atari, Inc.'s Centipede arcade game.
Track Attack is a train-themed action game written by Chris Jochumson for the Apple II. It was published in 1982 by Broderbund, as was a port for Atari 8-bit computers by Bill Hooper. Track Attack contains both overhead maze levels and side-scrolling platform game levels. In the latter, the player controls a character who runs along the top of a train, performing acrobatic leaps between the cars. Jochumson co-authored The Arcade Machine which was released the same year.
Preppie! II is a video game written by Russ Wetmore for Atari 8-bit computers and published by Adventure International in 1983. Subtitled "The continuing saga of Wadsworth Overcash", it is a sequel to 1982's Frogger-inspired Preppie!. The game loosely continues the preppy theme, primarily through a story in the manual, but replaces the country club setting with an abstract, overhead view maze. Some obstacles from the first game appear in the second.
The Sands of Egypt is a 1982 graphic adventure game written by James Garon, Ralph Burris, and Steve Bjork of Datasoft for the TRS-80 Color Computer. It was licensed to Tandy Corporation and was the first disk-only game for the Color Computer sold by RadioShack. Ports to Atari 8-bit computers in 1982 and Apple II in 1983 were published by Datasoft. Set in 1893, the game follows a British explorer and archaeologist who is lost in the desert. Text commands are entered in the lower half of the screen, while a sometimes animated image of the current location is displayed in the upper half.
