Video games have taken the world by storm, being one of the newest and most dominating global pastimes since pong debuted in 1972. Over the years, video games have evolved into sensational visual and three-dimensional works of art. From single-player to multiplayer to massively multiplayer, video games have something that everyone can enjoy no matter their fancy.
Perhaps no genre of video games attracts more players than sci-fi. While the original worlds built to entice players may not have been as visually stunning as the ones of today, they were just as expansive. Many games took players on trips to distant worlds fighting galactic menaces or had players save their own planet from a legion of invaders, but many have been left behind by the next big thing. Here are some forgotten sci-fi games from the 80s.
9 Sinistar
Sinistar is an arcade shooter released in 1983. In the game, players are placed in control of a single fighter ship and charged with defeating the mega-boss to win the game. The Mega-boss only spawns after enemy ships have completed constructing it by destroying special planetoids to receive unique materials.
The same logic applies to the player who must destroy the same planetoids to also receive materials to be able to damage the Mega-boss when it is finished being constructed. Sinistar was developed and published by Williams Electronics and spearheaded by giants in the videogame field such as Noah Falstien and RJ Mical.
8 Alpha Blaster
Alpha Blaster has players pitted against an alien invasion in a fixed shooter style of gameplay. Taking control of a lone battlecruiser, the player Flies through open space taking on alien ships, space debris, and obstacles that must be avoided.
Alpha Blaster was developed by Sumlock and published by Livewire Software with its lead designer being Dave Aron; while the game took heavy influence from Galaxian, it rose to a fair amount of success on its own during its release for the Commodore VIC-20.
7 Tempest
Tempest was one of the first games released on the Atari gaming console that utilized color display technology; Tempest was also developed by Atari in 1981, headed by programmer David Theurer. In the game, players navigate a multisided, sometimes closed-in tube where waves of pixel enemies approach.
Players are a uniquely shaped claw and utilize a blaster to make sure no enemies get past and try to score as many points as possible. Tempest today would be described as a horde mode survivor game similar to rogue-likes such Hades or Slay The Spire.
6 Defender
Defender is another game developed by Williams Electronics, spearheaded by Larry Demar and Eugene Jarvis. The game is set on a distant planet where the player must protect a crew of astronauts from invading aliens.
Defender has a side-scrolling playstyle that puts players in control of a small ship that players have to move side to side to attack descending alien ships. Defender was the highest-selling game of William Electronics and arguably the most important game of its time. During its run, Defender broke ground in the competitive field of gaming before Esports was even a thought.
5 Robotron: 2084
Robotron 2084 is another heavy-hitting videogame by the masters at Williams Electronics, headed by Eugene Jarvis once again. Robotron 2084 took place in the distant future, where players are dropped in the middle of a war between humans and machines.
The game features a multidirectional shooting playstyle with a top-down field of view and has several levels the player can explore and fight against enemies. An argument could be made that Robotron 2084 was the first look into open-world or instanced videogames.
4 Star Wars
Star Wars was the fruit of the colossal success of the film franchise by George Lucas and Lucas Films. The game placed players behind the control of Luke Skywalkers X-Wing to take on the Galactic Empire’s evil forces.
The game took the design of a rail shooter, similar to first-person, and instead of the usual “destroy all enemies” level of play, players simply needed to survive the fight long enough to progress and eventually destroy the Death Star, just like in the film. The game was developed by Atari and released in an arcade cabinet in 1983.
3 Academy
Academy is a three-dimension world game released in 1986. In the game, players complete a string of missions while controlling a “Skimmer” ship exploring distant planets as a rookie space soldier. The goal for players is for players to graduate from flight academy and rise through the ranks from rookie to decorated pilot.
Academy has many different features and prides itself on the realistic physics possible in its time. Academy also allowed players to design and customize their own Skimmer ship adding a lot more depth to the game. Academy was developed and published by CRL Group and written by Pete Cooke.
2 Burning Force
Burning Force puts players in control of Hitomi Tengenji, a rookie cadet trying to become a member of the space force; to do this the game has a number of missions the player must complete in order to progress in a third-person action-adventure style of play. Hitomi rides a space bike equipped with two laser cannons and races along shooting villainous enemies through four different worlds.
Burning Force was developed by Namco and published in 1989, Hitomi as a character went on to stand alongside legendary characters such as Pac-Man and Princess Ki from Tower of Drauga, but Burning Force never saw a sequel release.
1 Discs Of Tron
Discs Of Tron is an arena arcade game set in the Tron universe, this game serves as the much less known sequel to the original Tron game based on the Disney classic movie. In the game players will fight against NPCs utilizing the disc combat shown in the movie; this is the opposite of its predecessor which had several many games for players to enjoy making it a lot more streamlined.
In the very early days of competitive gaming, David Bagenski set the world record for most points ever scored in the game during a video game master tournament in New York. Discs of Tron was developed by Bally Midway and released in 1983.