Cinematronics Games - LaunchBox Games Database

Cinematronics

3D Pinball for Windows: Space Cadet

Windows - Released - August 24, 1995

3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet is a version of the Space Cadet table bundled with Microsoft Windows. It was originally packaged with Microsoft Plus! 95 and later included in Windows NT 4.0, Windows ME, Windows 2000, the 32-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The Windows 98 installation CD has instructions on installing Pinball 3D on this version of Windows which are partly wrong; Microsoft later issued an updated support article.[1] Windows XP was the last client release of Windows to include this game.[2] The look and feel of Full Tilt! Pinball and 3D Pinball are similar, with a few exceptions: The latter contains only the Space Cadet table and only supports 640×480 resolution, while the former supports three different resolutions up to 1024×768. The image on the side is a two-dimensional image as opposed to pre-rendered 3D. The words Maxis and Cinematronics have been changed from the yellow to a dark red, making them harder to see. It sports a splash screen that merely says 3D Pinball and shows a small pinball graphic with faded edges. Music is not enabled by default in 3D Pinball. It has fewer soundtracks that are inspired by the original game. There are only a few minor differences between the gameplay of the two versions. The completion of a mission in the Maxis version results in a replay (actually a ball save rather than a special) being awarded. In addition, hitting a wormhole that has the same color light activates the multi-ball round. This is not the case in 3D Pinball: Completing a mission merely awards bonus points and hitting a wormhole in the above circumstances awards a replay. Another difference is about the three yellow lights above the bumpers (both in the launch ramp and in the upper table zone): In 3D Pinball these are turned back off if the ball passes on them while they are on. This is not the case in the original game, where they just remain activated. Finally, in the Windows version, the fuel lasts longer.

Alley Master

Arcade - Released - 1986

Alley Master is a tenpin bowling arcade game released by Cinematronics in 1986. It was called 'Up your Alley' during development.

Armor Attack

Arcade - Released - March 4, 1980

The game offers a bird's eye view of a war-torn city, the jeep you are driving, and the tanks and helicopters you are trying to destroy. It uses a black and white vector monitor and a color overlay. The player controls a jeep and must destroy the many tanks and helicopters that attack them in a maze-like cityscape. The jeep is armed with a rocket launcher that fires straight forward; the player can have two rockets on-screen at the time. The driving is generally similar to the well-known Combat for the Atari 2600. Tanks periodically spawn from different locations on the edge of the screen and drive towards the player. The tanks always travel along horizontal or vertical lines, unlike the freely moving jeep. Tank turrets move to track the player, allowing them to shoot in any direction. Tanks normally take two hits to kill, and the player can have only two rockets on the screen at a time. The helicopter spawns from any point, and approaches the player in looping paths, flying over the jeep and periodically firing. If hit, the helicopter spirals in.

Barrier

Arcade - Released - August 1, 1979

Barrier was produced by Vectorbeam in 1978. Barrier is a maze arcade game using vector graphics released by Vectorbeam in 1979. In this very basic game, players move a small triangle around on the grid, while attempting to avoid the diamonds that are also moving around on the grid. Reaching the end of the grid teleports the player back to the front of the grid to gain points. The game is played on a 3x9 grid that is displayed at angle to make it appear to be in 3-D. The game was sold to Vectorbeam by Cinematronics.

Boxing Bugs

Arcade - Released - 1981

In the center of the screen is a player-controlled rotating cannon enclosed within an octagon. Outside the octagon are bugs which grab bombs and place them next to the octagon. The player needs to shoot the bugs and bombs with either the boxing glove or the cannon.

Cerberus

Arcade - Released - 1985

The player controls a planetary salvage ship high above a planet. He/she must capture as many pods as possible before the time runs out or alien ravagers take the pods for themselves.

Cosmic Chasm

Arcade - Released - 1983

In Cosmic Chasm, the player's mission is to penetrate an alien planet underground maze and destroy the planet's power structure in the central cavern. It can be played by one or two players taking turns. The maze consists of several caverns connected by tunnels. The player is shown an overview map before entering each cavern. They have to choose the shortest route towards the centre. Each cavern contains several drones that should be destroyed. Exits to caverns deeper in the system are blocked and must be opened with a drill first. In the middle of each cavern is a trap that slowly expands, the player must avoid touching it at all costs. The further the player penetrates into the system, the faster the drones are moving. After placing the bomb in the centre cavern, the player has 15 seconds to escape the maze, preferably using the way they came in. The game uses three buttons: one for thrust, one for a shield to defend against the drones and one for firing. Points are awarded for destroying the central structure, successfully escaping and drilling through walls. The game was the first game that originated on a home console as it was originally made by GCE for it's Vectrex console.

