Tempest (video game)

The arcade game was programmed by Dave Theurer Tempest and for the first time Introduced in 1980 by Atari as an arcade machine. The game has realistic 3D vector graphics since the beginning. The player controls with a rotary control (paddle) a small spaceship that travels along the edge of a tunnel-shaped grid and must eliminate approaching opponents. The shape of this grid is initially oval, but changes in the course. Besides the standard weapon ( blaster ), there is the Super Zapper weapon that destroys all enemies at once. These start in the middle of the screen and can not get to the player ( in the margin).

In the basic version, there are 16 different levels.

With Tempest 2000 was published in 1994 a graphically improved version of Jeff Minter for the Atari Jaguar game console. 2000 appeared with Tempest 3000, the date last version for the Nuon DVD system, which, besides the graphically opulent version, the Tempest -2000 version. Since the DVD player could not prevail with the Nuon chip, this version is almost unknown.

From the end of 2006 developed Thorsten Kuphaldt the freeware remake of Typhoon 2001. It is mainly based on Minter version and was released for Linux and Windows.

The version for the Atari 2600 was canceled, but there is a prototype.

Tempest belonged to the second team of computer games, which started the Museum of Modern Art on June 28, 2013 its permanent exhibition.