Zaxxon was an arcade pseudo 3D scrolling shooter. Technically, a third person isometric view, scrolling horizontally still made of sprites. It was revolutionary at the time; and I personally prefer the original arcade to any other port. Gameplay is simple, except for determining altitude. You start by maneuvering a spaceship; that looks like a space shuttle; thru a flat asteroid base in outer space, blasting everything in sight. The base has defenses, including walls, turrets, lasers, and missiles. However every action; specially shooting; consumes some fuel, so it's essential to replenish it by (ironically) shooting fuel tanks that lay around on the base. Once you clear the base you switch into full empty space combat mode, and start to dogfight other spaceships. Finally you fight a big slow-moving robot type boss. Levels are made of repeating said elements over again, but with increase difficulty. As already stated; the main problem was controlling the ship with precision. Since it could move in simulated 3D space, it was hard to gather it's precise height location. Even with the aid of a shadow and an altimeter. Bottomline, is that it was a nice, simple experiment that turned to be a big success and help established Sega as a big game developing company.
