Astro Fighter - (1979) - Arcade - VGG

Data East Corporation © 1979
[Coin-Op] Arcade Video Game
Emulator: MAME 0.215
Rating: 6/10

Everybody wanted to be the next big thing after Space Invaders in 1979. Some games tried to improve upon the genre, and succeeded - like Galaxian. Other games were just breakout hits for their innovation and fabulous fun - like Asteroids. Within that first category, we have Astro Fighter -- an attempt at improving Space Invaders. Here we have multiple levels of gameplay, each with different ships to defeat. Miss shooting them all down and they keep on coming, but your ship is forced higher up the screen. Hard to recover from that.

Finally, the 5th stage is a boss to defeat. A multi-armed alien, larger than all previous beings… and you must shoot it close to its center in order to actually blow it apart. Defeat the boss, though, and your ship will be refueled to peak level, and sent back to the first wave to start it all again, more difficult this time. It's a great arcade shooter that is often forgotten amongst the huge hits and vastly more influential titles… but for 1979 it's a fun and engaging arcade game you might want to check out.