Xenophobe

Arcade Video game published 38 years ago:

Xenophobe (c) 1987 Bally Midway.

A horizontal monitor is split into three sections, one for each of up to three people. Players wander around a space station shooting as many Ridley-Scott-esque aliens as they can before health or time runs out- then it's off to the next space station. There are multiple weapon types, including a duck gun!

- TECHNICAL -

Bally Midway MCR 68k hardware
[No. 0E85]

Main CPU: Motorola 68000 (@ 7.7238 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola 68000 (@ 8 Mhz)
Sound Chips: DAC

Players: 3
Control: 8-way joystick.
Buttons: 3

- TRIVIA -

Xenophobe was released in July 1987.

The word 'Xenophobe' (pronounced 'Zee-no-phobe') is a psychiatric term meaning 'fear of aliens'. Programmer Gary Oglesby contributed this name.

The game earned so much money during first weeks of testing that the programmer was pulled off the game to work on a pinball project.

Xenophobe was a highly original game with a highly original concept. It was a victim of a production scheduling snafu. Due to its production being pushed ahead, a lot of the game's tuning was axed. There are many objects in the game that the player can pick up, but have no use.

Brian Colin & Jeff Nauman originally conceived this game with a tomb-robbing treasure hunting theme, but when programmer Howard Shere was assigned to the project, his love of science fiction prompted the shift to an ALIEN spoof.

Michael Ward holds the official record for this game, on Medium setting, with 2,500,000 points on June 11, 2004.

- STAFF -

Programmer : Howard Shere
Art and graphics : Brian Colin
Sounds and music : Michael Bartlow (Souvenir of Omaha)
Hardware designers and support : Bob Ploussard, True Truong
Mechanical designer : John Kubik
Technical support : Jim Belt, Sue Lohse
Game concept and designers : Brian Colin, Howard Shere
Development : Jeff Nauman, Bob Libbe, Gary Oglesby, Tom Leon, Larry Stalmah, Peter Perry

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
[US] Nintendo NES (dec.1988) "Xenophobe [Model NES-XE]"
[US] Atari 7800 (1989) "Xenophobe [Model CX7858]"
[US] Atari 2600 (1990) "Xenophobe [Model CX26172]"
Sony PlayStation 2 [AU] (2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (oct.11, 2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 [Model MWO-3201W]"
Nintendo GameCube [US] (oct.11, 2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 [Model DOL-GAYE-USA]"
[US] Sony PS2 (oct.11, 2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 [Model SLUS-20997]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (oct.29, 2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2"
[EU] Sony PS2 (oct.29, 2004) "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 [Model SLES-52844]"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [US] (nov.6, 2012) "Midway Arcade Origins"
Sony PlayStation 3 [US] (nov.6, 2012) "Midway Arcade Origins [Model BLUS-31083]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX 360 (nov.15, 2012) "Midway Arcade Origins"
Sony PlayStation 3 [EU] (nov.15, 2012) "Midway Arcade Origins [Model BLES-01768]"

* HANDHELDS:
Atari Lynx [US] (1992) "Xenophobe [Model PA2026]"
[US] Sony PSP (dec.13, 2005) "Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play [Model ULUS-10059]"
[EU] Sony PSP (feb.24, 2006) "Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play [Model ULES-00180]"

* COMPUTERS:
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1987)
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1989)
[US] Commodore C64 [EU] (1989)
[EU] Atari ST (1989)
Commodore Amiga [US] [EU] (1989)
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (feb.17, 2006) "Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition"
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (mar.17, 2006) "Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition" by Zoo Digital Publishing

- CONTRIBUTE -

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