Phoenix (1980 video game)
Phoenix is an video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The game is a fixed-screen shooter where the player controls a space ship, and must shoot at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the enemies.
| Phoenix | |
|---|---|
Arcade flyer for Phoenix | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Atari 2600 |
| Release | December 1980
|
| Genre(s) | Fixed-screen shooter |
| Mode(s) | 1-2 players alternating |
Following the game's release in Europe and Japanese arcades in 1980, Phoenix was distributed in the United States by Centuri, where it helped make the company turn a profit, where their previous year was a loss. Atari contracted the rights to develop a home port of Phoenix for the Atari 2600 and sued Imagic for their game Demon Attack which they felt was too similar to Phoenix.
Phoenix received positive reviews from video game publications such as Electronic Games, Electronic Fun with Computers and Games, and The Video Game Update. Phoenix was one of the first shooter games to feature a boss battle, an element that would become common for the genre.