Ludography
59/100
Players7 ratings
Beamrider cover

1983 · Cheshire Engineering · Arcade · Shoot 'em up

Beamrider

Atari console exclusive

A web of iridescent blue beams engulfs Earth-Space. You stand watching. Mesmerized at first, you now realize the beams support weapons, frightening creations in different forms. Will you just watch or will you take action?

Released
1983
Platforms
Atari 2600Atari 5200Atari 8-bitColecoVisionCommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXIntellivisionMSXZX Spectrum
Genres
ArcadeShoot 'em upShooter
Developers
Cheshire Engineering
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Country
United States
Languages
English

About

Beamrider is a fixed shooter video game written for the Intellivision by David Rolfe and published by Activision in 1983. The game was ported to the Atari 2600 (with a slightly reduced feature set), Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and MSX.

Keywords

  • spaceship
  • auto-scrolling levels

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Beamrider takes place above Earth's atmosphere, where a large alien shield called the Restrictor Shield surrounds the Earth. The player's objective is to clear the Shield's 99 sectors of alien craft while piloting the Beamrider ship. The Beamrider is equipped with a short-range laser lariat and a limited supply of torpedoes. The player is given three at the start of each sector.

To clear a sector, fifteen enemy ships must be destroyed. A "Sentinel ship" will then appear, which can be destroyed using a torpedo (if any remain) for bonus points. Some enemy ships can only be destroyed with torpedoes, and some must simply be dodged. Occasionally during a sector, "Yellow Rejuvenators" (extra lives) appear. They can be picked up for an extra ship, but if they are shot they will transform into ship-damaging debris.

Reception

The Deseret News in 1984 gave the ColecoVision version of Beamrider three stars, describing it as "basically a slide-and-shoot space game."

A reviewer for Your Commodore described the Commodore 64 version of the game as "a really good, wholesome arcade zapping game."

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Intellivision1 September 1983North America · Brazil 1 November 1984
Atari 26001 March 1984North America · Brazil 31 December 1984
ColecoVision1 May 1984North America
Commodore C64/128/MAX1 June 1984North America
Atari 8-bit1 August 1984North America
MSX1 September 1984Europe
Atari 52001 October 1984North America
ZX Spectrum1 October 1984Europe

Editions and related releases

Included in
Activision's Commodore 64 15 PackActivision AnthologyActivision Flashback Blast!Atari Flashback XAtari Flashback X DeluxeActivision Hits RemixedAtari Flashback 50th Anniversary EditionActivision Anthology: Remix EditionAtari Flashback 8 Gold: Activision EditionActivision Collection 1

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Collections7 collections

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.