Zaxxon brings a new dimension to arcades in January 1982


Something rather extraordinary happened at the start of January 1982. Sega, a company primarily concerned with making electronic amusements, unleashed upon an unsuspecting world a game called Zaxxon. The name, one suspects, was derived from "axonometric projection," a term from the field of technical drawing which sounds impressively scientific but essentially means "drawing things at an angle so they look a bit three-dimensional." This was, at the time, considered terribly clever.

Prior to Zaxxon, arcade games had been content with two dimensions: left, right, up, down, and the occasional jump. Space Invaders marched stoically downward; Pac-Man navigated a flat maze; Defender scrolled horizontally with the enthusiasm of a bored librarian. But Zaxxon, in a fit of what can only be described as graphical overachievement, decided that diagonal would be far more interesting. The result was an isometric view—a sort of three-quarters perspective that gave the illusion of depth without the bother of three actual dimensions. Your spaceship (a rather fetching little fighter craft) appeared to swoop over asteroid fortresses, dodging walls, blasting fuel tanks, and generally causing havoc in a manner that suggested the designers had recently discovered shadows and were keen to show them off.

Your digital opponents included flying tanks that seemed to have escaped from a particularly bad dream involving kitchen appliances and military hardware. Homing missiles that tracked you with the relentless efficiency of a particularly annoying door-to-door salesman. And then, of course, the grand finale: a rather large, inexplicably flying robot known as Zaxxon itself. A robot, one suspects, that spent its non-Zaxxon-ing hours perfecting its monocle-wearing technique and tutting at minor infractions of galactic etiquette.

To stay in the air, you had to blow up fuel tanks to replenish your fuel supply. This is a bit like trying to fill your car’s gas tank by throwing a hand grenade at a nearby gas station, but in the early 80s, we didn’t question these things; we just pulled back on the flight stick and hoped for the best.

Sega was so convinced that the third dimension was the "Next Big Thing" that they spent a staggering $150,000 (or more, depending on which accountant you ask) on a television commercial produced by Paramount Pictures. It was the first time an arcade game had been advertised on TV, proving that if you want people to spend their pocket money, you must first interrupt their favorite sitcom with a thirty-second fever dream of exploding space robots.

Zaxxon was a triumph of technology over common sense. It went on to become one of the top five highest-grossing games of 1982. It taught us that space is three-dimensional, that robots are generally unfriendly, and that if you fly high enough, you can avoid almost anything—except, of course, the inevitable "Game Over" screen.

So, if you happen to find yourself near a vintage game arcade this January, do give Zaxxon a try. Just remember: it’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the fact that you forgot to check your shadow before you hit the wall.

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