''Syncron'' is a vertically

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

written by Gary Partis for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an empha ...

and

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a p ...

and published by

Superior Software Superior Software Ltd (also known as Superior Interactive) is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s. It currently releases games for Microsoft Window ...

in 1987.

Overview

The player must collect a number of

orbs Open Relay Behavior-modification System (ORBS), created and run by Alan Brown in New Zealand, was one of the first DNS-based Blackhole Lists (DNSBL), a means by which an internet domain may publish a list of IP addresses, in a database which can ...

by first blasting off their covers, then flying over them to pick them up before depositing them by landing on a

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

. They must also destroy alien spacecraft and targets on the scrolling landscape to obtain a set number of points before proceeding to the enemy headquarters and destroying that to move on to the next level. The game vertically scrolls, with the player being able to change direction at any time, but not change speed. The landscape loops with the player being able to reach the bottom by travelling up far enough, and vice versa. The game is incredibly fast and smooth scrolling (particularly for the

which lacks hardware scrolling ability), and the author once stated that he designed ''Syncron'' as an exercise in pure speed rather than playability.Micro User magazine, January 1989 The levels feature tall buildings that need to be avoided. As the scrolling is so fast, the player must learn the layout of the level to avoid these hazards.

Release

The game was first released in 1987 as the lead game on ''The Superior Collection'' compilations (vol. 1 for the BBC Micro, vol. 3 for the Electron). It was eventually given its own release as part of the

Blue Ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon wo ...

budget series in 1989. This version uses cover-art also used on the similar Blue Ribbon game ''Syntax'' (for

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Commodore 64 and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

References

{{Superior Software 1987 video games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron-only games Blue Ribbon (software house) games Europe-exclusive video games Single-player video games Superior Software games Vertically scrolling shooters Video games developed in the United Kingdom