A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal control device in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a centre stick or side-stick. It has various switches to control functions of the aircraft controlled by the Pilot and First Officer of the flight.
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.
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.
Moon Patrol is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Irem. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a Moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, Moon Patrol is often credited with the introduction of full parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games. Cabinet art for the Williams version was done by Larry Day. Most of the home ports were from Atari, Inc., sometimes under the Atarisoft label.
An arcade controller is a collective set of input devices designed primarily for use in an arcade cabinet. A typical control set consists of a joystick and a number of push-buttons. Less common setups include devices such as trackballs or steering wheels. These devices are generally produced under the assumption that they will be used in commercial settings, such as in video arcades, where they may be heavily or roughly used. Durability is one of the distinguishing characteristics of "authentic" arcade parts when compared with numerous, low-cost arcade imitations designed for private use in the home.
SonSon is an arcade video game by Capcom released in July 1984. It is loosely based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West. The player assumes the role of a monkey boy and fights their way from one side to another, eventually reaching the statue of Buddha. One battles bats, rats, and mad bombers along the way with his fighting rod that shoots balls of fire.
Vanguard is a scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by TOSE. It was released by SNK in Japan and Europe 1981, and licensed to Centuri for manufacture in North America in October and to Zaccaria in Italy the same year. Cinematronics converted the game to cocktail arcade cabinets in North America.
Centuri, formerly known as Allied Leisure, was an American arcade game manufacturer. They were based in Hialeah, Florida, and were one of the top six suppliers of coin-operated arcade video game machinery in the United States during the early 1980s. Centuri in its modern inception was formed when former Taito America president Ed Miller and his partner Bill Olliges took over Allied Leisure, Inc. They renamed it "Centuri" in 1980.
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator is a space combat simulation arcade video game based on the original Star Trek television program and movie series, and released by Sega in 1983. Star Trek uses color vector graphics for both a 2D display and a 3D first-person perspective. The player controls the Starship Enterprise and must defend sectors from invading Klingon ships. The game includes synthesized speech
Parsec is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Jim Dramis and Paul Urbanus for the TI-99/4A and published by Texas Instruments in 1982. Dramis also programmed Car Wars and Munch Man for the TI-99/4A.
TI Invaders is a fixed shooter video game published by Texas Instruments in 1981 for the TI-99/4A home computer. The game is a Space Invaders clone where the goal is to shoot all of the aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen. TI Invaders is part of the TI Arcade Game Series which includes Tombstone City: 21st Century and Car Wars.
Car Wars is a video game for the TI-99/4A programmed by Jim Dramis and published by TI in 1981. Car Wars is a clone of the 1979 Sega/Gremlin arcade game Head On.
Route-16 is a driving maze video game released in arcades by Tehkan and Sun Electronics in 1981. The game was licensed to Centuri for distribution in the United States. It was ported to the Arcadia 2001 console. An enhanced version was released in Japan as Route-16 Turbo for the Famicom in 1985, and in 2001 as part of the PlayStation game Sunsoft Memorial Vol. 2.
MotoRace USA is a racing video game developed and released in arcades by Irem in 1983. In North America, it was released by Williams Electronics. Cabinet art was done by Larry Day and Bruce Schafernak of Advertising Posters in Chicago. The player controls a racer who must travel on a motorcycle from Los Angeles to New York City. The game was ported to the SG-1000 home console in 1983 and the Family Computer in 1985.
Tutankham is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Konami and released by Stern in North America. Named after the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, the game combines a maze shoot 'em up with light puzzle-solving elements. It debuted at the European ATE and IMA amusement shows in January 1982, before releasing worldwide in Summer 1982. The game was a critical and commercial success and was ported to home systems by Parker Brothers.
Munch Man is a video game written by Jim Dramis for the TI-99/4A home computer and published as a cartridge by Texas Instruments in 1982. Based on Namco's Pac-Man, it includes several variations that alter gameplay. Instead of emptying the maze of dots, Munch Man leaves a chain-like pattern as it moves, and the goal is to fill the entire maze. Dramis later wrote Parsec for the TI-99/4A.
T.A.N.K. is a 1985 vertically scrolling multidirectional shooter developed and released in arcades by SNK. It was published in North America as TNK III by Kitcorp. Versions of T.A.N.K. for home computers were released by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC in 1987. A sequel was also released for the Nintendo Entertainment System titled Iron Tank.
Space Zap is a space-themed fixed shooter arcade video game developed by Game-A-Tron and licensed to Midway Manufacturing in 1980. The player controls the defenses of an immobile base in the center of the screen which is attacked from the top, bottom, left, and right. Pressing one of four oversized buttons moves the gun in the corresponding direction. A fifth button fires. Space Zap shipped in three form factors: standard upright, cocktail, and Bally's Mini-Myte reduced size cabinet.
Twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It is a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: the first for movement on a flat plane and the second to shoot in the direction the joystick is pushed. Usually shots are fired as soon as the second joystick is moved, but in some games there is an additional button which must be held. Keyboard and mouse or touch input may supplant one or both joysticks. A few games, such as 1981's Vanguard, don't have a second joystick for shooting, but provide four buttons arranged in a diamond to fire in the cardinal directions.
