Zaxxon was an arcade game released by Sega in 1982, which was later released on various platforms. Notably the Colecovision in 1982, Atari 800 in 1984, Commodore 64 in 1984 then re-released on the Amiga in (about) 1994. Due to its popularity Zaxxon, was released on the PS2 in 2006 as part of the Sega Genesis Collection along with classics like sonic and Altered Beast.
The object of the game was fly a shuttle-like craft through, what can only be described as a mix between a castle, a military base and your local industrial estate, while trying to shoot as many targets as possible without being hit by missiles, shot down by gun turrets or running out of fuel.
Some of the trickier sections were the mazes of force fields. You had to fly under over or around to avoid while also trying to shooting out the fuel drums for the much needed fuel and getting shot by the gun turrets.
Zaxxon was the first game to use isometric graphics, in layman’s terms, 3-D looking graphics without actually being 3-D. With the subtle tilts left and right as you moved and the choice of flying high or dogging bullets, missiles and buildings by flying low across the deck. This gave the game the feeling that you were an Ace fighter pilot, thus making it an incredibly addictive game.
Zaxxon was the first game I got with my C64
when I bought it in 1984 and had such a major impact on me. I had played this endlessly in the arcades and burnt out my tape for the C64 long ago so when I saw this released on the Amiga, I was ecstatic. The Amiga version was certainly the ultimate arcade conversion being the closest to the arcade as possible.
Zaxxon is still a fun and challenging game and well worth the download.
