| Wall-Defender | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Onbase Co. |
| Publisher(s) | Bomb |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Shoot'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Wall-Defender is a 1983 shoot 'em up for the Atari 2600. [1] It was produced by Bomb, a label of developer Onbase Co. based out of Asia. [2]
Wall-Defender is a single-player game in which the player defends a fortress comprising a series of walls against kamikaze attacks by aliens. [3] The player controls a sprite that moves along the walls firing missiles at attackers. The outer wall may take ten attacks from ordinary attackers, though there are "super" attackers that can destroy a wall with a single hit. The colours of the walls change as they reduce in strength to indicate to the player that they are weakening, and after the seventh hit from an ordinary attacker they will begin to flash. If a wave of attackers is destroyed with none of them striking the player is given an extra wall. When a wall is about to fall the player must abandon it for an inner wall, otherwise they are destroyed and the game is over. [4]
In their 1983 review the UK magazine TV Gamer criticised the graphics but praised the novel concept of the game and described it as "an absorbing game which requires plenty of dexterity." [5] The Australian magazine Score reviewed the game positively in their 1983 review, summing it up by saying that "for a single-theme game, Wall-Defender delivers what it promises". [4] Computer and Video Games Magazine described the game as the most original of Bomb's releases. [6]
Modern-day reviewers have also been positive about concept behind the game, with Retro Video Gamer describing it in their review as "surprising". [3] Atari Times also described it as "highly addictive", and gave it a score of 95% overall. [7]
Millipede is a fixed shooter video game released in arcades by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The sequel to 1981's Centipede, it has more gameplay variety and a wider array of insects than the original. The objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying all segments of the millipede as it moves toward the bottom of the screen, as well as eliminating or avoiding other enemies. The game is played with a trackball and a single fire button which can be held down for rapid-fire.
Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The game involves a Mad Bomber dropping bombs at increasing speeds as a player controls a set of water buckets to catch them. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978). Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after the release of the game. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.
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Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released as an arcade video game in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980, before entering production in early 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.
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Gorf is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing, whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a fixed shooter with five distinct levels, the first of which is based on Space Invaders and another on Galaxian. The game makes heavy use of synthesized speech for the Gorfian robot which taunts the player, powered by the Votrax speech chip. Gorf allows the player to buy two additional lives per quarter before starting the game, for a maximum of seven lives.
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Bosconian is a scrolling multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and released by Namco in Japan in 1981. In North America, it was manufactured and distributed by Midway Games. The goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases using a ship which shoots simultaneously both the front and back.
Atlantis is a fixed shooter video game released by Imagic in July 1982 for the Atari 2600. It was written by Dennis Koble who also wrote Trick Shot for Imagic. Atlantis was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, VIC-20, Intellivision, and Magnavox Odyssey 2.
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.
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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.
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.
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Great Escape is a multidirectional shooter published for the Atari 2600 in 1983. It was produced by Bomb, a line of video games from developer Onbase Co. based out of Asia. It received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, with reviewers making comparisons with Defender and Asteroids.