Eliminator was a multi-directional shooter space combat game

Space flight simulator game

A space flight simulator game is a genre of simulation video games that lets players experience space flight. Highly realistic examples lacking any sort of combat include Orbiter and Microsoft Space Simulator...

, created and released by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 of Japan in 1981. This space shooter game, which was similar to the monochrome Star Castle

Star Castle

Star Castle is a 1980 vector arcade game by Cinematronics. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The game was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden. Tim Skelly also created a number of other Cinematronics...

, was notable for its color vector graphics

Vector graphics

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

, and for allowing cooperative as well as competitive multiplayer gameplay. It is also the only four-player vector game ever made.

Gameplay

Players pilot a space ship around the playfield (space) and must destroy alien drones. The ultimate goal is to evade and destroy the Eliminator, a huge asteroid base. The players fire causes any enemy that is struck (with the exception of the Eliminator itself) to rebound and careen off in another direction. With a little skill, shots can propel the enemy into the Eliminator thus destroying them. There is only one way to destroy the Eliminator, fire a cannon blast down the trench into its center. This can be done directly or via a ricochet. Failure to destroy the Eliminator after a preset time causes the center to activate a drone that flies out of the Eliminator to shoot down the player with a destructive energy blast. The playfield becomes enclosed in an invisible barrier that bounces shots and ships off it, thus increasing the chances of death. Once the Eliminator is destroyed, the game restarts with a tougher set of enemies. The four player version allowed four players to simultaneously make attack runs on the Eliminator while trying to evade or destroy various other opponents. In four player mode, players must also dodge other player's ships.

Trivia

• The Four player version of Eliminator was the only 4 player vector game ever made.
• The game is included as an unlockable game in the PSP
  PlayStation Portable
  The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
  
   version of Sega Genesis Collection
  Sega Genesis Collection
  The Sega Mega Drive Collection is a video game compilation for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, compiled and emulated by Digital Eclipse and released in the U.S. in 2006 and Europe and Australia in 2007...
  
  .
• Eliminator was also the name of a Defender clone for the TRS-80
  TRS-80
  TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first units, ordered unseen, were delivered in November 1977, and rolled out to the stores the third week of December. The line won popularity with...
  
  .

External links

• KLOV's entry for Eliminator
• GameArchive's entry for Eliminator (copy at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  )