Arcade Video game published 45 years ago:

Star Destroyer Bosconian (c) 1981 Namco.

Bosconian is a multi-directional shoot-em-up set in space, in which the player pilots a small craft called the 'Star Fighter' and must destroy waves of green space stations that form part of a huge enemy fleet. Each station consists of six cannons arranged in a hexagon, surrounding a central core. To destroy a station, the player must either destroy all six cannons or shoot the core. The core can only be reached by precisely firing through a single, narrow channel that leads directly to it. In later rounds, the core is more heavily defended, with both a rotating shield and missiles. All enemy stations must be destroyed to progress to the next round.

Players must also avoid or destroy asteroids, mines, enemy missiles and fighter ships. The space stations will also occasionally launch squadrons of ships that attack in formation. Destroying the leader of a formation causes all remaining enemies to disperse but destroying all enemies in a formation scores extra bonus points.

A spy ship will often appear and if this is not destroyed quickly, the enemy alert level will change to red, and the alien ships will attack the player with much greater aggression and speed. The spy ships can be identified by their yellow and green coloring.

The game's three alert levels are: * GREEN: No enemies are within view. * YELLOW: A small number of enemies are present. * RED: The enemy are aware of the player and will attack aggressively and at speed.

Player layout in our catalog: 2P alt.

If you are exploring by feel rather than by title, jump from the tags above into the matching genre rooms, or return to the Arcade hall for the full wall.

Open Play on this page to start Bosconian - Star Destroyer (new version). Keyboard, USB/Bluetooth pads, and the on-screen touch gamepad all work inside the emulator bar. Save states and fullscreen live on that same bar so you can pause mid-session and resume later.

Player layout on this cabinet: 2P alt.

Genre tags on Classic Arcade Games: Shooter, Arcade.