Stratovox
| Stratovox | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sun Electronics |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Fixed shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Cabinet | Upright, Cocktail |
| CPU | (2x) Z80 2.5 MHz (Number : LS070014) |
| Sound | AY8910 1.25 MHz, SN76477 1.25 MHz, DAC 1.25 MHz |
| Display | Raster, 256 x 256 pixels (Vertical), 8 colors |
Stratovox, known in Japan as Speak & Rescue (スピーク&レスキュー), is an arcade fixed shooter developed by Sun Electronics and published by Taito in 1980. It is the first video game to feature voice synthesis. The player must shoot UFOs who will attempt to kidnap astronauts that appear on the right side of the screen. If the player lets all the astronauts be kidnapped, the game is over.
Among the voices the player hears are the phrases "Help me, help me", "Very good!", "We'll be back" and "Lucky". The phrase "Help me" is played during attract mode. The Japanese version of the game features Japanese speech, such as 「助けて！」 ( "Tasukete!") instead of "Help Me!"
Bandits from Sirius Software for the Apple II (1982) even has the same screen layout as Stratovox, with a curved moon on the right side of the screen containing the items to protect. In Bandits these items are fruits instead of astronauts. Spider Fighter (1982) for the Atari 2600 also has the player protecting fruit, and Digital Press described it as "much like the coin-op game Stratovox but w/o the voice."
According to Twin Galaxies, John Brissie, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, scored a world record 140,900 points on Stratovox on April 16, 2008.
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Wikipedia