#bosconian
This week's Arcade Archives release is... Bosconian (Namco, 1981)
Only the Japanese version is included, but as far as I know there's no regional differences with this one anyway. Also, obviously, this is the arcade version, not the X68000 remake with the Yuzo Koshiro / Hideya Nagata soundtrack, sorry!
B L A S T O F F !! In the deepest reaches of space, a great battle is commencing. One lone fighter pilot (that's you!) must seek and destroy the giant enemy installations in each area by shooting the core with a well-aimed shot. The ship's kitted out with multi-directional movement and a back-shot for maximum defensive capabilities, but you'll have to be careful of stray meteors and enemy spy ships that threaten to change your mission situtation from Yellow to Red Alert in the blink of an eye.
Bosconian's one of those golden age Namco games that doesn't quite get the same level of attention as games like Dig Dug or Galaga, but it's a favourite of mine. This has a lot of features you wouldn't necessarily see in other games of the time- multi-directional scrolling with a radar showing your objectives, voice clips commenting on the action like warning you "SPY SHIP SIGHTED" and "CONDITION RED!" and even a continue feature to let you carry on from the last wave you reached, for a credit of course. It's perhaps a little slow but I appreciate the seek-and-destroy style it goes for, and there's multiple threats and problems to consider- you have to be a crack shot to nail the enemy bases in their core, and if you don't take out the Spy Ships then enemy attacks will become a lot more aggressive. Tough it out, space pilot!
