Cabinet Standard Initial release date March 1976 | Genre(s) Military shooter CPU Intel 8080 | |
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Sound Amplified Mono (one channel) Display Horizontal orientation, raster (Black and White with Blue color overlay) Similar Dave Nutting games, Shooter games | ||
Sea Wolf is an arcade game by Midway, originally released in 1976. It was a video game update of an earlier coin-operated electro-mechanical (em) Midway game, Sea Devil, itself based on Sega's 1966 coin-op electro-mechanical arcade submarine simulator Periscope. Midway's video game version was designed by Dave Nutting and eventually sold 10,000 video game arcade cabinets. A color sequel, Sea Wolf II, was released in 1978 that sold another 4,000 units.
Contents
Gameplay
The player looks through a large periscope to aim at ships moving across the virtual sea line at the top of the screen, using a thumb button on the right handle of the scope to fire torpedoes. The periscope swivels to the right and left, providing horizontal motion of a targeting cross-hair. The cabinet features a mixture of video game and older electro-mechanical technology for player feedback. Using back-lit transparencies reflected inside the scope, the number of torpedoes remaining are displayed, as well as a red "RELOAD" light which lights up momentarily when the player has launched five torpedoes. Additionally, when ships are hit on the screen, an explosion "light" is reflected inside the scope. A blue overlay is affixed to the screen to provide a "water color" to the sea. Sounds include a sonar ping and the sound of the PT boat racing across the screen.
Sea Wolf is time-limited, with the player having an opportunity to win bonus time by reaching an operator-set score. The player's score is shown on the bottom half of the screen as well as the high score, one of the first known instances of a high score in a video game. Targets include destroyers, a fast-moving PT boat, and mines floating across the screen that serve as obstructions.
Legacy
Sea Wolf was followed by Sea Wolf II in 1978.
In 2008, Coastal Amusements released a "retro video" redemption game based on the original Sea Wolf, released by Midway in 1976. It is a 3D remake.
Ports
In 1982 Commodore International produced ports of Sea Wolf for the Commodore VIC-20 and then-new Commodore 64 computers, released in cartridge form.
In 1983 Epyx ported Sea Wolf II and another Midway game, Gun Fight, to the Atari 8-bit family, and released them in an "Arcade Classics" compilation.
Highest score
The current world record holder for Sea Wolf is Alan Radue with a score of 11,300 points. The record was set on October 2, 2011 at the Tranquility Base Arcade and verified by Twin Galaxies International on October 9, 2011.