3-D Genesis

How to play 3-D Genesis online

• Move the scorpion around the cube: arrow keys
• Shoot: Space bar
• Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
• Turn the 3-D effect on or off: F2 (the console’s Color/B&W switch)

Gameplay

Your scorpion crawls around the outer edge of a cube drawn in perspective, shooting the spiders that come out of its depths. A spider that reaches the edge may knock a hole in it, and touching a hole or a spider costs a life. Shoot enough spiders to move on to the next, harder wave, eight in all.

A deadly “rail snail” also travels the edge. Every so often it turns around, and running over it at that moment gives you 10 points, a higher multiplier, one-time protection from the snail and the chance to repair one hole.

The game was made for red/blue 3-D glasses and flickers between red and blue pictures, which is hard to play without them. Press F2 to switch the 3-D effect off for a steady picture that works fine without glasses.

Why 3-D Genesis was never released

According to AtariProtos, 3-D Genesis began as a port of an unreleased 1983 arcade game by the little-known Design Lab, and Datasoft later released home computer versions. Amiga, which sold Atari accessories and games to fund its home computer, planned it first for its Power Module add-on and then for the first Power Play Arcade cartridge, with 3-D Ghost Attack and 3-D Havoc. Short of money, Amiga dropped games to focus on its computer.

Video Soft was run by Jerry Lawson, who had led the team behind the Fairchild Channel F. In December 2010, Scott Stilphen of Digital Press released 3-D Genesis and five other lost Video Soft games in runs of 100 cartridges, with Lawson’s permission.