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Profile picture of Solar Quest


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    Profile picture of Solar Quest

    Solar Quest

  • First released on 31 December, 1981 for Arcade
  • Action
    Science fiction
    Shooter
    Arcade
  • First released on 31 December, 1981 for Arcade

  • About

    The player controls a ship that can rotate to the left and right and thrust forward, similar to the better known Asteroids, and like that game the player also has a "hail mary" device, hyperspace. In the center of the screen is the sun, which pulls objects into it, in a fashion similar to Spacewar!. The screen wraps at the edges.

    Waves of enemy spaceships appear in groups of up to eight. There are seven different types of ships, growing smaller to make them harder to hit. Each "phase" of the gameplay completes when each of the seven waves is destroyed. The spaceships are a collision hazard and normally fly around the screen randomly. As the game progresses, they become more likely to attempt to ram the player directly. At higher levels, the ships gain weapons and attempt to shoot the player.

    The player's ship is armed with two weapons, a cannon and a "nuke". The cannon fires a single shot in the direction your ship is pointed, and the game allows up to four shots on screen at once. The nuke destroys all ships in the area when it is triggered, which occurs with a second button press after being launched from the ship. The player's ship starts the game with three nukes and gains a new one every 10000 points.

    Whenever an alien ship is destroyed, a "survivor" is left drifting in space. The player can collect the survivors by flying his ship over them. Alternately he can shoot them, or allow them to fall into the sun. The player is awarded with points for successful rescues, and eventually free ships.

    The game is remembered fondly by many players, and Simon Burns of VoxelArcade called it "freedom under an overlaid blue sky".

    Platforms

    Arcade, Vectrex

    Modes

    Single-player

    , 

    Multi-player

    Player perspectives

    Bird view / Isometric

    Engines

    Not available

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    Image of Cinematronics
    Cinematronics
    Cinematronics Inc. founded by Jim Pearce, Dennis Parte and Gary Garrison in 1975. Cinematronics' first succesful game was Space Wars. In 1987, Cinematronics was acquired by Tradewest and renamed the Leland Corporation.
    Publisher
    Image of Milton Bradley
    Milton Bradley
    The Milton Bradley Company was established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1860. He was a game pioneer, credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America.
    Publisher