Radar Scope

Radar Scope is a shoot 'em up in a three-dimensional third-person perspective over a gradient-blue background, often described as a cross between Galaxian and Space Invaders. The player pilots the Sonic Spaceport starship and must defend the space station against enemies called the Gamma Raiders. Gameplay involves clearing each stage of the Gamma Raiders without colliding with them or their projectiles. Each stage sets 48 Gamma Raiders in a formation, who break away and swoop down toward the player.

Some will simply swoop down and fire at the player, and others will try to ram into the space station. The Sonic Spaceport has a damage meter at the bottom of the screen, which depletes with enemy fire. The player can lose a life by either allowing this meter to deplete or by colliding with a Gamma Raider or their projectile. Three types of arcade cabinets were produced: a standard upright, a tabletop version, and a rare sit-down cabinet.

In the late 1970s, Nintendo Co., Ltd. began shifting its focus away from toys and playing cards into the arcade market. This followed the 1973 oil crisis having increased the cost of manufacturing toys, and the widespread success of Taito's Space Invaders in 1978. Nintendo had briefly experimented with electro-mechanical arcade gun games such as Wild Gunman and the Laser Clay Shooting System, followed by arcade video games such as EVR-Race, Sheriff, Space Fever, and the Color TV-Game line of dedicated home consoles.

Radar Scope was created by Nintendo Research & Development 2 (R&D2). Masayuki Uemura led the development of the game, while Hirokazu Tanaka programmed the audio and composed the music. Shigeru Miyamoto assisted in the game's art production as one of his first video game projects; however, his role in development is often debated, with some claiming he designed the onscreen graphics, and others saying he simply created the arcade cabinet artwork. David Scheff's book Game Over claims that Miyamoto found the game "simplistic and banal" after it was completed.

Radar Scope was a commercial failure for Nintendo upon release. In Japan, it ranked among the top 20 highest-earning arcade video games of 1980, but failed to turn a profit due to the expensive price leaving many machines unsold. Overseas, an estimated 3,000 arcade cabinets were shipped to the United States, with 1,000 sold to an underwhelming reception and the remaining 2,000 sat unsold in Nintendo's warehouse. The salvage of unsold Radar Scope hardware—by creating Donkey Kong and Mario—provided the company with its first international smash hit and a resulting windfall of $280 million. This rescued Nintendo of America from financial crisis, established Nintendo as a prominent brand in the United States, and helped fund its launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In a 1998 retrospective review, Earl Green of Allgame said the 3D perspective is a unique idea for the time, and that Radar Scope improved the trend of countless games styled after the archetypal Space Invaders. Shack News writer Greg Burke liked the game's colorful visuals and interesting gameplay which differentiate it from games like Galaxian and Space Invaders. 1UP.com criticized the lack of "tight design" as found in Galaxian, and for its blaring and annoying sound effects. They said the third-person perspective is a unique innovation, imitated years later by games such as Konami's Juno First and Activision's Beamrider.