How to play Spacechase online
- Move your Starcruiser: arrow keys (eight directions, within the lower part of the screen)
- Fire missiles: Space bar
- Player 2 (two-player games): T/F/G/H to move, A to fire
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Difficulty: F4 (Player 1) and F9 (Player 2) toggle the difficulty switches
Gameplay
The manual’s story has you leaving Earth for a routine scouting run near the moon, only to run into an alien attack. The raiders come at you from above in formations, and you have three Starcruisers to hold them off. Unlike Space Invaders-style games, where your cannon slides along the bottom edge, your ship can fly up, down and diagonally within the bottom third of the screen. The moon’s surface rotates in the background; it looks good but does not affect play.
The game gets harder on its own. At 10,000 points it moves to Level Two and at 40,000 points to Level Three, with smaller enemy ships and faster missiles. In some variations the aliens also fire heat-seeking missiles that chase your ship, and you can shoot these down for extra points. A new Starcruiser arrives roughly every 10,000 points. In two-player games the players take turns, and each turn lasts until that player loses a ship.
| Target | Standard games | Maximum heat-seeking games |
|---|---|---|
| Alien ship, Level One | 125 | 175 |
| Alien ship, Level Two | 200 | 250 |
| Alien ship, Level Three | 275 | 325 |
| Heat-seeking missile | 100 | 100 |
Variations and switches
The cartridge has 24 variations. They combine one or two players, limited or maximum heat-seeking missiles, three starting difficulty levels, and a daytime or nighttime battle. The difficulty switch sets the speed of your own shots: in the B position they fly faster, which makes the game easier, and the manual suggests starting there.
Tips
- Use the vertical movement. Moving up closes the distance so your shots land sooner; dropping back gives you more time to dodge.
- Shoot the heat-seekers. They follow you, so running rarely works. Turning to face one and firing removes the threat and adds 100 points.
- Get ready for 10,000. The jump to Level Two brings smaller targets and quicker missiles at the same moment you earn your first bonus ship.
- Learn on the B switch. Faster shots make it much easier to clear a formation before it reaches you.
The story behind Spacechase
Apollo tried an unusual promotion for Spacechase: it offered customised, “monogrammed” copies of the game. Fewer than ten were sold, and several went to the press, including Arnie Katz, co-founder of Electronic Games magazine. When the TV show PM Magazine filmed a segment at Apollo, Ed Salvo made a personal copy for the interviewer, Leeza Gibbons, replacing shapes in the explosion graphic with her initials, so her initials appeared whenever her ship blew up. Apollo’s success did not last: the company filed for bankruptcy in November 1982 and closed in late 1983.
Similar games to play next
- Space Cavern – another space shooter from Apollo
- Demon Attack – Imagic’s colourful fixed shooter against waves of flapping demons
- Megamania – Activision’s shooter with strange flying objects in formation
- Phoenix – Atari’s port of the arcade shooter with birds and a mothership