An early driving/racing game developed and published by Sega in early 1976. The game was notable for its introduction of a pseudo-3D, third-person perspective.
The game is housed in a custom cabinet that includes a simulated motorcycle steering column mounted on the control panel. The right side handle grip is twisted for acceleration. The monitor is a 19-inch black and white CRT monitor with a black and white overlay that adds giant tubes to the play field used to traverse from one split level to another. Sounds include a motorcycle roar, crash sounds, and crowd cheers.
Stunt Cycle was ported to the AY-3-8760 custom chip by General Instruments and released by Atari as a dedicated console with bike handle controls. Sears released an Atari-manufactured version called Motocross.
A black and white driving game where each player controls a pursuit car that tries to demolish drone cars to score points.
Challenging and fast-moving super skill play, and never plays the same twice! Two target drones are always on the screen, darting around in competive evasive action as though they are controlled independantly. When a player has his or her car hit a drone, the drone is demolished and a point is scored. Drone wreckage remains on the screen and another comes into action. As drones pile up, each player must maneuver with increased speed and skill to increase his or her score before time is up.
(Destruction Derby was the Exidy release from 1975, it was later licensed to and released by Chicago Coin as Demolition Derby in 1976)
Panther, a battle tank-driving simulation named after the Panther tank, was one of a handful of early first-person computer games developed by John Edo Haefeli and Nelson Bridwell in 1975 at Northwestern University. The game was developed for the multi-user interactive computer-based education PLATO system and programmed in the TUTOR programming language and utilized scalable vector graphics called linesets. A 1977 development of Panther, with more refined graphics, was named Panzer.
The game features team-based deathmatch. There are two teams, Squares and Triangles. The object of the game is to destroy the opposing team's base. Game play is straightforward; the player selects a pseudonym and a team, traverse the terrain looking for enemies to destroy on the way to their base. Perspective is maintained by the use of scalable vector graphics and visual interest is enhanced with special graphics for explosions using a custom character set to accomplish limited raster graphics animation.
When players enter the game
A light gun game by Sega released in 1975. The unweildy cabinet proved unpopular with distributors, leading to the development of a scaled-down version called Tracer in 1976. This game was the first Sega game to be produced in America.
Exidy's first driving game, which was later licensed to Chicago Coin and released as "Demolition Derby". As part of the deal, Exidy stopped production of the game to avoid competing with their new licensee.
The game has a top-down view of a aircraft scene. Your fighter is at the bottom and you control its speed and horizontal position with the joystick. The scene scrolls from top to bottom and enemy aircraft appear at top of screen, flying down towards you. The Afterburner button lets you quickly speed up.
The game required two players, each with a gun, at opposite sides of the playfield. Each player had a vertical position knob (a potentiometer like Pong) and a fire button. Each gun could have one shot in the air at a time. There was a big ball, which started at the center, and there were small bumpers in the playfield that made the ball bounce. You tried to “push” the ball into your opponent’s goal line by shooting it. Each hit added a little energy and it took multiple hits to get the speed of the ball up, but then you had to watch out for rebounds off the bumpers. An interesting aspect of the game was the one-shot-at-a-time rule. If the ball was on your side of the field, then you could shoot more often than your opponent (unless, of course, you missed and had to wait for the shell to cross the entire screen). This made it possible to achieve remarkable come-backs from near-certain defeat.
The game requires two players. Play consists of a black and a white biplane that is steered like a tank. The object was to shoot the other player without crashing into either the ground or the anti-aircraft fire at the top of the screen.
You control a shark who must swim through a maze of shark traps and nets and attack a swimmer before she reaches the shoreline. The first shark to eat five swimmers wins.
Fire Power was produced by Allied Leisure Industries in 1975.
A land versus air combat game where the player controls a tank that must shoot down enemy aircraft while avoding minefields on the ground.