Space Fever
Space Fever[lower-alpha 1] is a 1979 arcade game by Nintendo R&D1. Some sources[2] claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Space Fever. It was released in both monochrome and color versions. The gameplay is similar to Space Invaders, which had been released by Taito in 1978. It was distributed by Far East Video.
| Space Fever | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Nintendo  |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Fixed shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
Similar to the gameplay of Space Invaders, Space Fever stars alien invaders who are attacking Earth. The player must shoot them out of the sky before they land while avoiding each projectile shot by them. The alien craft are arranged in rows and they slowly move left and right across the screen. When the row reaches the edge, the ships drop down a row and move in the opposite direction.
Unlike Space Invaders with its single mode for 1- or 2-player games, Space Fever has three different game modes:
- Game-A: There are two horizontally-arranged blocks of aliens that move in opposite directions to, and bounce off each other.
- Game-B: The aliens move as one "block", but they initially only appear as a single row, with fresh rows gradually being added above the first as it moves down the screen; as it is essentially a single, never-ending level, the shelter blocks are not replenished with each new wave as per games A and C.
- Game-C: Functionally identical to Space Invaders, where the aliens move as a single block in the same direction.
As players shoot more enemies, the speed of them will increase, as will the number of their projectiles. Players have four shelter blocks above them that absorb the enemy shots until they are worn through, and being hit by an enemy shot will cost players a life. Players have three lives and once they lose all of them, the game is over. Sometimes a UFO will fly along the top of the screen and can be hit for a random amount of Bonus points.
Legacy
A special version of Space Fever called SF-Hisplitter[lower-alpha 2] was released the same year and features aliens that are double the width of the standard variety, which can either be destroyed completely or split into two smaller aliens depending on where they are shot. This version is in color, and the shelter blocks are visually distinct from the monochrome version.
A sequel to Space Fever, titled Space Fever II,[lower-alpha 3] is a minigame in the Game Boy Camera cartridge. The game also acts as a menu for selecting the other built-in minigames. It deviates from the Space Invaders formula, featuring instead smaller waves of individual aliens and bosses based on faces of Nintendo staff as well as the "game face" photo taken by the player.
References
- McFerran, Damien (2018-02-26). "Feature: Shining A Light On Ikegami Tsushinki, The Company That Developed Donkey Kong". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
- It started from Pong (それは『ポン』から始まった : アーケードTVゲームの成り立ち, sore wa pon kara hajimatta: ākēdo terebi gēmu no naritachi), Masumi Akagi (赤木真澄, Akagi Masumi), Amusement Tsūshinsha (アミューズメント通信社, Amyūzumento Tsūshinsha), 2005, ISBN 4-9902512-0-2.
External links
- Space Fever at the Killer List of Videogames (black & white version)
- Space Fever at the Killer List of Videogames (color version)