Cinematronics Games - LaunchBox Games Database

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.

Baseball: The Season II

Arcade - Released - 1987

A baseball arcade game developed by Medo Moreno and published my Cinematronics in 1987. Your team play's against another player or computer for the championship. Stats are recorded and saved if you have what it takes.

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.

Dragon's Lair

Arcade - Released - June 19, 1983

Dragon's Lair: The fantasy adventure where you become a valiant knight, on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. You control the actions of a daring adventurer, finding his way through the castle of a dark wizard, who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. In the mysterious caverns below the castle, your odyssey continues against the awesome forces that oppose your efforts to reach the Dragon's Lair. Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!

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.

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.

Power Play

Arcade - 1985

A two-on-two soccer game where you and a goalie play against another opponent and goalie. The computer controls the goalie and, in a one-player game, the opponent.

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

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!

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").

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 Ace

Arcade - Released - April 29, 1984

Following the successful gameplay of Dragon's Lair, Don Bluth released this second conversion of his Laserdisc games series. You're playing Dexter, a guy fighting the evil madman Borf who has kidnapped your girlfriend Kimberly and is now threatening the world with his dreaded weapon, the "Infanto Ray" which turns adults into small children. The game plays like a comic strip - visuals are similar to many cartoon movies. In each scene you only have to decide which direction of the keyboard has to be hit in order to avoid one of the countless death screens and to advance to the next screen...

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

TailGunner

Arcade - Released - November 1, 1979

Tail Gunner is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Vectorbeam in 1979. The premise of the game is that the player is the tailgunner of a large space ship. Enemy spacecraft attack the vessel in groups of three, and the player must aim a set of crosshairs and shoot the enemies before they slip past the player's cannons. Because of the game's depicted viewpoint, instead of appearing to fly into the starfield, the stars move toward the center of the screen. In addition to shooting down the enemy ships, the player is also given limited use of a shield that can block ships from passing. The game ends when ten ships slip past the player's cannon. The game was sold as Tail Gunner II in a sit down cabinet and its controls consisted of a single metal joystick with fire button integrated to the tip. Tail Gunner's sound card was more complicated than any Cinemaware/Vectorbeam game before it. The cabinet uses the monitor's DAC to translate input from the joystick, so other games cannot necessarily be mounted in a Tail Gunner cabinet.

War of the Worlds

Arcade - 1981

Fire at attacking Martians and avoid Martian laserfire. Kill tripods, etc.

Warrior

Arcade - September 1, 1979

This game consists of a top, or bird's eye view, of two knights fighting around two square pits. The game must have two players. Each player controls both the movement and sword of their knight with a single joystick. The object is to kill the opposing knight by hitting him with your sword or by forcing him to fall into one of the pits.

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.

Zzyzzyxx

Arcade - Released - 1982

Move vertically through the gaps in a field of horizontally-moving bricks, collecting a sufficient amount of gifts to make Lola happy. Avoid contact with Rattifers who chase you and seek to destroy you. Bonus objects allow you to imprison Rattifers inside of bricks. You move the hero character up and down the screen gathering gifts for Lola. There are rows of blocks that move either left or right and you can move your character into an empty spot. There are also enemies that move into the spaces who are trying to catch you. If you press the "Make Brick" button, the space you are in will be filled in with a brick and you will be safe from enemies for a short period of time -- until the next empty space passes by. After you've gathered enough gifts to make Lola happy, she will whistle and you can move to her spot. The game is also known as Brix.