Danger Zone

Arcade - Released - 1986

Danger Zone was produced by Cinematronics in 1986. A war combat game that is set in a desert. Helicopters, fighters and bombers enter the area swooping down over the mountains. Watch your radar screen and protect your base.

Embargo

Arcade - July 1, 1977

Embargo is a one to four player blocking genre game. Each player must deposit a coin. There is a stylized map of Cuba (with a canal through the center) in the middle of the screen. There are four boats, one in each corner of the screen. If there were less than four players then the computer played the remainder. As the boats sail out they leave a continuous trail of mines behind. The players can control the direction and, with a single button, stop two mines from being laid in every twelve. Each time a boat hits another boat, a mine, the screen edge or Cuba, it explodes and the surviving boats each get one point. This continues until zero or one boat is left. (If two boats collide they both blow up.) I believe there were four rounds per game. The strategy was to block off as much open water as you could while leaving a hole in your line of mines so you could double back and duck through it.

Freeze (Cinematronics)

Arcade - Released - 1984

Freeze was produced by Cinematronics in 1984. The player plays the part of an astronaut who must go on a dangerous mission deep beneath the surface of a frozen planet. Inside, he must capture enough energy to keep jetpack in operation even as he destroys monsters.

Full Tilt! Pinball

Apple Mac OS - Released - 1996

Full Tilt! Pinball is the first pinball simulation game developed by Cinematronics, LLC. The game includes three boards: Dragon’s Keep - Medieval Fantasy theme; Skulduggery - Pirate theme; Space Cadet - Space ship commander theme. Each board features the usual amount of bumpers, targets, ramps, etc. as well as a big payoff for the successful completion of each table, such as slaying a dragon in Dragon's Keep, or creating a black hole in Space Cadet. Different sounds and music are incorporated for the individual tables. The games are played using keyboard keys and include being able to nudge the tables. Being too forceful with a nudge will result in a tilt and end that turn.

Full Tilt! Pinball

Windows - Released - October 31, 1995

Mayhem 2002

Arcade - Released - 1985

Mayhem 2002 is a sports game that is rather like a combination of roller derby and soccer with four goals was produced by Cinematronics in 1985. A ball is entered into play and you must get the ball into one of the four designated goals the one that is lit up and flashing. Your oponent is trying to do the same. You can elbow your oponent to make them lose the ball then take the ball yourself and either throw it into the goal or run right up to the goal and put it in. Points are awarded for each goal that is made.

RedLine Racer

Arcade - Released - 1987

Redline Racer was produced by Cinematronics in 1986. A top-down racing game similar to Atari's Sprint series.

Rip Off

Arcade - April 1, 1980

Rip-Off is a vector shoot 'em up released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. It is the first shoot 'em up arcade game to feature cooperative gameplay and the first game to exhibit "flocking" behavior. The objective is to prevent computer-controlled enemies from stealing eight canisters set in the center of the screen. One or two players control tank-like vehicles while game-controlled "pirate" tanks rush onto the field and attempt to drag the canisters off the edge of the screen. Enemies can be defeated by shooting or colliding with them. The game speed and difficulty increase with each successive wave until all the canisters have been taken ("ripped off").

Rip Off

GCE Vectrex - Released - June 1, 1983

Beware of scavenging pirates trying to steal your precious fuel cells! The more pirates you destroy, the faster their successors become. Guard your tanks carefully...you are always outnumbered!

Solar Quest

GCE Vectrex - Released - July 1, 1983

How may types of alien vessels will you be able to destroy? Seven different types are after you. You must destroy them and then attempt to rescue survivors before they float into the sun. Don't get your ship to close to the sun...it's high temperatures can destroy you.

Solar Quest

Arcade - Released - 1981

Solar Quest was produced by Cinematronics in 1981. In Solar Quest the player has to defend their star against incoming waves of enemy ships. Up to two players can play, taking turns. The player controls their ship from a top-down view. It is possible to rotate the ship 360° and exit/enter the screen at opposite edges. To defend themselves, players are equipped with rockets and nukes. Nukes are only available in limited supply. After firing a nuke, it can be detonated with a second push of the button, destroying a larger amount of enemies in its vicinity. Pressing the first button on the pad warps the player to a random position on the screen. After destroying an enemy ship, its survivor will float towards the sun. The survivor can either be shot or collected with the ship by flying through them. Scoring depends on the type of alien ship. Later waves bring more points when destroyed. The player can lose a life by crashing into an enemy ship or getting too close to the sun. The game was ported by Milton Bradley to it's Vectrex console in 1983.

