Cube Quest

Cube Quest is an arcade game by Simutrek Inc. released in 1983. It combines 3-D polygonal graphics with laserdisc-streamed, animated backgrounds (a technique later employed by Namco's Galaxian 3).

The action is viewed in a third-person perspective from behind your ship, and controlled with a trackball. The graphics of the game are a hybrid. The introduction and the psychedelic tunnels are pre-rendered video footage displayed with laserdisc technology. Layered over are the game graphics consisting of 3D filled polygons, one of the first games to have that along with Atari's I, Robot.

As for the plot, a mysterious object at the edge of the possible universe offers its mystical treasure to space adventurers tough enough to withstand its test. But managing your way through the weird caves and many perils of the cube with your space ship is no easy task.

At the start of the game, your ship is placed at a random location on the map screen (a 3D wireframe cube), with the treasure marked at another distant location. The cube has 27 possible destinations, all of them connected with 4 to 6 tunnels in a geometric grid.

You can travel only to adjacent locations, thus progressing towards the treasure one step at a time. Each time you go to another location, you have to fight your way through those weird tunnels. Swarms of foes, manifested in many forms are lurking in the tunnels that get in your way, but can be eliminated by shooting. They also can shoot back.

After every few tunnel stage you are "greeted" with an obstacle course at the end of the tunnel. The treasure is also protected by the guardian entities, which may spawn at certain times, are visible on the map, and they also make their move. When you arrive to a place occupied by a guardian, a boss fight sequence occurs that is similar in fashion to another arcade game called Star Fortress.

In case you fail an obstacle course or a boss fight, you not only lose a life but also get pushed back to your previous location. Another notable feature is that you are allowed rotate the facets of the cube on the map screen once in every turn, in a Rubik's Cube manner.

If you press the rotate button, the facet is rotated into a random direction, which can result in getting closer to or further from the goal. Various point bonuses can be earned, and at every 25,000 points you get an extra ship.