Sega/Gremlin releases the vector graphics arcade game Eliminator, in which one or two players team up (or go against each other) while trying to fire a shot down a narrow opening in a large, round, mobile space station with dangerous armament which is definitely not the Death Star. The two-player version is available as an upgright cabinet; a four-player cocktail table version is also made available. 
The Game: One or two players, using a control knob and a thrust button, pilot their ships around a rectangular arena which is also home to a floating fortress. At the heart of the deadly fortress is a growing Eliminator, which will eventually, when it reaches its full potential, slip its bonds and zip around the arena, destroying everything in sight. The only way to destroy the Eliminator is to force it into the outer wall of the fortress with your lasers. (This also works on your fellow player, or the computer-controlled second player surrogate, as well.) You can also fire a well-placed shot down the launch tube of the fortress and destroy it before the Eliminator can fully form. (Sega/Gremlin, 1981)
Memories: What an exasperating and fun little game this was! With its seemingly Asteroids-inspired control scheme (and its blatantly Star Wars-inspired way of beating the enemy), Eliminator was a real hoot…if you could master the controls.
Whoever made this game obviously had a lot of fun with vector graphics – just watching the text position itself on the screen during the attract mode is mind-bending.
Eliminator was one of the last games released with the name “Gremlin” – a California-based company that Sega’s fledgling American operation had bought to help secure its Stateside foothold – on the game marquee; the very last time that pairing would appear would 
be on the cabinet and marketing material for Zaxxon.
A Phosphor Dot Fossil examined by Earl Green