Title: Tron

Release Date: 1982

Developer: Bally Midway

Class: Wide Release

Genre: Sci-Fi

Maximum number of players: 1

Number of simultaneous players: 2

Game Controls:

• Joystick: 8-Way
• Total Buttons: 1
• Actions:
  Fire
  Throttle

Overview:

Tron is a 1- or 2-player game set inside the 'Tron' computer, and is based on the ground-breaking Disney movie of the same name.

Tron consists of twenty-two stages - or 'phases' - of play. Each phase consists of four separate games called "domains", all of which must be completed before moving on to the next phase. Players can determine the order in which each of the four domains is attempted, but the domain position is random and is only revealed once that domain has been chosen.

Facts & Trivia:

When Bally/Midway signed a deal to create a Tron video game, they were very pressed for time and needed a game quickly. They decided to let all 3 of their design teams (their in-house team, Dave Nutting Associates, and Arcade Engineering) take a crack at a prototype. The Dave Nutting Associates team (led by Dave Armstrong) proposed a 3-D color vector game that was deemed too complex and expensive, thought it was later developed into a prototype called "Earth, Friend, Mission". The internal team eventually won the right to produce the game. The initial design document called for 6 different mini-games :
1) Rings (a light-disk duel between Tron and Sark).
2) Paranoia (in which the player builds a bridge of spiders to reach an island).
3) Tank Pursuit
4) Space Spores
5) I/O Tower (the player tries to reach an energy socket while avoiding electrifying blue warriors)
6) Light Cycles.

Fearing that they would never get the game out in time, the Rings game was made into a separate game and the Paranoia and I/O Tower game was dropped (though the MCP Cone sequence was later added). At one point the film included deadly spores that were included in the game's Grid Bug sequence, but when they were removed from the movie, they had to be removed from the game as well.

To promote the game, Bally/Midway and Alladin's Castle sponsored a seven-week-long tournament at over 400 locations throughout the country, as well as a celebrity tournament.

For more facts and trivia check out www.arcade-history.com and www.arcade-museum.com

Game Ports:

Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2004, "Tron 2.0 - Killer App")
Microsoft XBOX 360 (2008, Xbox Live Arcade)

Tandy Color Computer (1983, "Kron")
Oric I (1984, "Light Cycle")
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1984, "Light Cycle")

LCD handheld game (1982) released by Tomy : cool game, the entire case is made of a smoked clear plastic so you can see the inside of the game (and it has some large, simulated circuitry in the back, to make it look even cooler...)

Tips & Tricks / More info:

When you start the game, you will have a cursor in the middle of a computer-looking grid. You have 8 seconds to go one of 4 directions on that grid. If you don't, you will be randomly sent in a direction. Once you have completed an area, you can no longer go to that area until you get to the next level. The areas are randomized on this computer grid so you won't know what you will get next. Below are the four areas and strategies to get through them.

* I/O TOWER : This is one of the easier areas to get through. It just involves a lot of shooting.
- Quickly establish where the Grid Bugs are. That way you can quickly aim to clear out a path if necessary.
- The game simulation sailor comes out at random times and drops the Bit off. Do everything you can to get to it for a free 5,000 points.
- Work your way to one of the exits and 'camp out'. Just use the spinner to aim high and low to take care of the Grid Bugs. Once the timer hits 100, go ahead and exit the screen.
- It is possible to get over 10,000 points in this area alone (5,000 for the Bit and over 5,000 for Grid Bugs killed).
- On the earlier levels, try to take out all of the Grid Bugs for the 1,000 point bonus.

* LIGHT CYCLES : This is one of the harder areas until you learn the patterns. Then it will become a breeze.
- The arena for this game is a 9 x 9 grid. Use the grid lines to gauge distances and to also know where the turns are.
- Hitting the wall, your light trail, or an enemy light trail will end your cycling career very quickly.
- Depending on the machine set up, you will need to identify different patterns and make the appropriate adjustments to your strategy. Make sure you are staying at full speed until the enemy light cycles are trapped.
- Usually you can adjust when you see enemy cycles coming after you. A lot of times they will follow another cycle into the wall or a light trail. The enemy cycles become much quicker after level 10.
- If the three light cycles are coming straight down, go right and up around them. Then do a rectangle pattern leaving an opening to the right side to allow the enemy cycles to crash against the wall.
- Use the above pattern if the middle or right cycles go straight (the other ones will veer around before they head down).
- For any other occasion, it's best to go left and make a box that way. Again, the enemy cycles will destroy themselves before you get into trouble.

For more tips and tricks check out www.arcade-history.com and www.arcade-museum.com