Zaxxon

Sega · 1985

Sega's 1982 arcade machine was the first game to draw its world in axonometric projection, and the illusion of depth it produced made it one of the defining cabinets of the decade. The fighter flies over a fortress and then through open space, and the trick of the game is the shadow beneath it: altitude cannot be read from the ship, only from how far the shadow has drifted, and every wall with a gap in it has to be threaded by judging that gap alone.

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Format

Cartridge

Platform

Sega SG-1000 / SC-3000

Product code

G-1038

Publisher

Sega

Year

1985

Hardware

32K ROM + 2K RAM

Loads straight into SE3K, an emulator of the real hardware: Z80 CPU, TMS9918A video and SN76489 sound, with the CRT picture reproduced by the shaders. Nothing to install.

Elsewhere

• The coin-op it came from — Sega/Gremlin, 1982 Museum of the Game
• Original arcade flyer The Arcade Flyer Archive