Gorf

Gorf is an action game developed by Dave Nutting Associates that was originally released in arcades in 1981 and later ported to numerous home computers and game consoles. In the game players take on the Gorfian Empire in order to save mankind. Gorf is a fixed screen shooter with many similarities to games such as Space Invaders and includes 5 different stages each of which have a unique theme.

In Gorf, players control a ship which can move anywhere in the bottom half of the screen. The goal of the game is to defeat the Gorfian flag ship; each time the flagship is defeated, players increase in rank and the game repeats with a higher level of difficulty. The game is broken up in to 5 unique stages with the flag ship being the final stage. Stages in the game are as follows:

1. Mission 1 - Astro Battles: Mission 1 is a variation of Space Invaders. Rows of Gorfian invaders appear and players need to destroy them all before they land at the bottom of the screen. Across the entire playfield is a shield which blocks the Gorfian attacks. The shield also blocks the player's shots so it will need to be deactivated in order for players to hit the attackers. Similar to the saucer in Space Invaders, various Gorfian fighters cross the screen along the top from time to time and can be shot for bonus points.
2. Mission 2 - Laser Attack: Mission 2 features two formations of enemies each consisting of 5 Gorfian fighters. The lead ship in each formation is capable of firing deadly lasers which need to be dodged. The ships may sometimes break formation and will attempt to crash into the player; once the laser ship is destroyed, the formation is lost and the remaining ships continually dive-bomb the player. The stage is complete once all of the enemies are destroyed.
3. Mission 3 - Galaxians: As the name implies, Mission 3 is essentially a clone of the game Galaxian. Players are up against a Galaxian fleet that is frequently dive-bombing and launching other attacks. All of the Galaxians need to be destroyed in order to continue on to the next stage. This stage is missing in most of the home ports of the game.
4. Mission 4 - Space Warp: In Mission 4 a number of Gorfian fighters are situated at the center of the screen in the distance. One at a time, a fighter breaks formation and flys in a circular pattern while shooting fireballs at the player. The circle the fighter is flying in slowly becomes larger until it leaves the screen. Players can attempt to shoot the fighters for bonus points, or can simply dodge attacks. This stage ends when all of the Gorfian fighters have either been destroyed or have flown off of the screen.
5. Mission 5 - Flag Ship: The final stage of the game; A giant flag ship moves continually back and forth across the top of the screen and is protected by a shield beneath it. The flag ship is constantly shooting fireballs which fall straight through the shield and need to be dodged by the player. Players shots can not penetrate the shield, however shooting it causes a small amount to disentigrate, and eventually provides an opening big enough to shoot through. Shooting the ship has minimal impact; each time it is shot a small portion is chipped away and some debris falls downward (players need to avoid this). To destroy the flag ship, the reactor at the center of the ship needs to be destroyed. This can be done by shooting the vary narrow vent leading to the reactor or by destroying enough of the ship so the reactor is exposed.