Colony 7

In 1981 the arcades were competing over who could best handle the defence of a fixed point. Missile Command opened the route; Taito's Colony 7 followed it in its own way, putting the player in charge of a base at the bottom of the screen against everything descending from above.

The difference from a standard shooter lies in the player's role. There is no advance, only a position to hold. Enemies arrive in waves, each denser than the last, and anything that gets through subtracts from the very thing you are protecting. The game has no victory state in the usual sense — only a postponement of defeat, which was the ideal arrangement for a coin-op. Playing well means playing longer, not playing forever.

Colony 7 uses a side view and supports more than one player, which in 1981 generally meant taking turns. A space colony as a setting fits the era's science-fiction dominance: after Space Invaders and Asteroids, almost every new cabinet was set among the stars.

Taito was among the strongest Japanese companies in the field at the time, with Space Invaders — the game that defined the industry — already behind it. Colony 7 comes from its lesser-known output; it never entered the general consciousness, but as a record of what an arcade defence game looked like at the start of the eighties it works very well.

MAME emulation is the only realistic way to reach titles like this now, since original boards are collector territory.

On OldGame.cz, Colony 7 runs straight in the browser. It will hold you for a few minutes, but they are dense minutes.