
Each base has six globe-like cannons arranged in a hexagon around a central core. The number of bases increases with each round.

During each round, several green enemy bases - known as "base stars" - appear, all of which must be destroyed in order to advance to the next round. Throughout the game, the Starfighter stays affixed to the center of the screen as it moves. The player controls the Starfighter, a ship that can move in eight directions and fires both forward and backward simultaneously. The objective of Bosconian is to score as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases. In-game screenshot showing an enemy base being destroyed. The game has subsequently been regarded by critics as influential in the shoot 'em up genre. The game was ported to home computers as Bosconian '87 in 1987, and spawned two sequels: Blast Off in 1989, and Final Blaster in 1990.

Bosconian became the first shoot 'em up game to feature diagonal movement.īosconian was commercially successful in Japan and received positive critical reception, but did not achieve the global commercial success of other shoot 'em up games from the golden age of arcade video games. The goal of the game is to earn as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases using a ship which shoots from both the front and back. In North America, it was manufactured and distributed by Midway Games.

Single-player, multiplayer (alternating turns)īosconian is a multidirectional scrolling shooter arcade game which was developed and released by Namco in Japan in 1981.
