[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/mOqYu.jpg[/img]
For the final month of 2010 the Together Retro game club at
http://racketboy.com decided to travel all the way back to 1980 for the arcade classic
Tempest. On first look
Tempest seems overly simple with it's vector graphics and small color palette. But once you start to play the game you realize that it was actually rather ahead of its time. To start with the game is a Tube Shooter in which you pilot a ship that can actually rotate 360 degrees around the outside of the tube and fire into the vanishing point from where enemies materialize. Surprisingly the vector graphics really do create an impressive 3D feel once you submerge yourself into the game, although admittedly you really have to use your imagination to make anything out of the enemy shapes. As primitive as the whole thing appears, this game is certainly one for the hardcore. It is by no means simple, and requires constant shooting and dodging. When I first started playing the game I would often see GAME OVER in under a minute. However once you put some time into learning the nuances of the gameplay things start to make a certain sense. I can only imagine the quarters that were sunk into the arcade original while attempting to make sense of
Tempest.
[img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/AbnT0.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/aznnq.jpg[/img]
In 2002
Tempest was ported to the Game Boy Advance as part of the wonderful
Atari Anniversary Advance compilation. The GBA version looks and sounds great, and is almost arcade-perfect in execution. Of course there's one glaring omission from the GBA release: the rotary controller. My original plan was to purchase the Vaus rotary controller that was package with the NES version of
Arkenoid and use it with the NES-to-GameCube controller adapter sold by
http://retrousb.com. However, after doing a bit of research it became apparent that this would not work correctly due to some complicated analog stuff that I don't even fully understand. Having said that, I did get rather good at the game using a Hori pad. I did also test out using a GameCube steering wheel as an alternative to the rotary controller. Though the steering wheel didn't offer full 360 degrees freedom, it did have a certain arcade-style feel to it.
[img width=300 height=400]http://imgur.com/sequu.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=400]http://imgur.com/FUCtH.jpg[/img]
Though the lack of rotary control is too bad, there is an exceptionally cool feature present in the GBA port of
Tempest. If you hit the Select button the screen will actually rotate to display in a landscape presentation that actually represents the aspect-ratio of the original arcade cab. Now perhaps that was just a novelty on the Game Boy Advance hardware, but if you're playing it on a Game Boy Player and using a monitor that you can actually turn on its side, then this is actually pretty amazing.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/tG5RZ.jpg[/img]
I should also mention that although the original
Tempest has lots of sound effects, it is devoid of music during gameplay. If this bothers you at all then I have an excellent solution to offer up. In 1994
Tempest was remade as
Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. The game is generally considered the absolute best game in the Jaguar catalog, and high on its list of credentials is its wonderful soundtrack. The
Tempest 2000 soundtrack features a great mix of stereotypically awesome 90's techno, and it's also still easily available. There's something really great about playing an 80's arcade game while listening to 90's rave music made for a shooter imagining the year 2000.
[img width=300 height=400]http://imgur.com/QoBLo.jpg[/img]
Even after a playing for a month I can hardly say I've mastered this game. But I do think it's a lot of fun, and can see myself playing it fairly often in the near future. Though I definitely got a lot better after a month of practice 77,380 is the best I could do. But there's much to be said for the fact that I loved every moment, no matter how difficult it was.
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Nice write up. I'm old enough to remember Tempest in the arcade, and you are right, it was a quarter muncher. The crisp vector graphics had me coming back over and over. Tempest 2000 is fantastic, and the only reason my Jag is constantly hooked up. Now I just need to track down a Nuon and Tempest 3000.
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Good article. I vividly remember this back in my arcade days - it was truly a quarter magnet. Another excellent version (arguably the best) is Tempest 3000 for the NUON system. This came out in 2000 and is awesome. Some screen shots as well as a video of the game play:
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg00-nuon.htm
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Yes, I too remember growing up and pumping this machine full of quarters in the arcade. This game gave me such an appreciation for vector graphics and is the main reason I purchased a Vectrex system a few months ago (though Tempest is not a part of the Vectrex catalog). However in 2002, Christopher Tumber created a homebrew of Tempest called Tsunami, which is near to impossible to find used and apparently Mr. Tumber is currently off the grid. Great write up.
http://gamesdbase.com/gamedetail-gce_vectrex.tsunami.2001.christopher_tumber.-_-.public_domain.aspx?nop=1
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I absolutely loved playing Tempest when i was younger. My only experience with it though is the SNES version.
I don't think i ever did truly figure out what it took to kill some enemies or how to kill those ones that get to the top and circle around the grid at you. Though i do remember killing a fair amount of those 
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@Izret101:
SNES version?!?
Never touched the arcade original until after putting dozens of hours into the Jag sequel. While I did enjoy pumping a few quarters into the classic, Tempest 2000 has me spoiled. Super addictive fun.
@Duke.Togo: I'm the same way- almost makes it worth owning the system just for that game.
Almost.
@Marriott_Guy: I want to pick up a NUON just to play Tempest 3000. It's on my want list
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Got Tempest 2000 along with a CIB Jaguar system last week, and I must say that, play-wise, it is simultaneously frustrating and engrossing. My big problem is that I keep forgetting that only the right and left ends of the d-pad move my fighter around the edge of the tube, a lapse that has left me with final scores that barely crack five figures.
BTW am I the only guy who thinks this would have fit right in with the original Tron arcade game's line-up?
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@slackur:
Midway and/or Williams Arcades Greatest Hits had Tempest, Asteroids, Centipede, BattleTanx(?) and some other stuff i can't remember right now.
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