| Stargunner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Telesys |
| Publisher(s) | Telesys |
| Designer(s) | Alex Leavens |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Stargunner is a horizontally scrolling shooter for the Atari 2600 written by Alex Leavens and published by Telesys in 1982. [1] Leavens also worked on ports of Gorf and Crazy Climber for the 2600, released by CBS and Atari, Inc., respectively. [1]
Video Games Player magazine, in the August/September 1983 issue, called Stargunner "a better than average outer space shoot-'em-up game." [2]
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982 alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
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.
Phoenix is an video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The game is a Fixed-screen shooter where the player controls a space ship, and must shoot at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the enemies.
Demon Attack is a fixed shooter programmed by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. It sold over 2 million cartridges. Demon Attack was ported to the Intellivision, Magnavox Odyssey 2, Atari 8-bit family, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Tandy 1000, TRS-80, IBM PCjr, and TRS-80 Color Computer. There is also a port for the TI-99/4A titled Super Demon Attack.
Robot Tank is a first-person shoot 'em up written by Alan Miller for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It is similar in design to Atari, Inc.'s Battlezone tank combat arcade video game and more so to its 2600 port. Robot Tank adds different systems which can individually be damaged—instead of the vehicle always exploding upon being shot—and weather effects.
River Raid is a video game developed by Carol Shaw for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls a fighter jet over the River of No Return in a raid behind enemy lines. The goal is to navigate the flight by destroying enemies while collecting fuel and not crashing.
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.
Pepsi Invaders is a non-commercially released 1983 fixed shooter video game developed by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600. It was commissioned by The Coca-Cola Company to be handed out to salespeople at their 1983 sales convention. A reskin of the system's version of Space Invaders, the player shoots down a flying formation of letters spelling "PEPSI", Coca-Cola's long-time rival. Only 125 copies were distributed.
G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike is an action video game written by John Emerson for the Atari 2600 and published in 1983 by Parker Brothers. The game is loosely based on the G.I. Joe franchise and is the first licensed G.I. Joe video game. There are three game modes: single-player, two player cooperative, and two player competitive. The UK version was renamed Action Man: Action Force.
Skeet Shoot is a skeet shooting video game for the Atari 2600 and the first game released by Games by Apollo in December 1981. Players assume the role of a skeet shooter shooting clay pigeons. There is a two-player mode where the players alternate.
Megamania is an Atari 2600 game by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. Versions were released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit family in 1983. Megamania is similar to Sega's 1981 arcade title Astro Blaster. Both games have nearly identical patterns of approaching enemies with the player relying on an "energy" meter. The player's ships are remarkably similar in both games.
Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man is a horizontally scrolling shooter and action game designed for Intellivision by Mike Sanders and Jossef Wagner and published by Mattel in 1983. It is based on the multimedia franchise of the same name and marks the first video game in the series. Mattel released an Atari 2600 version under their M Network brand.
Borderline is a vertically scrolling shooter maze game released by Sega as an arcade video game in April 1981. The player controls a jeep and has to destroy enemy refineries. There are four stages with different gameplay. The first stage plays like a vertically scrolling shooter. In the second stage, the player maneuvers his Jeep through underbrush, and enemies can only follow on its path, a concept later found in Namco's Dig Dug (1982).
Seaquest is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1983. The game is an underwater shooter in which the player controls a submarine.
Assault is a 1983 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Bomb for the Atari 2600. Controlling a spaceship fixated at the bottom of the screen, gameplay involves the player shooting projectiles towards an enemy mothership that deploys smaller ships to attack the player. The player must also prevent enough projectiles from touching the bottom of the screen.
Snoopy and the Red Baron is an Atari 2600 shoot 'em up featuring Peanuts character Snoopy and his aviation rival, the Red Baron. It is the first video game based on Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz and was published by Atari, Inc. in 1983.
A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background scrolls from the top of the screen to the bottom to create the illusion that the player character is moving in the game world.
Telesys was an Atari 2600 game developer and publisher that released six games, all in 1982, before going out of business. Their slogan was "Fun in games." Fast Food was one of their more well-known titles.
Pigs in Space is a three-in-one 1983 video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600. It is based on the "Pigs in Space" sketch series on the then-popular television series The Muppet Show. The game is the last in a series of children-friendly games developed by Atari for the Atari 2600. Atari marketed the games as being good for the development of hand-to-eye coordination.
No Escape! is an Atari 2600 video game developed and published by Imagic in 1983. The player controls Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who fights off the Furies sent by the Greek gods. A two-player mode, in which the second player competes against the first turn-by-turn, is also available.
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