By Roberto Nieves
Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Atari 1983
In 1977, George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd changed cinema and the entire world with the release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Quickly becoming a global cultural sensation, every single medium and entertainment platform changed, including video games. Most video games that would be released in 1983 would become inspired by the space battle of Star Wars. Star Wars first made its gaming debut in 1983 with Star Wars Arcade.
Star Wars Arcade is a rail-shooting type of game, where a set spacecraft is set on a certain path, and the player must shoot down the Empire’s best forces. While the X-Wing is on autopilot, it is up to the player to shoot down all the possible targets on the screen. This includes a mixture of TIE fighters, defense towers, Darth Vader himself, and the infamous exhaust port, located along the Death Star trench.
The game is displayed in a variety of neon colored, vector based graphics, and featured music and voice samples from the movie. While the vector graphics, which look like shapes and lines, are simple, it does evoke the retro science fiction feeling. The shooting and gameplay were revolutionary for its time, especially the arcade cabinet design, which evoked a space cockpit design.
Dragon’s Lair, Don Bluth
and Gary Goldman, 1983
Dragon’s Lair is considered one of the most culturally influential and historical video games in existence, as well as one of the most challenging games ever developed. The video game is a quick-time event-oriented game, where the player must rapidly make a choice with the joystick, corresponding to what is happening on screen, in order to avoid hazards that would lead to an immediate game over.
The development of the game came out of a desire to innovate the visual art and presentations of video games. At the time, games were represented as sprites, which were characters formed from simple shapes and pixilation. Don Bluth, who was a Disney animator that was responsible for movies such as Sleeping Beauty, the anthropomorphic Robin Hood, and The Sword In The Stone, departed The Walt Disney Company and pursued more independent ventures. He created the smashing hit, The Secret of NIMH, alongside producer Gary Goldman. From that success, the duo worked together on a video game called Dragon’s Lair, utilizing the very expensive Laser Disc format to create and arcade cabinet that would run full-motion, hand-drawn, animations.
Dragon’s Lair puts players as Dirk the Daring, a young knight on the quest to rescue Princess Daphne from the clutches of an evil wizard, deep within a dark and mystifying castle. Players watch the animation, then use the joystick to quickly avoid traps and hazards. The game was lauded for its art style, animation, and sound. It became an incredibly revolutionary direction at the time, and would pave the way for future directions in video games and moves.
Spy Hunter, Bally Midway, 1983
Spy Hunter came on the heels of the world’s most famous and popular spy, James Bond. Viewers of Ian Fleming’s 007 were quite fascinated at the dashing gentlemen, who always saved the world with his arsenal of clever, witty gadgets. The cornerstone of many films in the series is the car. Exotic, sleek, and fast. Most importantly, each vehicle came loaded with top of the line weapons and gadgets, such as armor, smoke-screen, oil slicks, machine guns, and mines. Video games always imagined a world where they could have the thrill of using this high-tech vehicle to do some real damage to the bad guys. Thus, was Spy Hunter.
In Spy Hunter, players fasten their seatbelts and control the G-6155 special interceptor. The interceptor is loaded with machine guns, smoke screen, armor, and maximum speed. You objective, should you choose to accept it, is to wipe out the enemy and get the high score.
The game was unique as it was a combination between a shoot- ‘em up game, or shmup, as well as a driving game. The game was known for its style and gameplay, which was unique at the time. Most notably, was the adaptation of the infamous Peter Gunn theme, which was first composed for the 1958 tv private-eye series.
Gryuss, Konami, 1983
There was time where Video game giant, Konami, passionately made great video games, before burning bridges with gamers in 2015, in favor of the gambling industry. On such game was Gyruss, a spaceship shoot- ‘em up game, or shmup, similar in the vein of games, such as Galaga. However, Gyruss goes one big step by putting players in a forced, 3D perspective, constantly locked into the voids of space. This was essentially unheard of for its time.
In Gyruss, players must decimate the enemy forces and secure peace, while making their way to the center of the solar system. Being in a 3D, 3rd person perspective, would arrive and leave in the center of the screen. They would also appear from the corners in an attempt to flank you.
The game featured fast-action and very fluid visual graphics for the time. But perhaps most striking of all, is the digitized use of classical music! The game managed to utilize J.S Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in an upper beat, creating an eloquent style to the intergalactic chaos unfolding before you.
