Difference between revisions of "Vanguard"
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− | + | {{Video Game | |
+ | | Title = Vanguard | ||
+ | | Image = Vanguard - ARC - USA - Cabinet.jpg | ||
+ | | ImageDescription = Arcade - USA - Cabinet. | ||
+ | | Developer = {{VideoGameDeveloper|Tose}}, {{VideoGameDeveloper|Atari}} | ||
+ | | Publisher = {{VideoGamePublisher|SNK}}, {{VideoGamePublisher|Centuri}}, {{VideoGamePublisher|Atari}} | ||
+ | | PublishedYear = 1981 | ||
+ | | PublishedMonth = 07 | ||
+ | | PublishedDay = ?? | ||
+ | | Platforms = {{Platform|Arcade}}, {{Platform|Atari 2600}}, {{Platform|Atari 5200}} | ||
+ | | Genres = {{VideoGameGenre|Action video game|Action}}, {{VideoGameGenre|Scrolling shooter|Scrolling shooter}}, {{VideoGameGenre|Shooter|Shooter}} | ||
+ | | Themes = {{MediaTheme|Science Fiction}} | ||
+ | | Multiplayer = {{GameMultiplayer|Alternating versus}} | ||
+ | | Distributions = {{VideoGameDistribution|Commercial}} | ||
+ | }} | ||
− | '''''Vanguard''''' is a scrolling shooter developed by [[ | + | '''''Vanguard''''' is a [[scrolling shooter]] developed by [[Tose]] and published by [[SNK]] in [[Arcade|arcades]] in July 1981. [[Centuri]] distributed the game in the USA. It was ported to the [[Atari 2600]] by [[David Payne]] in 1982 and to the [[Atari 5200]] in 1983. |
− | + | In the game's story you pilot a space ship through a chain of caves to defeat the Gond, a villain trying to wipe out space colonies. Each part of the cave system is named and include the Mountain Zone, Rainbow Zone, Styx Zone, Stripe Zone, Bleak Zone, and to the City of Mystery. Each zone is occupied with a different type of enemy ship and has natural hazards that must be avoided. Your ship steadily loses fuel which is replenished by successfully destroying enemy ships. In the arcade, Vanguard uses a joystick and an unusual 4-button firing configuration, one for each direction. It also was one of the first scrolling shooters to scroll in multiple directions over the course of the game. The tune that plays when you start the game is lifted from [[Jerry Goldsmith]]'s ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' soundtrack, and the tune that plays when you touch the energy block is [[Queen]]'s ''[[Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men)]]'' from the ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' film. | |
− | == | + | ==Personal== |
− | I used to own Vanguard on the 2600, but no longer. My high score as a child was 76,870, but I haven't really made an effort to beat it. | + | {{VideoGameStatus |
+ | | Own = | ||
+ | | CantOwn = | ||
+ | | Won = | ||
+ | | CantWin = No. The game doesn't have a win condition. | ||
+ | | Finished = | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | I first played ''Vanguard'' around 1986 on my family's Atari 2600. My family and our neighborhood friends pretended it was like ''[[Star Wars (universe)|Star Wars]]'' and we were characters like Yoda and Luke. I remember being really impressed by the box art on the 2600 because it gave me a sense of wonder about what was further down the tunnel. At the time, I assumed ''Vanguard'' was an exclusive Atari title and it wasn't until years later that I learned it was originally an arcade game. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I used to own ''Vanguard'' on the 2600, but no longer. My high score as a child was 76,870, but I haven't really made an effort to beat it. | ||
==Review== | ==Review== | ||
− | + | {{Video Game Review|4|5|3|2|3|Atari 2600}} | |
− | + | ||
+ | {{Spoilers}} | ||
===Good=== | ===Good=== | ||
* The game is a pioneer in the scrolling shooter genre with alternating scrolling directions. This not only makes the play more interesting, it's also impressive on a technical level. | * The game is a pioneer in the scrolling shooter genre with alternating scrolling directions. This not only makes the play more interesting, it's also impressive on a technical level. | ||
* Having synthesized speech was still very notable for arcade games in 1981. | * Having synthesized speech was still very notable for arcade games in 1981. | ||
− | * The Atari 2600 port, since it couldn't recreate the 4-button firing of the arcade layout, alters the | + | * The Atari 2600 port, since it couldn't recreate the 4-button firing of the arcade layout, alters the game slightly to have you shoot by default in the direction you're moving, but lets you press the fire button to stop shooting and move faster. That was a clever compromise. |
