Zaxxon

n/a

Zaxxon

System(s): Arcade (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
Developer: Sega
ESRB PEGI OFLC

Zaxxon 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.

Physical Scans

Arcade Version

Zaxxon Arcade FR Flyer1.jpg

FR flyer (front)
Zaxxon Arcade FR Flyer2.jpg

FR flyer (back)
Zaxxon Arcade DE Flyer1.jpg

DE flyer (front)
Zaxxon Arcade DE Flyer2.jpg

DE flyer (back)

SG-1000 Version

JP front cover
JP back cover
JP cart

Atari 2600 Version

US Coleco front cover
US Coleco back cover
US Coleco cart
EU CBS cart
DE CBS cart
UK CBS cart
CA Coleco front cover
CA Coleco back cover
CA Coleco cart 1
CA Coleco cart 2
BR Tron cart
BR Intellivision cart
BR Dynacom cart
BR Dynacom cart (reverse)

Atari 5200 Version

US front cover
US back cover
US cart

Atari 8-bit Family Version

US Datasoft cassette front cover
US Datasoft cassette back cover
US alternative Datasoft cassette front cover
US alternative Datasoft cassette back cover
US Datasoft cassette
US cart
UK Datasoft front cover
UK Datasoft back cover

Colecovision Version

Zaxxon Colecovision US Cart.jpg

US cart
Zaxxon Colecovision FR Box.jpg

FR front cover
Zaxxon Colecovision FR Box Back.jpg

FR back cover
Zaxxon Colecovision FR CBS Cart.jpg

FR CBS cart

Commodore 64 Version

EU cover

Intellivision Version

US cart
UK CBS cart

MSX Version

JP cover

ZX Spectrum Version

EU cover

Games in the Zaxxon Series
Zaxxon (1981) (home computers) \| Super Zaxxon (1982) \| Zaxxon Super Game (1984) \| Zaxxon 3D (1987) \| Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 (1995) \| Zaxxon Escape (2012)
Others
Zaxxon (LCD) (1982) \| FL Zaxxon (1982) \| Zaxxon (tabletop) (1982) \| Zaxxon (board game) (1982)
Zaxxon related media
	The Official How to Win at Zaxxon (1982)