Phoenix (video game)

Phoenix
Developer(s)	Unknown
Publisher(s)	Centuri, Taito (Arcade) Atari (Atari 2600)
Platform(s)	Arcade (original) Atari 2600
Release date(s)	Arcade INT: 1980 Atari 2600 INT: 1982
Genre(s)	Fixed shooter
Mode(s)	1-2 players alternating
Cabinet	Upright, cocktail
Display	Vertical raster, standard resolution

Phoenix is an outer space-themed, fixed shooter video game similar to Taito's Space Invaders and released in 1980. The game's developer is unknown. According to Centuri's Joel Hochberg, the game was licensed from "a smaller Japanese developer."^[1] Amstar Electronics (which was located in Phoenix, Arizona)^[2] licensed the game to Centuri for manufacture in the United States. Taito released the game in Japan.^[3][4]

The Phoenix mothership is one of the first video arcade game bosses to be presented as a separate challenge.^[5] This was before the term boss was coined.

Gameplay

The player controls a spaceship that moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen, firing upward. Enemies, typically one of two types of birds, appear on the screen above the player's ship, shooting at it and periodically diving towards it in an attempt to crash into it. The ship is equipped with a shield that can be used to zap any of the alien creatures that attempt to crash into the spaceship. The player cannot move while the shield is active and must wait approximately five seconds before using it again.

The player starts with three or six lives, depending on the settings.

Each level has five separate rounds. The player must complete a round to advance to the next.

• Rounds 1 and 2 – The player must destroy a formation of alien birds. While in formation, some of the birds fly down kamikaze style, in an attempt to destroy the player's spaceship by crashing into it. Hitting a bird flying diagonally awards a bonus score. The birds are yellow in round 1, pink in round 2. The player's spaceship is given rapid fire for round 2, where the birds fly somewhat more unpredictably. These rounds are highly reminiscent of Galaxian.
• Rounds 3 and 4 – Flying eggs float on the screen and seconds later hatch, revealing larger alien birds, resembling phoenices, which swoop down at the player's spaceship. The only way to fully destroy one of these birds is by hitting it in its belly; shooting one of its wings merely destroys that wing, and if both wings are destroyed, they will regenerate. From time to time the birds may also revert to the egg form for a brief period. The birds are blue in round 3, pink in round 4.
• Round 5 – The player is pitted against the mothership, which is controlled by an alien creature sitting in its center. To complete this round, the player must create a hole in the conveyor belt-type shield to get a clear shot at the alien. Hitting the alien with a single shot ends the level. The mothership fires missiles at the player, moves slowly down towards him, and has alien birds (from rounds 1 and 2) protecting the ship. Defeating all of the birds will produce a new wave.

The game continues with increasing speed and unpredictability of the bird and phoenix flights.

Development

Hardware

A 1981 Italian model of the Phoenix arcade cabinet. (Mfr: Amtec)

Phoenix was available in both arcade and cocktail cabinets. A DIP switch setting allows the game to be moved between formats.

Most Phoenix games are in a standard Centuri woodgrain cabinet, but several other cabinets exist, due to this game being sold by multiple companies at the same time. These use sticker sideart (which covers the upper half of the machine), and glass marquees. The control panel is made up entirely of buttons; no joystick is present in the Centuri version, except for the international models and some cocktail versions. The monitor in this machine is mounted vertically, and the monitor bezel is relatively unadorned. Phoenix uses a unique wiring harness, which isn't known to be compatible with any other games.

Circuitry in the Centuri version:

• CPU: 8085 at 5.5 MHz.
• RAM: 4 kB (8 2114 1k x 4 chips.)
• ROM: 16 kB (8 2716 2k x 8 chips.)
• Audio: Matsushita MN6221AA chip, along with discrete circuitry.
• Video: discrete circuitry, utilizing 4 more 2716 2k x 8 EPROMs, as well as 2 256 x 4 bipolar PROMs.^[6]

Music

There are two pieces of music featured in the game:

• Romance de Amor also known as Spanish Romance by an unknown composer.
• Für Elise by Beethoven.

Bugs

When the player shoots 3 birds in a row very quickly as they fly upwards a score about 204,000 points is awarded.^[7]

It's also known that the player's force field works unreliable. The ship might explode when coming in contact with an enemy or a shot fired although the shield was activated.

Reception and legacy

Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz of Electronic Games called Phoenix "perhaps the finest invasion title ever produced for the 2600!", praising its "fantastic graphics, unexcelled play-action and more".^[8] The game received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Videogame" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.^[9]:42 AllGame gave Phoenix a five-star rating, their highest rating.^[10] The review stated that itwas the "most impressive games the "slide-and-shoot" genre has to offer" and that "Finely balanced shooting action combined with colorfully animated graphics make Phoenix a true classic."^[10]

Records

Richie Knucklez holds the official record for this game with 1,007,115 points recorded on the 9 March 2011.^[11]

Ports

Atari bought the home video game console rights to Phoenix, which it released for the Atari 2600 in 1982.^[4][8] The Imagic game Demon Attack closely resembled Phoenix, so Atari sued Imagic, who settled out of court.

Iin 2005, Phoenix was released on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and the PC as part of Taito Legends in the US and Europe, and Taito Memories II Gekan in Japan.

Sequels

The sister game to Phoenix was called Pleiads (onscreen) or Pleiades (on the Centuri manufactured marquee) and was developed by Tehkan in 1981, and licensed to Centuri for U.S. distribution. Pleiades featured more enemies attacking at once, balanced by the fact that the player could now have two shots on the screen at one time instead of one—coincidentally, something that Galaxian's sequel, Galaga, also introduced.

The Flagship level in the Midway game Gorf has been compared to the boss stage in Phoenix.

Clones

• Griffon was released by Videotron in 1980.
• Falcon was released by BGV. in 1980.
• Vautour was released by Jeutel in 1980 in France.
• Condor was released by Sidam in 1981.
• Demon Attack, released by Imagic for the Atari 2600 in 1982, has several waves that are very similar to Phoenix.
• Pheenix was released by Megadodo for the ZX Spectrum in 1983.
• Eagle Empire was released by Alligata for the BBC Micro in 1983.
• Firebirds was released by Softek for the ZX Spectrum in 1983.

Bootlegs

• Phoenix was released by T.P.N in 1980.
• Phoenix was released by IRECSA, G.G.I Corp in 1980.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phoenix (video game).

• Phoenix at the Killer List of Videogames
• Arcade History Database entry
• Phoenix entry at the Centuri.net Arcade Database