Scramble (video game): Difference between revisions
[[Category:Arcade video games]]
[[Category:Arcade video games]]
[[Category:Gradius video games]]
[[Category:Gradius video games]]
[[Category:Konami franchises]]
[[Category:Konami games]]
[[Category:Konami games]]
[[Category:Horizontally scrolling shooters]]
[[Category:Horizontally scrolling shooters]]
1981 video game
1981 video game
Scramble (スクランブル, Sukuranburu) is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released in 1981. It was developed by Konami and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels,[4] and it established the foundation for a new genre.
It was Konami’s first major worldwide hit. In the United States, it sold 15,136 arcade cabinets within five months and became Stern’s second best-selling game. Scramble was not ported to any major contemporary consoles or computers, but there were releases for the Tomy Tutor and Vectrex as well as dedicated tabletop/handheld versions. Unauthorized clones for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 used the same name as the original. The BBC Micro clone was called Rocket Raid, marketed by Acornsoft from 1982 and primarily within the UK. Scramble’s sequel, the more difficult Super Cobra, was released later that year. Gradius (1985) was originally intended to be a follow-up to Scramble.
Gameplay[edit]
The player controls a futuristic aircraft, referred to in the game as a jet, and has to guide it across scrolling terrain, battling obstacles along the way. The jet is armed with a forward-firing weapon and bombs; each weapon has its own button. The player must avoid colliding with the terrain and other enemies while simultaneously maintaining its limited fuel supply, which diminishes over time.[5] More fuel can be acquired by destroying fuel tanks in the game.[6]
The game is divided into six sections, each with a different style of terrain and various obstacles. There is no intermission between each section; the game seamlessly scrolls into the new terrain. Points are awarded based on the duration of survival, as well as for destroying enemies and fuel tanks. In the final section, the player must destroy a “base”. Once this objective is achieved, a flag indicating a completed mission is displayed at the bottom right of the screen. The game then repeats, returning to the first section with a slight increase in difficulty.
Scoring[edit]
- Per second the jet is in play: 10 points
- Rockets: 50 points on ground, 80 in air
- UFO ships: 100 points
- Fuel tanks: 150 points
- Mystery targets: 100, 200, or 300 points
- Base at ends of levels: 800 points
The player is awarded an extra jet for scoring 10,000 points, and none more thereafter. A jet is lost upon contact with anything. Once the final jet is destroyed, the game is over.
Handheld versions[edit]
A dedicated Tomytronic version of Scramble was released in 1982.[7] A second electronic tabletop version of Scramble was released the same year in the UK by Grandstand[8] under licence from Japanese firm Epoch Co., who sold the game in Japan under the title Astro Command.[9] Gameplay differs from the arcade version as no scenery is rendered and the ship has no need to refuel. A handheld compact LCD version known as “Pocket Scramble” was released the following year. Scramble was also made available on the 2006 Game Boy Advance cartridge, “Konami Collector Series Arcade Advanced”, this version is a very close port of the original game in the arcade cabinet.
Reception[edit]
Scramble was commercially successful and critically acclaimed. In its February 1982 issue, Computer and Video Games magazine said it “was the first arcade game to send you on a mission and quickly earned a big following”.[10] In the United States, the game sold 10,000 arcade cabinets worth $20,000,000 (equivalent to $64,000,000 in 2022) in sales within two months of release in 1981,[11] and it topped the US monthly RePlay arcade charts in June 1981.[12] It sold 15,136 arcade cabinets in the United States within five months, by August 4, 1981, becoming Stern’s second best-selling game after Berzerk. Its sequel, the more difficult Super Cobra, sold 12,337 cabinets in the U.S. in four months that same year, adding up to 27,473 U.S. cabinet sales for both, by October 1981.[1] In Japan, Scramble was tied with Jump Bug and Space Panic as the 14th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1981.[13]
The Vectrex version was reviewed in Video magazine where it was praised for its fidelity to the original arcade game and was described as the favorite among Vectrex titles they had reviewed.[14]: 120 The game’s overlays were singled out, with reviewers commenting that “when you’re really involved with a Vectrex game like Scramble, it’s almost possible to forget that the…
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