Zaxxon

n/a

Zaxxon
System(s): Sega Zaxxon Hardware, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, DOS, Intellivision, MSX, SG-1000, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, Virtual Console, ZX Spectrum
Publisher: Sega Coleco Datasoft Philips U.S. Gold
Developer: Sega Ikegami Tsushinki Coleco Synsoft
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Release Date RRP Code US 1982 $? ? EU 1983 £? ? US 1983 $? ? EU 1983 £? ?
ESRB PEGI OFLC

Zaxxon (ザクソン) is an arcade shoot 'em up game released in 1982 by Sega. It was the first video game to use axonometric projection, which is where the "AXXON" name comes from. Zaxxon stands as one of Sega's earliest video game successes, and its isometric graphics set itself apart from the competition.

Gameplay

The player controls a starship which continuously moves towards the top right of the screen, meaning it is half-way between a side-scrolling shooter and a vertical shooter. The basic idea is to shoot at and destroy enemies within a space fortress to rank up points, while avoiding obstacles and enemy fire.

Zaxxon allows the player to adjust the ship's height, something that needs to be used to negotiate the scenery in the fortress. This can make gameplay somewhat awkward as it is often difficult to determine the height of obstacles. There is, however, a meter on the left hand side of the screen showing the ship's height, though it still presents a challenge. 1984's Future Spy', which is also a shoot-'em-up running on Zaxxon arcade hardware drops this feature.

Sequels and Re-releases

Zaxxon was quite successful for Sega, and hence it was ported to the Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, DOS, Intellivision, MSX, Sega SG-1000, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, and ZX Spectrum. More recently, the Arcade version of the game has been made available through the Wii's Virtual Console service. There has also been numerous clones of the game, such as Zaksund and Z-89 for the TRS CoCo.

It should be noted, however, that the Atari 2600 and Intellivision ports of the game use a third person perspective rather than an isometric one, most likely due to console limitations.

The arcade version of Zaxxon was also included as part of the Sega Mega Drive Collection and Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection compilations.

Zaxxon was also turned into a board game by Milton Bradley in 1982. Sega, Bandai and Coleco have also released handheld versions of the game.

The game was followed by Super Zaxxon, Zaxxon 3D and Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000, none of which were as successful.

Prodcution Credits

Commodore 64 Version

C64 Version by Peter Adams

Physical Scans

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Zaxxon

SG-1000 Version

SG-1000, JP
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Atari 2600 Version

Atari 2600, US (Coleco)
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Atari 2600, EU (CBS)
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Atari 2600, UK (CBS)
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Atari 2600, DE (CBS)
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Atari 2600, CA (Coleco)
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Atari 2600, BR (Tron)
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Atari 2600, BR (Intellivision)
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Atari 2600, BR (Dynacom)
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Atari 5200 Version

Atari 5200, US
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Atari 8-bit Family Version

Atari 8-bit Family, US
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Atari 8-bit Family, US (Datasoft)
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Cassette

Atari 8-bit Family, US (Datasoft) (Alt)
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Cassette

Atari 8-bit Family, UK (Datasoft)
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Colecovision Version

Colecovision, US
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Colecovision, FR
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Commodore 64 Version

Commodore 64, EU
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Intellivision Version

Intellivision, US
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Intellivision, UK
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MSX Version

MSX, JP
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ZX Spectrum Version

ZX Spectrum, EU
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