Tempest (1981)
Acorn Electron · Amstrad CPC · Arcade · Atari ST/STE · BBC Microcomputer System · ZX Spectrum
3.16 from 45 ratings
127 members have it in their collection · 2 playing now · 26 backlogged · 12 wish listed
Tempest is a 1981 arcade game by Atari Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface, sometimes wrapped into a tube, which is viewed from one end and is divided into a dozen or more segments or lanes. The player controls a claw-shaped spaceship (named Blaster) that crawls along the near edge of the …
Read more
Tempest is a 1981 arcade game by Atari Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface, sometimes wrapped into a tube, which is viewed from one end and is divided into a dozen or more segments or lanes. The player controls a claw-shaped spaceship (named Blaster) that crawls along the near edge of the playfield, moving from segment to segment. Tempest was one of the first games to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level (a system Atari dubbed "SkillStep"). This feature increases the maximum starting level depending on the player's performance in the previous game, essentially allowing the player to continue.
An official port was released for the Atari ST. An official port that bears the Atari logo was released by Superior Software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1985, and another by Electric Dreams for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987. Versions for the Atari 2600 and 5200 were in the works in Atari, Inc. during 1984, and unfinished prototypes exist for both of them.
Read less
Details
- Developers
- Atari
- Publishers
- Atari, Atari Corporation, Electric Dreams Software, Superior Software Ltd.
- Genres
- Arcade, Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Science fiction
- Series
- Tempest
Release dates
- Oct 1981 (North_America) Arcade
- 1985 (Europe) Acorn Electron, BBC Microcomputer System
- 1987 (Europe) Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
- 1989 (Europe) Atari ST/STE
Related
Bundled in
- Microsoft Arcade (Sep 1993)
- Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 (Jan 1997)
- Atari Arcade Hits: Volume 1 (Jan 1999)
- Atari Anniversary Edition Redux (Feb 2001)
- Atari Anniversary Edition (Jul 2001)
- Atari Anniversary Advance (Mar 2002)
- Microsoft Arcade (Sep 1993)
- Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 (Jan 1997)
- Atari Arcade Hits: Volume 1 (Jan 1999)
- Atari Anniversary Edition Redux (Feb 2001)
- Atari Anniversary Edition (Jul 2001)
- Atari Anniversary Advance (Mar 2002)
- Atari: 80 Classic Games in One! (Nov 2003)
- Atari Anthology (Nov 2004)
- Retro Atari Classics (Mar 2005)
- Atari Classics Games (Dec 2005)
- Atari Masterpieces Vol. II (Mar 2006)
- Atari Classics: Evolved (Jan 2008)
- Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 (Nov 2010)
- Atari Vault (Mar 2016)
- Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 (Oct 2016)
- Atari Flashback Blast! Vol. 1 (Oct 2018)
- Atari Flashback Classics (Dec 2018)
- Atari Collection 1 (Jun 2020)
- Pong 4 Player Pub Table (Apr 2021)
- Atari Couchcade (Mar 2022)
- Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (Nov 2022)
- Polymega Collection Vol. 12: Tempest (Jul 2025)
Remakes
- Tempest (Dec 2007)
- Tempest: Evolved
Ports
Featured in lists
Rating distribution
5 stars
3
4 stars
14
3 stars
17
2 stars
8
1 star
2
Community All Reviews Statuses
Nobody's said anything about Tempest yet. Be the first!