|
Based on the most
computerized movie of its era, the Tron arcade game puts you in the role of
the eponymous video warrior in a variety of contests. In the Grid Bug
game, you must eliminate as many grid bugs (who are naturally deadly to the
touch) as possible and enter the I/O tower safely before the fast-moving timer hits zero.
The maddening Light Cycle game was the only portion of the Tron
arcade game to directly correspond with the movie. You and your opponent face
off in super-fast Light Cycles, which leave solid walls in their wake. You must
not collide with the computer's Light Cycle, its solid trail, or the walls of
the arena. To win, you must trap the other Light Cycle(s) (in later stages, you
face three opponents) within the solid wake of your own vehicle.
The MCP game was basically a simple version of Breakout, but
the wall of colors rotated counter-clockwise, threatening to trap you if you
made a run for it through a small gap.
The Tank game was a tricky little chase through a twisty maze, where
you try to blast opposing tank(s) three times each...while they need to score
only one hit on your tank to put you out of commission.
(Bally/Midway, 1982)
Okay, granted, so there really isn't much correlation between Tron the
game and Tron the movie, but in
this case, it doesn't matter. The game, with its awesome backlit cabinet
graphics of special effects stills from the movie successfully, stole just
enough of the movie's millieu to be a successful tie-in - and let's not forget
the awesome polyphonic recreation of Wendy Carlos'
cool synthesized score from the movie, which was heard mainly during the
Grid Bug game.
Some people, rather unjustly, think the game was better than the movie. I
disagree. I thought they were both incredibly cool.
Tron, at least in its arcade form, was never translated into home
video game format, although an article in Electronic Games Magazine at the time
indicated that the team of designers and programmers behind the arcade game were
working on a 2600 edition for CBS Video Games (with which Bally/Midway had a
licensing deal). However, Disney opted to retain licensing rights to the
property, and Mattel won the bidding. They produced two rather good Tron cartridges for the
2600, and no fewer than three titles for the Intellivision, including Tron
Maze-a-Tron and Tron Solar
Sailer, in addition to an Intellivision version of the Deadly
Discs game for the 2600. None of these, however, bore any resemblance
whatsoever to the arcade game. The closest home video game fans came to the
arcade version of Tron was Tomy's impressive handheld LED game based on
the movie. The Tomy Tron, packaged in a cool translucent plastic similar
to the same company's Tron action figures,
included a light cycle race, an exchange of deadly discs with Sark, and a level
involving guiding Tron's disc into the MCP's core.
This game is available in theLogBook.com's
Classic Video Game Store.
Rating:
One dollar - go trade it in for more quarters, you'll want to play this
one again.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
|