* The cavern walls in the Atari 2600 port use wonderful rainbow bands that are visually appealing. | * The cavern walls in the Atari 2600 port use wonderful rainbow bands that are visually appealing. | ||
* The 2600's box art and manual is pretty great. | * The 2600's box art and manual is pretty great. | ||
===Bad=== | ===Bad=== | ||
− | * The game's graphics are pretty bad. Drawing cavern walls with boxes was cheap even by the standards of 1981. [[Donkey Kong]] came out this same year. | + | * The game's graphics are pretty bad. Drawing cavern walls with boxes was cheap even by the standards of 1981. ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' came out this same year. |
* The game only has two alternating cave systems, both of which are nearly identical. Even if the designers kept reusing the same stages, they could have come up with plenty more systems and that little bit would have given the game more depth. | * The game only has two alternating cave systems, both of which are nearly identical. Even if the designers kept reusing the same stages, they could have come up with plenty more systems and that little bit would have given the game more depth. | ||
− | * I don't like how enemy shots block your own. | + | * I don't like how enemy shots block your own. They probably shouldn't interact at all, but, if they do, they should cancel each other out. |
* The Atari ports don't accurately handle the 4-button firing mechanic of the arcade, so you're forced to move in the direction you want to shoot which alters the strategy. | * The Atari ports don't accurately handle the 4-button firing mechanic of the arcade, so you're forced to move in the direction you want to shoot which alters the strategy. | ||
* The Atari 2600 port doesn't show how far you've made it in the current stage which is important tactical information, but it does add a pause between each section which is helpful. | * The Atari 2600 port doesn't show how far you've made it in the current stage which is important tactical information, but it does add a pause between each section which is helpful. | ||
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===Box Art=== | ===Box Art=== | ||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
− | Vanguard - ARC - USA - Marquee. | + | Vanguard - ARC - USA - Marquee.svg|The North American arcade marquee. A bit dull, but it uses a nice typeface, and an interesting use of a non-standard rainbow. |
Vanguard - ARC - USA - Side Art.jpg|The cabinet's side art features a man in a space suit being surrounded by snakes while flying saucers appear from a wormhole with Gond in the background. It's pretty trippy, I'll give it that! | Vanguard - ARC - USA - Side Art.jpg|The cabinet's side art features a man in a space suit being surrounded by snakes while flying saucers appear from a wormhole with Gond in the background. It's pretty trippy, I'll give it that! | ||
− | Vanguard - 2600 - USA.jpg|The 2600 box art has a lovely painting | + | Vanguard - ARC - USA - Bezel.svg|The North American arcade bezel. It's a little plain, as was most of the art of the era, but I still think it does a great job at accenting the game. |
− | Vanguard - 5200 - USA.jpg|The 5200 shows a simpler ship firing at enemies in a more [[ | + | Vanguard - 2600 - USA.jpg|The 2600 box art has a lovely painting by [[Ralph McQuarrie]]. Your ship is firing at enemies down a tunnel that's both industrial and cavernous. The art is very impressive and perfectly depicts the game. This is my favorite cover. |
+ | Vanguard - 5200 - USA.jpg|The 5200 shows a simpler ship firing at enemies in a more [[Tron]]-like environment. While I don't care as much for [[Terry Hoff]]'s art, the custom lettering is more interesting. | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
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Vanguard - ARC - USA - Ad - Cinematronics.jpg|The US Cinematronics ad for a different cabinet style. | Vanguard - ARC - USA - Ad - Cinematronics.jpg|The US Cinematronics ad for a different cabinet style. | ||
Vanguard - ARC - Germany - Ad.jpg|The German ad has the cabinet with a lot of screenshots. | Vanguard - ARC - Germany - Ad.jpg|The German ad has the cabinet with a lot of screenshots. | ||
+ | Vanguard - 2600 - France - Ad.jpg|French 2600 ad. | ||
