Phoenix (video game)
| Phoenix | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Unknown |
| Publisher(s) |
Centuri, Taito (Arcade) Atari (Atari 2600) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade (original) Atari 2600 |
| Release |
Arcade
|
| Genre(s) | Fixed shooter |
| Mode(s) | 1-2 players alternating |
| Cabinet | Upright, cocktail |
| Display | Vertical raster, standard resolution |
Phoenix is an outer space-themed, fixed shooter video game similar to Taito's Space Invaders and released in 1980. The game's developer is unknown. According to Centuri's Joel Hochberg, the game was licensed from "a smaller Japanese developer." Amstar Electronics (which was located in Phoenix, Arizona) licensed the game to Centuri for manufacture in the United States. Taito released the game in Japan.
The Phoenix mothership is one of the first video arcade game bosses to be presented as a separate challenge. This was before the term boss was coined.
The player controls a spaceship that moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen, firing upward. Enemies, typically one of two types of birds, appear on the screen above the player's ship, shooting at it and periodically diving towards it in an attempt to crash into it. The ship is equipped with a shield that can be used to zap any of the alien creatures that attempt to crash into the spaceship. The player cannot move while the shield is active and must wait approximately five seconds before using it again.
The player starts with three or six lives, depending on the settings.
Each level has five separate rounds. The player must complete a round to advance to the next.
The game continues with increasing speed and unpredictability of the bird and phoenix flights.
Phoenix was available in both arcade and cocktail cabinets. A DIP switch setting allows the game to be moved between formats.
Most Phoenix games are in a standard Centuri woodgrain cabinet, but several other cabinets exist, due to this game being sold by multiple companies at the same time. These use sticker sideart (which covers the upper half of the machine), and glass marquees. The control panel is made up entirely of buttons; no joystick is present in the Centuri version, except for the international models and some cocktail versions. The monitor in this machine is mounted vertically, and the monitor bezel is relatively unadorned. Phoenix uses a unique wiring harness, which isn't known to be compatible with any other games.
Circuitry in the Centuri version:
There are two pieces of music featured in the game:
When the player shoots 3 birds in a row very quickly as they fly upwards a score about 204,000 points is awarded.
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Wikipedia