Tempest

Tempest is an arcade game released by Atari Inc. in 1981, developed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It is played on a three-dimensional surface, sometimes shaped like a tube, viewed from one end and divided into a dozen or more segments or lanes. The player controls a claw-shaped spaceship (called a blaster) that crawls along the near edge of the playing field, moving from segment to segment. Tempest was one of the first games to use Atari's Color QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level (a system Atari called "SkillStep"). This feature increases the maximum starting level based on the player's performance in the previous game, essentially allowing the player to continue playing. An official port was released for the Atari ST. An official port with the Atari logo was released in 1985 by Superior Software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, and another in 1987 by Electric Dreams for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Versions for the Atari 2600 and 5200 were in development at Atari, Inc. in 1984, and there are unfinished prototypes for both.