Zarch

Zarch (also released as Virus) is a 3D video game developed by David Braben in 1987 for the launch of the Acorn Archimedes computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost every release of the Acorn Archimedes.

In 1988, ports of Zarch, renamed Virus, were published for the Atari ST and Amiga (coded by David Braben) and IBM PC (coded by Chris Sawyer). It was later ported to the ZX Spectrum by Steven Dunn.

The game was groundbreaking for the time, featuring a 3D mouse-controlled craft (the "lander") flying over a tile-rendered landscape that dazzled reviewers in a primarily 2D-dominated game industry. ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) magazine led with the headline "SOLID 3D - the future of games?" when it reviewed Zarch with a score of 979, the highest rating ACE had given at that time, only bettered by the Atari ST port Virus at 981.

Virus was one of the first solid 3D games and was also the earliest to have 3D lighting effects and shadowing, although they were less sophisticated than those of Zarch.