''Goldrunner'' is a

vertically scrolling shooter A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background scrolls from the top of the screen to the bottom (or, less often, from ...

published developed by Steve Bak and Pete Lyon for the Atari ST and published by

Microdeal Microdeal was a British software company which operated during the 1980s and early 1990s from its base at Truro Road in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. The company, founded by John Symes was one of the major producers of games and other softw ...

in 1987.

Rob Hubbard Rob Hubbard (born 1955 in Kingston upon Hull, England) is a British composer best known for his musical and programming work for microcomputers of the 1980s, such as the Commodore 64. Early life Hubbard first started playing music at age seve ...

composed the music. An Amiga version followed, as well as a sequel, 1988's ''Goldrunner II''.

Gameplay

''Goldrunner'' is a freely vertically scrolling shooter game where it is possible to fly back and forth as in '' Defender''. The player steers a golden spaceship equipped with two laser cannons, flying over huge ring worlds whose structures must be destroyed. The ship has a speed booster to accelerate.

Legacy

The immediate follow-on, ''Goldrunner II'', offered a similar aesthetic to the original title. A third entry in the series was planned, entitled ''Goldrunner 3D.'' This was to mark a departure from the traditional 2D scrolling shooter format with a radical new look and gameplay. Trailed as early as 1989, the project suffered significant delays however, finally seeing release under

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

as ''Epic'' in 1992.

References

1987 video games Amiga games Atari ST games Video games scored by David Whittaker Video games scored by Rob Hubbard Video games developed in the United Kingdom Vertically scrolling shooters {{scroll-shooter-videogame-stub