Phoenix
1980 · Fixed Shooter · Arcade
Overview
Phoenix (1980) is an arcade shooter of birds, hatching eggs and a mothership, and one of the first shooters to end with a boss battle.
Deep Dive
The player's ship slides left and right, dodging missiles and charging enemies, and can raise a force field that blocks attacks for a few seconds before it recharges. The first two stages bring formations of small phoenixes, the next two bring eggs that hatch into large ones, and the fifth is a fortress: the player has to shoot through its hull and a rotating shield band to hit the pilot inside. Then the cycle starts again, harder.
Developer Story
Taito released Phoenix in Japan in December 1980 and Centuri in the US in January 1981, and it was Centuri's best-selling title by 1982. General Computer Corporation's Atari 2600 version, which had to cut over a third of the code to fit 8 KB, came out in 1983 and reportedly sold more than 600,000 copies.
Did You Know?
- Its original developer is unknown because the credits were overwritten; Retro Gamer suggested Tehkan.
- The arcade version plays "Romance de Amor" at the start and "Für Elise" when a level is cleared.
- Atari sued Imagic over Demon Attack, which it considered too close to Phoenix, and settled in 1983.
Sources & further reading
- Phoenix (1980 video game) — Wikipedia