Space Ship

Arcade - Released - 1978

Space Ship was produced by Sega in 1978. A 1 or 2 player outer space battle game where two space ships battle to destroy each other. This is basically the same game as Space War. Sega purchased the rights to the game from Cinematronics and re-named it.

Space Wars

Arcade - Released - October 1, 1977

Space Wars is an action game where two space ships battle each other. The game control is similar to Asteroids: you move by thrusting and rotating your ship left or right, you can fire in the direction you're facing, or enter hyperspace to randomly relocate your ship on the screen. If you can successfully destroy your opponent, a point is earned and the first player to reach 10 points wins the game. Besides the two ships, other obstacles are on the screen: a meteorite floats about randomly and in the center of the screen is a sun, both of which can destroy your ship. Two players can battle each other, or one player can battle the computer and several skill levels are available.

Space Wars

Commodore CDTV - 1991

Space Wars is a 1977 vector graphics arcade game based on the 1962 PDP-1 program Spacewar!. It was ported to the Vectrex in 1982.

Star Castle

Arcade - Released - September 1, 1980

You control a ship that fires at a cannon surrounded by three oppositely rotating energy rings of twelve segments each. When a clear line of fire is open, the cannon fires back at your ship with a big "fuzzball". Three sparks start off on the rings, but eventually fly loose and chase the player's ship. In 1981, Zaccaria licensed a clone of Star Castle and released as Space Fortress. Century Electronics also released an arcade title in 1981 as Space Fortress, but it is unrelated to Zaccaria's Star Castle clone.

Star Castle

GCE Vectrex - Released - November 1, 1983

You and other experienced intergalactic voyagers have heard about and shared the legend of Star Castle -- a mysterious fortress in a far away galaxy filled with incredible niches and surrounded by revolving walls of shimmering solid gold. Yet no one, until now, has ever actually seen the Castle -- or lived to tell about it!

StarHawk

GCE Vectrex - Released - July 1, 1983

Fasten your seatbelt...you're the pilot defending the sovereignty of your planet. Don't blink - you might miss one of the alien vessels.

Starhawk

Arcade - Released - March 1, 1979

Starhawk was produced by Cinematronics in 1977. You fly your ship above a trench, from a first-person perspective, shooting other ships. A timed game where the player moves a cross hairs around the screen to blast enemy spaceships. The skill level settings affect how quickly the cross hairs move in response to the joystick input. As the game progresses, the speed of the enemy craft increases. If one particular enemy ship is not destroyed quickly enough, it will zap 800 points off of the player's score (the enemy itself is worth 800 points). The game also got ported to the Vectrex in 1982.

Sundance

Arcade - October 1, 1979

The object in Sundance was to catch little suns that bounced back and forth between a pair of grids, which move closer and closer together as the game goes on. The vector game PCB that Sundance ran on was the original Rosenthal design that "Space Wars" used, except there was a lot of cut-and-jumpering done to allow for the varying degrees of intensity that the vectors could show. Hence, the game was quite fragile and none of the machines lasted very long. Sundance had grids in space years before "Tempest". Skelly felt the game lacked the anxiety element needed in a good game and begged Cinematronics not to release it. Cinematronics tried to make about 1000 of them, but the production fallout rate was around 50%. The problem was the 23'' CRT which was manufactured by an outside vendor. The carbon coating sprayed onto the inside of the tube was defective, and would shake loose and settle around the neck if the game was left in certain positions. When the game was powered up after shipping to the operators, the CRT would instantly burn up from arcing inside the tube. As a result, most Sundance machines suffered a quick death, and were likely destroyed or sent out to pasture in an operators back room. Sundance came in the same basic cabinet as the more common "Rip Off" and "Tailgunner". It featured flame themed sideart, and also had flames on the monitor bezel and around the coin door. The monitor bezel was orange, in order to give the game a bit of color. Most of these cabinets were instantly scrapped, as game conversions weren't really big in 1979, and a cabinet with a bad monitor isn't very good for a conversion anyhow.

World Series: The Season

Arcade - Released - 1985

World Series - The Season was produced by Cinematronics in 1985. The best baseball game of the era, World Series - The Season allowed one player versus the computer or two players versus each other. The game features excellent sound and graphics, spring-loaded joysticks for batting and pitching and extra base and go back buttons. High score lists the best batting average and ERA. Several features that one would expect to find in a baseball game are not available: Base stealing (and all that goes with base stealing, such as pickoffs, balks, etc.), wild pitches/passed balls, fielding errors, hit batsmen, and bunting. With practice, games with 10+ home runs will be common.

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