Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade video game, developed and released by Taito in Japan and licensed to Midway Manufacturing for overseas distribution. Commonly considered to be one of the most influential video games of all time, Space Invaders was the first fixed shooter and the first video game with endless gameplay and set the template for the genre. The goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.
Scramble is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released in 1981. It was developed by Konami and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels, and it established the foundation for a new genre.
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.
Time Pilot is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1982. It was distributed in the United States by Centuri, and by Atari Ireland in Europe and the Middle East. While engaging in aerial combat, the player-controlled jet flies across open airspace that scrolls indefinitely in all directions. Each level is themed to a different time period. Home ports for the Atari 2600, MSX, and ColecoVision were released in 1983.
Phoenix is a fixed shooter video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The player controls a space ship shooting at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the player's ship. There are five stages which repeat endlessly. The fifth is a fight against a large enemy spaceship, making Phoenix one of the first shooters with a boss battle, an element that would become common for the genre.
Star Wars is a first-person rail shooter designed by Mike Hally and released as an arcade video game in 1983 by Atari, Inc. It uses 3D color vector graphics to simulate the assault on the Death Star from the 1977 film Star Wars. There are three connected gameplay sequences: combat against TIE fighters in space, flying across the surface of the Death Star, and the final trench run. The sequence repeats with added complications and the Death Star regenerating for each. The player's X-Wing fighter has a shield which only protects against damage a certain number of times, then the next hit ends the game. Speech synthesis emulates actors from the film.
Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and Atari, Inc. released vector-display games, which offered a distinctive look and a greater graphic capability, at the cost of being only black and white (initially). Cinematronics also published Dragon's Lair in 1983, the first major LaserDisc video game.
Space Wars is a shooter game released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1977. It is based on the PDP-1 game Spacewar! (1962) but instead uses vector graphics for the visuals. The hardware developed for Space Wars became the platform for most of the vector-based arcade games from Cinematronics. It was distributed in Japan by Taito in 1978, and a Vectrex port was published in 1982.
Liberator is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. It is based on the Atari Force comic book series published by DC Comics from 1982 to 1986. Liberator has been described as the opposite of Missile Command, in that the player destroys cities from space instead of defending them from the ground. Only 762 arcade machines were ever made.
Star Fire is a first-person arcade coin-operated space combat video game created by Technical Magic for Midway-Bally and licensed for manufacture to Exidy in December 1978. It was distributed in Japan by Taito and Esco Trading in 1979. Designed by Caltech engineers Ted Michon, and David Rolfe and inspired by the film Star Wars, the game is not based on a licensed property.
Ozma Wars is a fixed shooter arcade video game developed by Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK) and released in 1979. The moving starfield background gives the impression of vertical scrolling, but the player ship's movement is restricted to the bottom of the screen.
Astro Fighter is a space shoot 'em up game released for arcades in 1979. The cabinet was released in three different styles: upright/standard, cocktail, and cabaret. It was developed and distributed by Data East in Japan and was distributed in North America by Sega/Gremlin.
Pleiades (プレアデス) is a fixed shooter arcade game released in 1981 by Tehkan and licensed to Centuri. The name is shown on the title screen as Pleiads. The title comes from the mythical Greek Pleiades, the seven daughters of the titan Atlas.
Space Firebird is a 1980 arcade video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 and released by Nintendo in Japan and Europe. In America, the game was distributed by Far East Video. Sega-Gremlin also released a version of the game in North America.
Cosmic Chasm is a 1982 vector game originally created by GCE for the Vectrex home game system. It became the first game developed for a home system to be turned into an arcade game after Cinematronics, which was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the time, released it as their last color vector game.
Solar Quest is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Cinematronics in 1981. It was designed and programmed by Scott Boden, who previously worked on Star Castle. It had a home release for the Vectrex system in 1982.
Cube Quest is a shoot 'em up arcade laserdisc game by American company Simutrek released in 1983. It was primarily designed and programmed by Paul Allen Newell, who previously wrote some Atari 2600 games. It was introduced at Tokyo's Amusement Machine Show in September 1983 and then the AMOA show the following month, before releasing in North America in December 1983.
Space Encounters is an arcade video game released by Bally Midway in 1980. The game recreates the trench flying scene from Star Wars but with the player in a TIE fighter. The player's ship shoots at waves of enemies flying down from the top. The moving background graphics provide the illusion of an isometric 3D view, but the action is in 2D and plays like a fixed shooter.
Star Strike is a single-player video game, released by Mattel for its Intellivision video game system in 1981. The Intellivision's best-selling game in 1982, with over 800,000 copies sold, Star Strike was inspired by the attack on the Death Star in the 1977 film Star Wars. The player must drop bombs on alien weapons silos before Earth moves into range.
