Phoenix (arcade game)

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Phoenix

Developer(s)	Amstar
Publisher(s)	Centuri, Taito
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 2600
Release date	1980
Genre(s)	Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Input methods	Either joystick (2-way) with 2 buttons, or 4 buttons (depends on cabinet)
Cabinet	Upright, cocktail,
Display	Vertical raster, standard resolution

Phoenix is a popular shoot 'em up arcade game created and manufactured by Amstar Electronics (which was located in Phoenix, Arizona) in 1980, and licensed to Centuri for US distribution, and to Taito for Japanese distribution.

1 Description
2 Gameplay
3 Clones
4 Bootlegs
5 Sequels
6 Hardware
7 Records
8 Ports
9 External links

[edit] Description

Like many arcade games of that era, Phoenix is an outer space-themed fix shooter. Gameplay is somewhat predictable: each level has two types of alien birds that fire at your ship, and a mothership that is guarded by many of the same alien birds.

The spaceship moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen. In addition to the missiles, the ship is equipped with a shield that can be used to zap any of the alien creatures that attempt to crash into the spaceship. However, the player cannot move while the shield is active, and must wait for a short period (approximately five seconds) before using it again.

Phoenix was one of the first full color arcade games, along with Galaxian, so at the time it stood out. Also, it has distinctive shooting sounds that have become very familiar to fans of the genre. Most importantly, the Phoenix mothership was the first video arcade game boss where the boss was presented as a separate challenge.

[edit] Gameplay

Each level has five separate rounds. The player must successfully complete a round before advancing to the next one.

Rounds 1 and 2 – The player must destroy a formation of alien birds. While in formation, some of the birds fly down kamikaze style, in an attempt to destroy the player's spaceship by crashing into it. The birds are yellow in round 1, pink in round 2. The player's spaceship is given rapid fire for round 2, where the birds fly somewhat more unpredictably.

Rounds 3 and 4 – Flying eggs float on the screen and seconds later hatch, revealing larger alien birds, resembling phoenices, which swoop down at the player's spaceship. The only way to fully destroy one of these birds is by hitting it in its belly; shooting one of its wings merely destroys that wing, and if both wings are destroyed, they will regenerate. From time to time the birds could also revert to the egg form for a brief period of time. The birds are blue in round 3, pink in round 4.

Round 5 – The player is pitted against the mothership, which is controlled by an alien-like creature sitting in its center. To successfully complete this round, the player must first fire away at the hull and a conveyor belt-type shield to get a clear shot at the alien. Destroying the alien – only one shot is required – ends the level. The mothership fires missiles at the player, moves slowly down towards him and has the alien birds (from rounds 1 and 2) protecting the ship. Defeating all of the birds will produce a new wave.

The game continues, with the difficulty increasing per level.

[edit] Clones

Griffon was released by Videotron in 1980.
Falcon was released by BGV. in 1980.
Vautour was released by Jeutel in 1980 in France.
Condor was released by Sidam in 1981.
Various games titled Phoenix are available for many graphing calculators.

[edit] Bootlegs

Phoenix was released by T.P.N in 1980
Phoenix was released by IRECSA, G.G.I Corp in 1980

[edit] Sequels

The official sequel to Phoenix was called Pleiads (onscreen) or Pleiades (on the Centuri manufactured marquee) and was developed by Tehkan in 1981, and licensed to Centuri for US distribution. Pleiades featured more enemies attacking at once, balanced by the fact that the player could now have an unlimited number of shots on the screen at one time.

The Flagship level in the Midway game Gorf has been compared to the boss stage in Phoenix.

[edit] Hardware

Most Phoenix games will be in a standard Centuri woodgrain cabinet, but several other cabinets exist, due to this game being sold by multiple companies at the same time. These use sticker sideart (which covers the upper half of the machine), and glass marquees. The control panel is made up entirely of buttons, no joysticks are present. The monitor in this machine is mounted vertically, and the monitor bezel is relatively unadorned. Phoenix uses a unique wiring harness, which isn't known to be compatible with any other games.

cpu 8085A @ 2.75MHz
audio TMS36XX @ 0.000372MHz
audio Custom
audio Discrete @ 0.12MHz

[edit] Records

Mark Gotfraind holds the official record for this game with 987,620 points recorded on the 17th of March 1983 at Cloverleaf Golf N Game / N. Miami Beach, FL^{[citation needed]} Reference: Originally published in the 1987 Twin Galaxies Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records by Walter Day and maintained on-line at [1] and [2]

[edit] Ports

Atari later bought the home video game console rights to Phoenix. The Imagic game Demon Attack closely resembled Phoenix, so Atari sued Imagic, who settled out of court. The home version of Phoenix is one of the better arcade ports of the time.

Taito appears to currently hold the worldwide rights to the game - in 2005, Phoenix was released on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and the PC as part of Taito Legends in the US and Europe, and Taito Memories in Japan.