Scramble (video game)
Scramble (video game)
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Scramble (video game)

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Scramble (video game)

Scramble is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for arcades. It was distributed by Leijac for manufacture in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels, and it established the foundation for a new genre.

It was Konami's first major worldwide hit. In the United States, it sold 15,136 arcade cabinets within five months and became Stern's second best-selling game. Scramble was not ported to any major contemporary consoles or computers, but there were releases for the Tomy Tutor and Vectrex as well as dedicated tabletop/handheld versions. Unauthorized clones for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 use the same name as the original.

Scramble's sequel, the more difficult Super Cobra, was released the same month in 1981. Gradius (1985) was originally intended to be a follow-up to Scramble.

The player controls a futuristic aircraft, referred to in the game as a jet, and has to guide it across scrolling terrain, battling obstacles along the way. The jet is armed with a forward-firing weapon and bombs; each weapon has its own button. The player must avoid colliding with the terrain and other enemies while simultaneously maintaining its limited fuel supply, which diminishes over time. More fuel can be acquired by destroying fuel tanks in the game.

The game is divided into six sections, each with a different style of terrain and various obstacles. There is no intermission between each section; the game seamlessly scrolls into the new terrain. Points are awarded based on the duration of survival, as well as for destroying enemies and fuel tanks. In the final section, the player must destroy a "base". Once this objective is achieved, a flag indicating a completed mission is displayed at the bottom right of the screen. The game then repeats, returning to the first section with a slight increase in difficulty, via faster fuel depletion.

The player is awarded an extra jet for scoring 10,000 points, and none more thereafter. Running out of fuel or colliding with any object or terrain destroys the jet. Once the final jet is lost, the game is over.

The United States Court of Appeal states the following regarding the game's development and release:

In January 1981 at a London trade exhibit Stern became aware of Scramble, an electronic video game developed in late 1980 by a Japanese corporation, Konami Industry Co., Ltd. The audiovisual display constituting what Stern alleges is the copyrightable work was first published in Japan on January 8, 1981. Stern secured an exclusive sub-license to distribute the Scramble game in North and South America from Konami's exclusive licensee, and began selling the game in the United States on March 17, 1981.

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