''Sabotage'' is a

fixed shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a Video game genre, sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certai ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for the

Apple II series The Apple II series (trademarked with square brackets as "Apple ] ''" and rendered on later models as "Apple //") is a family of home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primaril ...

of computers, written by Mark Allen (software developer), Mark Allen and published by On-Line Systems in 1981.

Gameplay

The player controls a

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

at the bottom of the screen by either keyboard,

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered wa ...

control, or a single axis of a joystick. The turret can swivel to cover a large area of the screen, but cannot move from its base.

Helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s fly across the screen at varying heights, progressively lower over time, dropping

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

s. Waves consist of helicopters coming at progressively lower altitudes, a brief rest, then a wave of jets. The player earns points by shooting helicopters (5 points), paratroopers (2 points), jets (5 points), and bombs (25 points). Firing a shell costs the player one point, so if one is playing for score, there is an incentive to conserve ammo. The score never drops below zero. The game ends when the player's turret is hit by a bomb, when a single paratrooper lands directly on the turret base, when three paratroopers safely land atop each other immediately adjacent to the turret base (allowing the third to jump onto the base), or when four paratroopers safely land on either the left or right of the turret (that is four on one side, not four total). If four land on a side, they are able to build a

human pyramid A human pyramid is an acrobatic formation of three or more people in which two or more people support a tier of higher people, who in turn may support other, higher tiers of people. People above the bottom tier may kneel or stand on the shoulders ...

and climb up to the turret and blow it up once the sky is clear.

Legacy

The ''Sabotage'' concept has been

cloned Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...

a number of times: * ''Commando Raid'' (

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

, 1982) * ''M.A.D.'' (

, 1982) "Missile Attack and Defense" * ''

Paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

'' (IBM PC, 1982) * ''Incoming!'' (

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

, 1986) by Conrad Tatge in ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'' magazine * ''ParaShooter!'' (

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...

, 1989) by Lane Roathe * ''Parachute'', (preloaded on the third-generation)

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

and later models.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, last1=Hague, first1=James Apple II games Apple II-only games Fixed shooters 1981 video games Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games