SDI (arcade game)

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SDI
SDI arcadeflyer.png
Arcade flyer
Developer Sega
Publishers Sega
Home computers
Activision
Platforms Arcade, Master System, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad CPC
Release
April 1987
  • Arcade
    Master System
    Atari ST, C64, ZX Spectrum
    Amiga, CPC
Genre Scrolling shooter
Modes Single-player, multiplayer

SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative, or simply SDI, is a 1987 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. It was ported to the Master System (released in North America and Europe under the name Global Defense), Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. Players control a satellite and must destroy enemies by moving a crosshair over them and firing the satellite's weapons.

Contents

Gameplay

Players control a Strategic Defense Initiative satellite orbiting the Earth and must destroy enemy missiles/satellites with its weapons, and when activated the satellite's weapon systems fire at the crosshair present onscreen during play. The arcade version features a joystick to control the satellite and a trackball to control the crosshair. Home computer versions use different control schemes, such as depressing the fire button to control the crosshair, alternating between controlling the satellite and its weapons. [5] It is also possible to use a joystick and mouse in combination to control the satellite and crosshair at the same time, emulating the arcade game's controls. [6]

Each stage is split into two sections: offensive mode and defensive mode. During offensive mode, the player engages a number of enemies with the aim of destroying them all without the satellite being destroyed by the enemy. Should the player destroy all enemies during offensive mode, they are awarded 20,000 bonus points and begin the next stage on the offensive. If any enemies evade destruction during offensive mode, the player must complete defensive mode, where they are tasked with protecting the homeland from incoming warheads. Completion of defensive mode advances the player to the next stage, where they go on the offensive again.

Etymology

The real Strategic Defense Initiative was colloquially known as the Star Wars program and proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1983 to promote defensive weaponry that could shoot ICBMs out of space. [7]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed SDI as the sixth most successful table arcade unit of May 1987. [8]

References

  1. ↑ Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 36. ISBN   978-4990251215.
  2. ↑ "Software List". Sega Hard Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega Corporation. Archived from the original on 2019-06-21.
  3. ↑ "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer . Vol. 6, no. 12. March 1988. p. 13.
  4. ↑ "1 Mega Cartridges" (PDF). The Sega Master System Game Catalog (1988). Mastertronic.
  5. ↑ Hamza, Kati; Evans, Matthew (March 1989). "SDI". Zzap!64 (47). Newsfield Publications Ltd: 21.
  6. ↑ Rignall, Julian (December 1988). "Reviews - SDI". Computer and Video Games (86). EMAP: 58, 59.
  7. ↑ "Reviews - SDI". Crash (90). Newsfield Publications Ltd: 49. July 1991.
  8. ↑ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 309. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 June 1987. p. 21.
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