Tempest (game)
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| Tempest | |
| Missing image Arcade-atari-tempest1.png Tempest gameplay | |
| Developer: | Atari |
| Publisher: | Atari |
| Game designer: | Dave Theurer |
| Release date: | 1980 |
| Genre: | Retro/Fixed Shooter |
| Game modes: | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Cabinet: | Standard, cabaret, and table |
| Controls: | Rotary controller, 2 buttons |
| Monitor | |
| Orientation: | Vertical |
| Type: | Vector (colour) |
| Size: | 19 inch |
| Notes | |
| Color vector graphics; Progressive level design; Continue feature; Developed during the Golden Age of Arcade Games; According to KLOV the #10 most popular game of all times | |
Tempest is an arcade game by Atari. Released in 1980, it was fairly popular and had some ports and sequels.
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Gameplay
In each stage of the game, the player controls a claw-shaped spaceship at the end of a tunnel. The tunnels have various shapes, and some loop onto each other and close, while others do not.
In each level, the player sits on the end of the tunnel, facing away from the screen, while enemies (represented by red dots) sit outside of the tunnel. They will, in groups, then go onto the sides of the tunnel and start heading toward the player.
The player has two ways to get rid of them: the ordinary gun, and another weapon called the Super Zapper. It has 2 shots per level: the first destroys all enemies in the tunnel (but not at the bottom), while the second destroys a random enemy.
The enemies are:
- Flippers are red bowtie-shaped enemies. They progress toward the player slowly, occasionally flipping between the tunnel sides. They first appear in the first stage.
- Tankers are purple diamonds that travel in a straight line. If they are shot or reach the player's side, they will turn into two of a pre-determined enemy (except for Spikers). Their first appearance is in the third stage.
- Spikers are green spirals. They roll in a straight line toward the player, leaving behind Spikes, then bounce back. Spikes can be shortened by shooting them, but if the player touches one when leaving the stage, a life is taken off. They first appear in the fourth stage.
- Fuseballs are multicolored spark enemies. They move slowly, but track the player's location very closely. They first appear in the eleventh stage.
- Pulsars are small zig-zag lines. When moving around the tunnel, they will occasionally stretch out to touch the ends of the side they are on. If the player is on the same side when one does this, he will lose a life.
All of these can shoot at the player, but the shots can be destroyed as well.
Innovations
Tempest 's design sported three main innovations for the time:
1. Color vector graphics.
2. Progressive level design - Arcade shooter games of the time typically consisted of just one level, repeated over and over with an increasingly difficult challenge. Tempest consisted of 16 levels comprised of different shapes and enemies, which, once completed, would be repeated in a different colour and in more difficult form.
3. The Continue - Tempest was the first to allow players to keep playing once they had lost all their lives, instead of having to start from the beginning again, a feature that has become standard in later arcade games.
It is #10 on the KLOV's list of most popular games, tied with Centipede.
Ports and sequels
The game was ported to the Atari 5200, and there is also a prototype for the Atari 2600. There was an edit of the original arcade game called Tempest Tubes, which changes the levels to make them harder.
The game had a sequel, Tempest 2000 for Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Sony Playstation (the latter under the name Tempest X3).
External links
- The KLOV entry for Tempest (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=10065)
- Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Shooter/T/Tempest_Series/)
- A Tempest 3D wireframe variant (http://netfiles.freespaces.com/bestgames/play/tube/Tube.html)pl:Tempest