Thexder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thexder | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Game Arts |
| Publisher(s) | Game Arts, Sierra Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Hibiki Godai/Satoshi Uesaka |
| Release date(s) | 1985, 1987, 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Retro |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | NEC PC-8801, NES, PC, Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Mac OS, TRS-80, MSX |
| Input | Keyboard |
Thexder (テグザー Teguzar) is a classic action-arcade game from Game Arts. The player is a fighter robot, but is able to transform into a jet. Originally released in 1985 for the NEC PC-8801 platform in Japan, the game quickly became a huge hit selling over 500,000 copies.
Later that same year, Game Arts licensed Thexder to Square Co., Ltd. in order to develop a conversion for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game console. In 1987, Game Arts also developed a Thexder conversion for the MSX platform.
The NEC PC8801 and MSX platforms were only popular in Japan and Thexder garnered little attention abroad. That all changed, however, when Sierra Entertainment licensed Thexder for release in the United States. In 1987, Sierra ported the game to multiple platforms including the IBM PC, Commodore Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Apple Macintosh, and Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo3). Thexder continued its track record of success and became a best-seller for Sierra.
The two Game Arts developers responsible for creating Thexder were Hibiki Godai and Satoshi Uesaka. In 1986, they developed another action-arcade game called Silpheed and in 1989 they wrote a Thexder sequel named FireHawk: Thexder II. As with the original, FireHawk sold extremely well in Japan and the United States. Today, Thexder is still remembered by many as a classic action-arcade game.
[edit] 1995 Remake
In 1995 a Windows 95 remake was made by Sierra. Thexder is now able to become a tank, besides a jet, and has an enormous amount of new weapons, from grenades to thermal bombs.
[edit] Trivia
- The original Thexder contains 16 levels. Although most conversions contain this number, the Tandy TRS-80 CoCo only contains five. This way the total size of the game was reduced to fit onto a 32 kB ROM cartridge (instead of a 720 kB floppy disk).
