Port · Bandai

Zaxxon

Port

1981 video game

Released: —
Platforms: Apple II Atari 2600 Atari 5200 Coleco Adam ColecoVision Handheld Electronic LCD Intellivision MSX SG-1000 TRS-80 TRS-80 Color Computer ZX Spectrum
Genres: —
Developers: Bandai
Publishers: Bandai

About

Zaxxon is a 1981 scrolling shooter developed and published by Sega as an arcade video game. It was developed with assistance from Ikegami Tsushinki, the same team who had programmed Nintendo's Donkey Kong the same year. The player pilots a ship through two heavily defended space fortresses, and the outer space areas between them, to confront the Zaxxon robot at the end of the second fortress.

Zaxxon was one of the first games to employ axonometric projection, which lent its name to the game. The type of axonometric projection is isometric projection: this effect simulates three dimensions from a third-person viewpoint. It was also the first arcade game to be advertised on television, with a commercial produced by Paramount Pictures for $150,000. The game was a critical and commercial success upon release, becoming one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1982 in the United States.

Keywords

vfd display

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to hit as many targets as possible without being shot down or running out of fuel, which can be replenished by blowing up fuel tanks (300 points). There are two fortresses to fly through, with an outer space segment between them. At the end of the second fortress is a boss in the form of the Zaxxon robot.

The player's ship casts a shadow to indicate its height. An altimeter is also displayed. In space, there is nothing for the ship to cast a shadow on. The walls at the entrance and exit of each fortress have openings, and the ship must be at the right altitude to pass through. Within each fortress are additional walls that the ship's shadow and altimeter aid in flying over successfully.

Reception

The arcade game was a major commercial success worldwide. In Japan, Game Machine magazine listed it as the 18th highest-grossing arcade game of 1981, despite having only a limited release towards the end of the year; it did not appear on the magazine's top 20 annual list for 1982. The magazine later listed the game as the eighth top-grossing table arcade cabinet of May 1983.

The arcade game was a bigger commercial hit in North America, where it reached the top of the monthly US RePlay arcade charts in June 1982. The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) later listed it among the top six highest-grossing arcade games of 1982 in the United States.

Legacy

Zaxxon is a bonus game in the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2. It is also an unlockable arcade game in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The arcade version was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on December 15, 2009, the PAL region on March 5, 2010, and North America on April 12, 2010. In 2022, the original arcade version was included as part of the Sega Astro City Mini V, a vertically oriented variant of the Sega Astro City mini console.

An arcade sequel, Super Zaxxon, was released in November 1982. It has a different color scheme, the player's ship flies faster (making the game more difficult), the space segment is replaced with a tunnel, and the enemy at the end of the second fortress is a dragon. It did not do as well as the original. Super Zaxxon topped the US RePlay arcade chart for software conversion kits in July 1983. In 1984, Sega released Future Spy with a similar style.