Avoid the spikes. (a brief history of a classic game)
 

Tempest was manufactured in by Atari and released in 1980. It was the VERY FIRST COLOR vector game put out by Atari. This game was chosen as the first arcade game to have its source code openly documented by enthusiasts of the game, and was coded into 6502 assembly languages. The prototype was called Vortex.

the original idea for Tempest came to Dave Theurer in a nightmare about creatures or monsters crawling up from a hole in the ground.

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs
TRICK: On a level that is not a fully enclosed shape, you can often sit at one of the far ends, and when an approaching enemy is right next to you, hold down your fire button, and they will be destroyed.
TRICK: Get a score in the form of XXYYZZ,
where XX > 16, 29 < YY < 60, and ZZ is a code. Some codes are:

01 - Test mode.
06, 11, 12 - 40 free games.
46 - Start at any level you like (up to level 81).

In the test mode, you can zero the high score table and examine the game parameters, but not modify them.

BUG: Scores beyond 999999 are not possible, as the score will roll-over to 000000


Side note.
The fact you can earn 40 free games with a certain score was the fault of developer Dave Theurer himself. He had created a special security code to protect against piracy which checked the placement of different objects. If the objects were not in the correct place, the game would shut down. Before the game was shipped, however, Theurer, who would fuss over minute details, noticed an Atari logo was off-center. He adjusted it slightly. This small change caused the code to malfunction and the player to earn 40 free credits if a certain score was reached.

all this info was pulled from klov.com/T/Tempest.html


An awesome emulator can be found here.
http://web.utanet.at/nkehrer/JTempest.html


I just had the monitor fixed for my stand up arcade Tempest but the power supply just went out, (it's only 23 years old) Damn I can't wait to get that fucker operational again.

I'm going to put an order in for a Tron stand up game later today. I'll hopefully get it before xmas. :)

Tempest and Tron are without a doubt my two favorite classic arcade games with a close 3rd being battlezone...

Man, where did you get yours? I've been toying with the idea of buying those 3 for years...

:thumbsup
nice post

Strange but true.

We missed "Toy Story" when it came out in the theatres, and about a week before it came out on video we wanted to see it on the big screen. So we searched hi and low, and sure enough we found a theatre like out in Pamona in a run down mall that was loaded with thrift stores and 99 cent stores.

We figured what the hell let's go out on a Saturday and make the trek out to pamona and see it, we'll have a fun day. Well after the movie in the run down mall, in a run down thrift store a lady was selling it for $70.00.

A standup arcade Tempest for only $70.00??? That was an offer I couldn't refuse.

et me check that place where they sell Tron, f they have 2. I'll let you know if they only have one you're shit out of luck, because I'm buying it. LOL

You can pick up games fom all over. I'm finding out that they are easier to come by than I originally thought.

These people fixed my Tempest monitor and they have games for sale.

http://gamedoc.com

An awesome emulator can be found here.
http://web.utanet.at/nkehrer/JTempest.html

anyone know of a Tron emulator?

The mame emulator is spot on for Tron, but then you have to build a whole mame cabinet...

You guys are killing me!

I really want a game room!

If I had a lot of money and a big basement, here is my wish list:

Fooz(sp?) ball,
Pool table
Appollo 13 pinball
Adam family pinball
And a bunch of arcades....
Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat
Virtua Fighter
Daytona USA
Dongeons and Dragons
Nba Jam
NFL Blitz

We had a MortalKombat3 game at my old work. I played for nearly 3 years.

BAAAAD ASSSS

"you can often sit at one of the far ends, and when an approaching enemy is right next to you, hold down your fire button, and they will be destroyed."

not entirely correct, first you need to tap the fire button at a certain frequency, if you simply hold it down you will get killed. If you tap it correctly everything trying to flip onto you will get killed.

The greater the angle of incidence between you and the approaching attacker the less precise this tapping has to be
:)

Beware the spikes, as innocuous as they seem they are your worst enemies on higher levels.

SweeeeeeeeT
:thumbsup