1985 · Arcade · Science

Turbo Sub

Atari console exclusive

Turbo Sub released in 1985 as an arcade shooter game by Entertainment Sciences. Then later in 1991 for the Atari Lynx. The arcade version was a one player game set in the future where you control a submersible ship against a horde of aliens. The Atari Lynx version is the same but can be played with two players and tells us the story is set in the 28th century on Earth. The planet has been invaded and the goal of the game is that the player must destroy all the aliens.

Released: 1985
Platforms: Arcade Atari Lynx
Genres: Arcade Science Shooter
Developers: —
Publishers: Atari
Perspective: First person
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: United States
Languages: English

About

Turbo Sub is a first-person shoot 'em up released in arcades by Entertainment Sciences in 1985. Aliens have attacked the planet and the player fights them beneath the ocean using a submersible ship. Six years after the arcade original, Atari Corporation published a Lynx version, which adds a two-player mode.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Entertainment Sciences created Bouncer and then Turbo Sub before folding.

According to a promotional flyer, Turbo Sub contains over 400 images.

Reception

In 1986, Computer & Video Games magazine called Turbo Sub, "One of the most bizarre trips you're likely to make". The reviewer praised how the experience is automatically adjusted based on the player's skill, so the game plays differently over time.

In a contemporaneous review for the Lynx version, Robert A. Jung concluded, "What Turbo Sub lacks in originality and variety, it makes up with blistering excitement. If you've got an appetite for simple, uncomplicated massive destruction at Mach 3, Turbo Sub is the way to go." He gave a score of 7.5 out of 10. In the "Atari Attack" column in the final issue of Raze magazine, Turbo Sub received a score of 73%.