Phoenix (video game)
The "Phoenix" mothership is one of the first video arcade game bosses to be presented as a separate challenge. It was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of Centuri's most successful titles. Gameplay. The player controls a spaceship that moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen, firing upward. Enemies, typically one of two types of birds, appear on the screen above the player's ship, shooting at it and periodically diving towards it in an attempt to crash into it. The ship is equipped with a shield that can be used to zap any  of the alien creatures that attempt to crash into it. The player cannot move while the shield is active and must wait approximately five seconds before using it again. The player starts with three or six lives, depending on the settings. One life is lost whenever the ship is hit by any enemy or projectile while the shield is down. Each level has five separate rounds. The player must complete a round to advance to the next. The game continues with increasing speed and unpredictability of the birdlike creature and phoenix flights. Development and release. "Phoenix" was produced by  a smaller Japanese developer according to Centuri's Joel Hochberg (who later worked for Rare). In Japan, a company called TPN licensed the game to Taito. Another company based in Japan, Hiraoka, licensed the game to Amstar Electronics, based in Phoenix, Arizona. Taito released the game for Japan in December 1980, and then it was released in Europe. Centuri acquired the American arcade license to the game from both Hiraoka and Amstar Electronics, and then Centuri released it for the Americas in January 1981. In North America, Centuri manufactured the upright arcade cabinet while Amstar Electronics manufactured the cocktail arcade  cabinet. Atari later released a port of "Phoenix" for the Atari 2600 in 1982. Hardware. Phoenix was available in both arcade and cocktail cabinets. A DIP switch setting allows the game to be moved between formats. Most Phoenix games are in a standard Centuri woodgrain cabinet, but several other cabinets exist, due to this game being sold by multiple companies at the same time. These use sticker sideart (which covers the upper half of the machine), and glass marquees. The control panel is made up entirely of buttons; no joystick is present in the Centuri version, except for the international  models and some cocktail versions. The monitor in this machine is mounted vertically, and the monitor bezel is relatively unadorned. Phoenix uses a unique wiring harness, which isn't known to be compatible with any other games. Circuitry in the Centuri version: Music. There are two pieces of music featured in the game: Both songs are built directly into the Matsushita MN6221AA Melody IC, as opposed to being programmed into the game's code as is standard in games. In some bootleg versions of the game, which used the namco galaxian Board, House of the rising sun is played at  the start of the game. Bugs. When the player shoots three birdlike enemies in a row very quickly as they fly upwards, the total score is set to a value in the vicinity of 204,000 points. Reception. The arcade game was a commercial success in Japan and Europe, prior to its release in the Americas. It also went on to be a commercial success in North America, where it was one of Centuri's biggest hits. Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz of "Electronic Games" called "Phoenix" "perhaps the finest invasion title ever produced for the 2600!" with praise for its  fantastic graphics, unexcelled play-action and more. "Computer and Video Games" ranked it number one on its list of top ten Atari VCS games in 1983. The game received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Videogame" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. In a retrospective review by Brett Alan Weiss (AllGame) the game was awarded a five out of five rating, referring to it as a "one of the most impressive games the "slide-and-shoot" genre has to offer, bested only by "Galaga" in terms of sheer enjoyment and replayability" and concluded  that "Finely balanced shooting action combined with colorfully animated graphics make Phoenix a true classic among shooters." Legacy. Re-releases. In 2005, "Phoenix" was released on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and Microsoft Windows as part of "Taito Legends" in the US and Europe, and "Taito Memories II Gekan" in Japan. Clones. The Imagic game "Demon Attack" for the Atari 2600 closely resembled "Phoenix" which Atari owned the 2600 rights to. Atari sued Imagic, who settled out of court.