SNK - ARC - Japan - Promo.jpg|Japanese [[SNK]] ad with ''[[Satan of Saturn]]''. | SNK - ARC - Japan - Promo.jpg|Japanese [[SNK]] ad with ''[[Satan of Saturn]]''. | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Documentation=== | ||
+ | <gallery> | ||
+ | Vanguard - ARC - Screenshot - Continue.png|[[Continue]] screen. | ||
+ | </gallery> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Videos=== | ||
+ | {{YouTube|farSRgI_w5E|Commercial - Atari 2600.}} | ||
+ | {{YouTube|4MwVWsHBm5g|Game play - Arcade.}} | ||
+ | {{YouTube|ewQDKtc1i-4|Game play - Atari 2600.}} | ||
+ | {{YouTube|gTrM9c50H_0|Game play - Atari 5200.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Play Online== | ||
+ | {{PlayOnline|https://www.free80sarcade.com/atari2600_Vanguard.php|Atari 2600}}, {{PlayOnline|https://www.free80sarcade.com/atari5200.php?disk_filename{{=}}vanguard.atr|Atari 5200}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Representation== | ||
+ | {{Representation | ||
+ | | Media = Video games | ||
+ | | StrongFemaleCharacterStatus = Fail | ||
+ | | StrongFemaleCharacterNotes = There don't appear to be any women. | ||
+ | | BechdelTestStatus = Fail | ||
+ | | BechdelTestNotes = There don't appear to be any women. | ||
+ | | StrongPOCCharacterStatus = Fail | ||
+ | | StrongPOCCharacterNotes = No race is described. | ||
+ | | QueerCharacterStatus = Fail | ||
+ | | QueerCharacterNotes = There don't appear to be any queer characters. | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Credits== | ||
+ | {| class="wikitable" | ||
+ | ! Role !! Staff | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 2600 Port Programmer || [[David Payne]] | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 2600 Box Art || [[Ralph McQuarrie]] | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 5200 Box Art || [[Terry Hoff]] (as T. Hoff) | ||
+ | |} | ||
==Titles== | ==Titles== | ||
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{{Link|Wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_(video_game)}} | {{Link|Wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_(video_game)}} | ||
{{Link|StrategyWiki|https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Vanguard}} | {{Link|StrategyWiki|https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Vanguard}} | ||
− | {{Link|VGMPF|2=http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title= | + | {{Link|VGMPF|2=http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Vanguard_(A26)}} |
{{Link|TCRF|https://tcrf.net/Vanguard_(Arcade)}} | {{Link|TCRF|https://tcrf.net/Vanguard_(Arcade)}} | ||
{{Link|AtariAge|2=https://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareID=1424}} | {{Link|AtariAge|2=https://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareID=1424}} | ||
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− | + | [[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy]] | |
− | [[Category: Video | + | [[Category: Game Mechanic - Autoscroller]] |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | [[Category: | ||
− |
Latest revision as of 09:21, 14 March 2024
Vanguard | ||||||||||||||||
Arcade - USA - Cabinet. |
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Vanguard is a scrolling shooter developed by Tose and published by SNK in arcades in July 1981. Centuri distributed the game in the USA. It was ported to the Atari 2600 by David Payne in 1982 and to the Atari 5200 in 1983.
In the game's story you pilot a space ship through a chain of caves to defeat the Gond, a villain trying to wipe out space colonies. Each part of the cave system is named and include the Mountain Zone, Rainbow Zone, Styx Zone, Stripe Zone, Bleak Zone, and to the City of Mystery. Each zone is occupied with a different type of enemy ship and has natural hazards that must be avoided. Your ship steadily loses fuel which is replenished by successfully destroying enemy ships. In the arcade, Vanguard uses a joystick and an unusual 4-button firing configuration, one for each direction. It also was one of the first scrolling shooters to scroll in multiple directions over the course of the game. The tune that plays when you start the game is lifted from Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek: The Motion Picture soundtrack, and the tune that plays when you touch the energy block is Queen's Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men) from the Flash Gordon film.
