Spinning Fireball (1983)

The goal of the game is to have your wizard create and shoot a fireball at the catapult that movies across the top of the screen. The controls for Spinning Fireball are bit difficult to master, which is just as well as you probably won't want to play this game very long. To create your fireball, simply push and hold the joystick forward. Once the fireball starts to spin, press the fire button to shoot it. The direction the fireball flies is based on the direction it was spinning when the button was pressed (sort of like the hammer throw in Track and Field). If you are facing right the fireball will rotate clockwise, otherwise if you left the fireball will rotate counterclockwise. If your shot actually manages to hit the catapult, then you will be taken to the second level. If your fireball hits the sides of the screen it will bounce back at you. Likewise if you shoot your fireball straight up, it will come back down. If you manage to get hit by your wayward fireball, you will lose a life. Also, the catapult at the top of the screen will occasionally shoot a fireball at you, as you may have guessed, being hit by this fireball will also result in losing a life. You also have a limited amount of time to finish each level, if the timer hits zero you will lose a life. The timer starts a five minutes for the first level, and decreases one minute for each successive level (down to two minutes starting on level four).

• Release Date: December 31, 1983