Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Although their name is hardly known today, Cinematronics was one of the best video game makers of the '70's and early '80's. In the first half of their life they focused mostly on vector graphics-based arcade games. Unlike Atari which had considerable success with vector games like Asteroids and Tempest, Cinematronics' games rarely became huge hits.
The majority of Cinematronics' vector arcade games were ported beautifully to the Vectrex but unfortunately the machine never caught on and became a victim of the console industry crash.
Some of Cinematronics' best vector arcade/Vectrex games are:
Tailgunner, a first-person view shooter where you shoot from the back of a ship. The effect of movement with the stars zooming by is very impressive. Exidy re-released this game as Tailgunner 2 and added a
fancy sit-down cabinet.
http://www.klov.com/T/Tail_Gunner.html
Armor Attack, an overhead view game where you control a jeep in a maze fighting tanks and helicopters.
http://www.klov.com/A/Armor_Attack.html
Star Castle, one of Cinematronics' more successful games. You control a ship (with Asteroids-style thrust control) that must shoot through a fortress in the centre of the screen. Atari planned on porting it to the VCS but made the game into Yars' Revenge instead.
http://www.klov.com/S/Star_Castle.html
Cosmic Chasm, a unique shooter that almost has an adventure-like quality to it since you explore different caves.
http://www.klov.com/C/Cosmic_Chasm.html
Also worth mentioning is that shortly after Cinematronics started making games, developer Larry Rosenthal left the company to found a new one called Vectorbeam which created arcade games like Barrier and Warrior. Warrior is considered by some to be the first fighting game. It has two knights sword-fighting. Although one could argue that Sega's boxing game Heavyweight Champ(1976) was the first fighting game.
http://www.klov.com/W/Warrior.html
Anyways, Vectorbeam got sued by Cinematronics and they ended up buying the company.
Cinematronics didn't just make vector graphics games. They made a few raster games like Freeze and Zzyzzyxx(nice name).
Cinematronics' most famous game came near the end of their corporate life. Dragon's Lair wowed people with its laserdisc technology and animation. Dragon's Lair wasn't the first laserdisc game(Sega's Astron Belt takes that credit) but it was still unlike anything seen before and it generated quite a buzz. I remember kids all over school talking about it and its graphics. When I saw it myself I was amazed at the animation. But once I played it, I hated it and I will always remember it as my first gaming disappointment.
Your thoughts?
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