Software:Pleiads
| Pleiads / Pleiades | |
|---|---|
 Marquée of the licensed Centuri version | |
| Developer(s) | Tehkan |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | April 1981[2] |
| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Cabinet | Vertical / Cocktail |
| CPU | 8085A (@2.75 MHz) |
| Sound | TMS 36XX (@0.247 kHz) |
| Display | Raster 208 by 248 pixels 60 Hz 256 colours |
Pleiads (プレアデス) is an arcade game from 1981,[3] produced by Tehkan (now Tecmo) and licensed to Centuri. The name on the cabinet of the Centuri version is Pleiades. The title comes from the mythical Greek Pleiades, the seven daughters of the titan Atlas.
Gameplay
Pleiads is a multi-stage space shoot 'em up in which enemy ships fly at the player in waves in a similar fashion to games like Galaxian and Phoenix. Ships emerge from a mothership at the top of the screen and swoop downwards in a series of patterns which players must anticipate as they shoot the ships and avoid being obliterated by the Martian onslaught. There are four stages in the game. In the first stage the Earth space ship must defend the space station from Martian invaders who have the ability to transform from flying invaders, to walking invaders who build walls across the Earth city; these barriers must be destroyed. At the end of stage one the Earth space ship flies to the top of the screen to prepare to meet stage two. In the second stage the player encounters eight space monsters who must be hit directly on center to be destroyed before moving onto stage three. In this stage invaders emerge form a space ship at the top of the screen and swoop down on the player in sweeping attacks. In the final wave the player has to navigate through parked spaceships to dock on a landing pad as the screen scrolls downwards. Extra points can be gained in this stage by collecting flags as the player moves towards the landing corridor.
Legacy
Pleiades is included in the Tecmo Hit Parade collection for the PlayStation 2 which includes seven classic arcade games from the publisher's past, as well as the eleven game compilation Tecmo Classic Arcade for the Xbox.
Pleiads was featured in the 1983 horror film, Nightmares" in the vignette "Bishop of Battle." Pleiads also made a cameo appearance in the 1984 Coen Brothers film Blood Simple.
Records
Richie Knucklez holds the official Guinness World Record for this game with 279,090 points recorded on June 4, 2011 at the Annual Classic Video Game and Pinball Tournament at Funspot in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.
References
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