Hey Arcaders!
We did it with Pac-Man.
We did it with Donkey Kong.
You knew we would do it with Dragon’s Lair.
So- let’s get started with The Games That The Lair Forgot!
Let’s start with the very first Laserdisc game- Astron Belt.
Astron belt was a partnership with Sega and Toei Studios to create a Sci Fi rail shooter- and they sort of succeeded- more on that in a minute.
The player controls a lone spacecraft on a mission to singlehandedly take down the entire enemy armada. Enemy fighters and ships shoot at the player, and there are mines and other objects that must be shot or avoided.
The game is divided into waves. At the end of each wave is a command ship that must be destroyed. In later waves the enemy fighters move and shoot more aggressively, and their shots are more accurate. Some waves take place in open space, while others require the player to battle enemies while flying through narrow trenches and tunnels. The player is on a timer at the beginning of the game, with an unlimited number of lives available. The length of the timer can be adjusted by the machine operator, but is normally 60 seconds. After the timer expires, the player is given a limited number of additional lives. When all of those lives are lost, the game ends.
The background videos used in the game are a mixture of original artwork and borrowed material. In addition to the scenes and models created specifically for the game, the designers also incorporated footage from three science fiction movies: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Message from Space.
We had this game as a test at my Dream Machine for a few weeks. I played it quite a bit- and liked it. Not loved. the visuals are spectacular. It was the feel that threw me off. meaning- I never really felt I hit a target and vice versa. because the targets are on the laserdisc and your ship is game generated. It’s still fun to play through- but as you will see in another GTTLF- there is another game that does this RIGHT.
The game was first unveiled at the 20th Amusement Machine Show, held in Tokyo during September 1982, and then at Chicago’s Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show, held during November 18–20, 1982. This marked the beginning of laserdisc fever in the video game industry, and released in Japan during early 1983, with Sega projecting to ship 10,000 cabinets that year. It was subsequently released in Europe, where it was the first laserdisc game released in the region. However, Bally Midway delayed the game’s release in the United States to fix several hardware and software bugs, by which time it had been beaten to public release by several laserdisc games including Dragon’s Lair.
The game was a commercial success in arcades, especially in Japan where it was the top-grossing upright/cockpit arcade game for four months. Critical reception was initially positive following its AMOA 1982 debut and then its European release, but was later mixed following its North American release as it drew unfavorable comparisons with other laserdisc games. Astron Belt was ported to the MSX home system in 1984 in Japan. It seems to have better hit detection than the arcade!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuZF57pTuk
So- what do you think of Astron Belt? have you played it? let me know in the comments!
Keep Playin Like It’s 1981!
The Arcade Archives! 