MineStorm
MineStorm is a video game that was published in 1982 by General Consumer Electronics and built into the Vectrex game system.
Gameplay
Developed by General Consumer Electronics, Vectrex's manufacturer, it was built into the game system.[1] The gameplay is very similar to that of Atari's Asteroids. The game begins with a large enemy ship dropping mines onto the field as an ominous jingle plays, and moves from the top to the bottom of the screen, where it disappears. The player's ship starts in the middle of the field with 5 lives. Numerous mines then start popping up. The player must destroy all of the mines in order to progress to the next minefield. All of the mines can be destroyed with one shot, or hit with the player's ship, costing the player a life. There are 4 types of mines:
- Floating Mines - "Dumb" mines that drift through space.
Large: 100 Pts. Medium: 135 Pts. Small: 200 Pts.
- Fireball Mines - Mines that hurl a fireball after getting shot. The fireballs can be avoided or shot.
Large: 325 Pts. Medium: 360 Pts. Small: 425 Pts.
- Magnetic Mines - Mines that home in on the player's ship.
Large: 500 Pts. Medium: 535 Pts. Small: 600 Pts.
- Magnetic Fireball Mines - Combination of Magnetic and Fireball Mines
Large: 750 Pts. Medium: 785 Pts. Small: 850 Pts.
Each mine appears in three sizes: Large, medium, and small. The player will earn an extra life after clearing 4 fields. If all lives are lost, the game ends.
Bugs
The original game that came packaged with the Vectrex system included a bug causing the game to crash on the thirteenth level. If a player called GCE (Milton Bradley in the UK) and reported this bug, they would receive "MineStorm/II", free of charge.[2] Only a few people did this, making the game extremely rare among collectors.[3]
References
- ↑ Clark, Pamela (December 1982). "The Vectrex Arcade System". BYTE. pp. 92–93. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ↑ "Vectrex - 1982-1984 - Classic Gaming". Classic Gaming. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
- ↑ GCE Vectrex Rarity Guide