Tempest is a 1981 arcade shooter developed by Atari and designed by Dave Theurer. The player controls a claw-shaped spacecraft called the Blaster, navigating it along the near edge of a segmented, three-dimensional surface that is sometimes configured as a tube viewed from one end. Movement is restricted to the outer rim, with the Blaster sliding from lane to lane while firing at enemies advancing from the far end of the playfield. The game was among the first to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology and introduced the "SkillStep" system, which lets players select a starting level and raises the maximum available starting point based on prior performance, functioning as a form of progression carry-over. Official ports were released for the Atari ST, BBC Microcomputer and Acorn Electron by Superior Software in 1985, and for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC by Electric Dreams in 1987.
You control a yellow crab-shaped shooter that travels along the outside rim of a 3-dimensional tunnel, shooting enemies down the alleys of the tunnel while avoiding any coming down the alleys. The tunnel takes on many different forms, and the shooter has a special "superzapper" that enables it to kill all enemies present in the tunnel.
