How to play Pleiades online
- Move your ship: arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (Reset)
- Choose a game (1–4): F11 (Select)
- Infinite lives: F4, Player 1 difficulty switch in position B
- Pause: F2 (the TV type switch works as a pause button)
Gameplay
The 2600 version keeps three of the arcade’s four stages. First you shoot down squadrons of alien attackers. Next you battle a mothership while bird-like creatures swoop at you. Last, you use thrusters to steer through a crowded “parking lot” of spacecraft to a warp exit, grabbing flags for bonus points if you dare. The arcade’s space-vulture stage is missing, probably for lack of cartridge space. Game 1 plays the stages in order; games 2 to 4 each repeat a single stage for practice.
Why it was never released
UA Limited, which also programmed the games for the Emerson Arcadia 2001 console, decided after the 1983 video game crash not to release any of its 2600 games. Pleiades is one of three known UA Limited 2600 games. AtariAge later produced it as a boxed cartridge.
