Clones & Ports of Konami's Scramble
This article is concerned with clones and ports of Konami's Scramble coinop of 1981 that have appeared on Western home computer game machines.
Scramble-likes are defined by me as shoot 'em ups that feature dual-fire (forward-fire and downward or upward fire) of the craft, a mode of life-support or resource management (fuel, air) and horizontal or vertical auto-scrolling over and/or under terrain obstructions; most notably, caverns.
The object of the original Scramble is to invade Defense Systems and destroy The Base. The aircraft fires lasers and bombs at enemy rockets, UFOs and mystery targets. The aircraft refuels by hitting fuel tanks.
Scramble was the first auto-scroller. As such, Scramble is one of the most famous and replicated of classic shoot 'em ups: scores of early-80s to mid-90s shoot 'em ups look like, move like and play similarly to Scramble. That said, I am only concerned with the early Scramble-likes, not the many different kinds of h- and v-shooters that Scramble-likes evolved into, but you can browse through dozens of such shooters in my above-linked shoot 'em up history.
True Scramble-likes feature some sort of resource management that keeps the player-controlled unit going. Upon depletion of fuel or other resource, a life is lost.
The article is only concerned with Scramble clones and ports that appeared on Western home computer game machines. The clones and ports are presented chronologically.
Scramble games are not the same as Defender or Gradius games. But as with Defender and Gradius games, Scramble games do not have to scroll horizontally to be considered Scramble-likes.
Scramble Clones
Arcade Bomber Scramble TRS-80 1981
Airstrike Atari 8-bits 1982
The English Software Company of the U.K. released Airstrike for the Atari 8-bit 400/800 in 1982. Programmed by Steven A. Riding in machine code, Airstrike requires 16K of RAM.
Penetrator ZX Spectrum 1982
Philip Mitchell of Melbourne House coded Penetrator for the ZX Spectrum in 1982. Supports joystick control. Note also that Penetrator comes with a built-in landscape editor.
Scramble ZX Spectrum 1982
An unknown of Profisoft coded Scramble for the ZX Spectrum in 1982. The scrolling is jerky due to the pattern-filled terrain.
Sea Dragon TRS-80 1982
Bellum Atari 8-bits 1983
Bellum Entertainment of the U.K. released Bellum for the Atari 8-bit 400/800 in 1983. Published by Atari Program Exchange (APX) and programmed by Adam Michael Billyard in machine code, Bellum features six landscapes and 38 screens. Bellum requires 32K of RAM.
Scramble ZX Spectrum 1983
Stephen Townsend of Mikro-Gen Ltd. coded Scramble for the ZX Spectrum in 1983. Does not support joystick control.
Scramble 64 Commodore 64 1983
Developed by Interceptor Software for the Commodore 64 in 1983, Scramble 64 is a clone of Konami's 1981 coinop, Scramble. And while its horizontal scrolling is not smooth the gameplay of the original has been faithfully replicated, and the sound effects are raw and realistic.
Sea Dragon Commodore 64 1984
David Simmons ported Sea Dragon to the C64 in 1984 from the TRS-80 original of 1982. The port is much easier than the original.
Cavern Fighter ZX Spectrum 1984
John Jameson of Bug-Byte Software coded Cavern Fighter for the ZX Spectrum in 1984.
River Raid Commodore 64 1984
Carol Shaw's River Raid of 1982 on the Atari 2600 was ported to C64 in 1984 by Arti Haroutunian of Micro Projects Engineering.
River Raid 1985 IBM PC Booter
Steve Hendricks ported Activision's River Raid of 1982 to IBM PC Booter in 1985. And while River Raid's ho-hum gameplay was most certainly old hat by 1985, the IBM PC version would not have gone by unplayed on such a platform. River Raid is a vertically-scrolling Scramble-like originally coded by Carol Shaw for the Atari VCS/2600.
Chronos ZX Spectrum 1987
The Radical Tubes released Chronos: A Tapestry of Time for ZX Spectrum in 1987. Chronos was programmed by Steven Tatlock, composed by Tim Follin and designed and drawn by John Tatlock.
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