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Radar Scope is an early arcade game made by Nintendo and released in 1980. It is a shooter that can be viewed as a cross between Space Invaders and Galaxian. The game's sounds were high pitched chirps which many gamers found annoying.
Contrary to popular belief, this is not Nintendo's first arcade game. Prior games include Computer Othello (released only in Japan), Sheriff (released in the U.S. by Exidy as "Bandido"), and Space Firebird (released by Sega/Gremlin in the U.S.).
Gameplay
The enemy Gamma Raider ships hover menacingly at the top of the screen, and the player can only hit the bottom row when they are close to the blue mesh "radar". Enemy craft will sweep across the field, shooting green bolts, then retreat back to the group, much like in Galaxian. As more enemy craft are eliminated, the enemies swoop in greater numbers, and sometimes damaged craft descend in a suicidal fashion toward's the player's ship.
Transition to Donkey Kong
The game was popular for a short period in Japan, so the president of newly-founded Nintendo of America, Minoru Arakawa placed a large order for it. By the time the game arrived in New York, months had passed and the 'buzz' surrounding the game had dissipated. American arcade operators were unimpressed, and Nintendo of America was stuck with thousands of unsold units sitting in the warehouse. Arakawa faced financial disaster, so he pleaded with his father-in-law (Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi) to provide him with a new game which he could install as a replacement in the Radarscope arcade machines, which could be repainted to reflect a new game.
Not wanting to divert staff from other projects, Yamauchi assigned an inexperienced designer Shigeru Miyamoto the task of "fixing" the game so it would appeal to gamers. Rather than tweak a poor game, Miyamoto designed an entirely new game, Donkey Kong, using the Radar Scope hardware. Out of the 3000 arcade units originally manufactured, around 2000 were converted to Donkey Kong. The converted units can be spotted by their red cabinets. Conversion kits for the new game were then shipped to North America, where Donkey Kong went on to become a huge success. As a result, Nintendo established itself as a powerhouse in the North American video game market.
External links
Nintendo games | Arcade games | 1980 arcade games | Fixed shooters
"Radar Scope"