''Space Zap'' is a space-themed

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 ...

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

developed by Game-A-Tron and licensed to

Midway Manufacturing Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included '' Mortal Kombat'', '' Rampage'', ''Spy Hunter'' ...

in 1980.The Arcade Flyer Archive." - Video Game Flyers: 005, Sega-Gremlin. The Arcade Flyer Archive, 07 Mar. 2002. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. 3. ''Space Zap'' shipped in three form factors: standard upright,

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

, and Bally's Mini-Myte reduced size cabinet. The player controls the defenses of an immobile base at screen center. The base is attacked from four sides, and the player must rapidly press one of four corresponding buttons to fire in the direction of an incoming attacker. An official port of ''Space Zap'' for the

Bally Astrocade The ''Bally'' ''Astrocade'' (also known as ''Bally Arcade'' or initially as ''Bally ABA-1000'') is a second-generation home video game console and simple computer system designed by a team at Midway, at that time the videogame division of Bally. ...

was released in 1981 as ''Space Fortress''.

Gameplay

The goal is to defend a base anchored in the center of the screen from

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

attackers that shoot from the four cardinal directions There are four buttons, each corresponding to one of the attack directions. If a projectile ("mine") comes from the left, the player presses the left button, and so on. If the player fails to fire in time, the base explodes. After the player successfully defends the base they encounter an attack

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

that flies around the until the player hits it or satellite hits the base. The player starts out with three lives at the beginning of the game. The game allows up to two players, taking turns. The cocktail table version has two sets of controls, one on either side of the machine. The player receives

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

when they shoot a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

or, if lucky, hit the alien ship itself. The points values are 250 for shooting a mine, 500 for the ship, and 2,000 for the attack

. The player receives an extra base at the scores of 150,000, and 300,000.

Legacy

Cosmic Ark ''Cosmic Ark'' is an Atari 2600 game designed by Rob Fulop and published by Imagic in 1982. The objective is to gather specimens from different planets in a spaceship which contains the survivors from the city of Atlantis. There are two versions ...

'', published by

Imagic Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'', and ''Demon ...

in 1982 for the

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- ...

, started out as a clone of ''Space Zap''. In the final game, the first part of each level is ''Space Zap'' played with an

Atari CX40 joystick The Atari CX40 joystick was the first widely used cross-platform game controller. The original CX10 was released with the Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the Atari 2600) in 1977 and became the primary input device for most games on the ...

, but a second sequence was added to keep it from being repetitive. ''Space Zap'' clones are numerous and include '' Outpost'' (1981) for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

, ''Colorzap'' (1982) for the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Co ...

, ''Cyclon'' (1983) for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

, and ''Starship Pegasus'' (1984) for the

TI-99/4A The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...

References

{{Reflist 1980 video games Arcade video games Fixed shooters Midway video games Video games developed in the United States