Beamrider is a shooter originally written for the Intellivision in 1983. The game later was ported to the Atari 2600 with a slightly reduced feature set.
Beamrider gameplay
Beamrider is a game set above Earth’s atmosphere, where the objective is to clear 99 sectors of the large alien shield called the Restrictor Shield. Players control the Beamrider ship, equipped with a short-range laser lariat and a limited supply of torpedoes. At the start of each sector, the player has three torpedoes.
To clear a sector, the player must destroy 15 enemy ships. Afterward, a “Sentinel ship” appears, which can be destroyed with a torpedo (if available) for bonus points. Some enemy ships can only be destroyed with torpedoes, while others must be dodged. Occasionally, “Yellow Rejuvenators” appear during a sector, granting the player an extra life if collected. However, shooting a Yellow Rejuvenator transforms it into damaging debris.
Activision offered a Beamrider patch to players who reached Sector 14 with at least 40,000 points and submitted a screenshot as proof of their achievement.
(source: Wikipedia -> Beamrider)