Contents
Personal
Own? | No. |
---|---|
Won? | No. The game doesn't have a win condition. |
I first played Vanguard around 1986 on my family's Atari 2600. My family and our neighborhood friends pretended it was like Star Wars and we were characters like Yoda and Luke. I remember being really impressed by the box art on the 2600 because it gave me a sense of wonder about what was further down the tunnel. At the time, I assumed Vanguard was an exclusive Atari title and it wasn't until years later that I learned it was originally an arcade game.
I used to own Vanguard on the 2600, but no longer. My high score as a child was 76,870, but I haven't really made an effort to beat it.
Review
4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Best Version: Atari 2600
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- The game is a pioneer in the scrolling shooter genre with alternating scrolling directions. This not only makes the play more interesting, it's also impressive on a technical level.
- Having synthesized speech was still very notable for arcade games in 1981.
- The Atari 2600 port, since it couldn't recreate the 4-button firing of the arcade layout, alters the game slightly to have you shoot by default in the direction you're moving, but lets you press the fire button to stop shooting and move faster. That was a clever compromise.
- The cavern walls in the Atari 2600 port use wonderful rainbow bands that are visually appealing.
- The 2600's box art and manual is pretty great.
Bad
- The game's graphics are pretty bad. Drawing cavern walls with boxes was cheap even by the standards of 1981. Donkey Kong came out this same year.
- The game only has two alternating cave systems, both of which are nearly identical. Even if the designers kept reusing the same stages, they could have come up with plenty more systems and that little bit would have given the game more depth.
- I don't like how enemy shots block your own. They probably shouldn't interact at all, but, if they do, they should cancel each other out.
- The Atari ports don't accurately handle the 4-button firing mechanic of the arcade, so you're forced to move in the direction you want to shoot which alters the strategy.
- The Atari 2600 port doesn't show how far you've made it in the current stage which is important tactical information, but it does add a pause between each section which is helpful.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Media
Box Art
The 2600 box art has a lovely painting by Ralph McQuarrie. Your ship is firing at enemies down a tunnel that's both industrial and cavernous. The art is very impressive and perfectly depicts the game. This is my favorite cover.
The 5200 shows a simpler ship firing at enemies in a more Tron-like environment. While I don't care as much for Terry Hoff's art, the custom lettering is more interesting.
Documentation
Japanese SNK ad with Satan of Saturn.
Documentation
Continue screen.
Videos
Play Online
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There don't appear to be any women. |
---|---|---|
Bechdel test? | Fail | There don't appear to be any women. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | No race is described. |
Queer character? | Fail | There don't appear to be any queer characters. |
Credits
Role | Staff |
---|---|
2600 Port Programmer | David Payne |
2600 Box Art | Ralph McQuarrie |
5200 Box Art | Terry Hoff (as T. Hoff) |
Titles
Language | Native | Transliteration | Translation |
---|---|---|---|
English | Vanguard | ||
Japanese | ヴァンガード | Bangado | Vanguard |
Links
- Video Games
- 1981 Video Games
- Video games developed by Tose
- Video games developed by Atari
- Video games published by SNK
- Video games published by Centuri
- Video games published by Atari
- Arcade Games
- Atari 2600 Games
- Atari 5200 Games
- Video Game Genre - Action
- Video Game Genre - Scrolling shooter
- Video Game Genre - Shooter
- Media Theme - Science Fiction
- Multiplayer
- Multiplayer Alternating versus
- Software Distribution Model - Commercial
- Video Games I Don't Own
- Video Games That Can't Be Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 4
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 3
- Video Game Sound Rating - 2
- Video games which can be played online
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy
- Game Mechanic - Autoscroller