Bosconian

1981 · Shooter · Arcade

Overview

Bosconian (1981) is Namco's multidirectional space shooter, in which the Starfighter fires forwards and backwards at once to destroy enemy bases, guided by radar and voice alerts.

Deep Dive

The Starfighter flies in eight directions with the screen centred on it, firing forwards and backwards at the same time. The goal is to destroy the green Bosco bases, each with six cannons around a core, while avoiding asteroids, mines and enemy ships. A radar display and spoken alerts help the player find the bases.

Developer Story

Seiichi Sato and Shigeru Yokoyama designed it, Kazuo Kurosu programmed it and Nobuyuki Ohnogi composed the music. Sato had been asked to create swappable ROM boards, which became Galaga, Dig Dug and Bosconian. Namco released it in Japan on 20 November 1981, and it was the seventh highest-grossing arcade game in Japan that year.