The goodness that IS Tac-Scan!

[Inky]

Okay, got my 7800 power supply fixed, and popped in Tac-Scan. I had this one waaayyy back in the day, and I didn't remember how hard and FUN this game is!

 

Give it a few whirls, and you'll see what I mean!

[Scooterb23]

Tac-Scan is a great game.

 

I'm even happier now that I found a jitter-free pair of paddles in one of my controller bins

[bjk7382]

Yeah, it is a great game on the console. I like the mame version also.

[NE146]

I like the mame version also.

 

*spits up pepsi*.. Please don't disgrace the arcade game by calling it "the mame version"

[rockman_x_2002]

I like the mame version also.

 

*spits up pepsi*.. Please don't disgrace the arcade game by calling it "the mame version"

 

*spits his Mountain Dew as well* Blasphemy, I tell ye!

[bjk7382]

I have never played the arcade version and all I have played is the emulated version. I am sure there are some sublte emulation differences, especially on my slow computer. So for me there is a difference between the "mame version" and the actual arcade version.

[Lil Elvis]

I just play the game in mame. It is much more hard!

[NovaXpress]

I played the hell out of this machine in the arcades. I was the only one. I never saw anyone else touch it. I was hoping for a 5200 version because the 2600 game, while fun in its own right had almost nothing to do with the origininal.

 

Actually 2600 Pac-Man is a more faithful arcade translation than Tac-Scan. But since so few played or cared about the original, people aren't angry about this one.

[Inky]

I agree that a 5200 version of Tac-Scan would have been great! Personally, I never saw it in the arcades around these parts. It must not have had a huge run.

 

'Tis a shame cuz on MAME it's great.

 

But back to the 2600 version.

 

What a fun, fun game! An overlooked little jewel!

[Csonicgo]

the videogame critic rated it low so I never play it. he's always right.

[Atariboy]

I think a big issue with Tac-Scan hardly ever being seen had more to do with its reliability than its quality as a game.

[NovaXpress]

You mean the arcade hardware was unreliable? I only ever saw one machine in operation in Toledo Ohio and I seriously don't think anyone ever played it but me.

 

2600 Tac-Scan is great in its own right, but don't you think it's so far removed from the original that they might as well have renamed it?

[MegaManFan]

Actually 2600 Pac-Man is a more faithful arcade translation than Tac-Scan.  But since so few played or cared about the original, people aren't angry about this one.

 

So few is right! I've honestly never seen this one in cab form. I should find a MAME source and get a copy to see how different they really are.

[NE146]

I always thought the primary difference with 2600 Tac-Scan was that it didn't have the other 2 stages.

[Inky]

2600 Tac-Scan is great in its own right, but don't you think it's so far removed from the original that they might as well have renamed it?

 

Not really. This Tac-Scan had only 1 stage out of... Two is it (can't remember if hte arcade had 2 or three)?, that the arcade had. Donkey Kong on the 2600 only had half the screens.

 

As far as gameplay goes, the screen the 2600 has plays fairly close to the arcade version (what I've played of it on MAME, anyway).

[NE146]

Not really.  This Tac-Scan had only 1 stage out of...  Two is it (can't remember if hte  arcade had 2 or three)?, that the arcade had.  Donkey Kong on the 2600 only had half the screens.

 

Three... so only 1/3

 

Stage 1 :

Armada Attack

 

The first stage sees the player's squadron at the bottom of the screen against a vertically scrolling starfield. The ships can be rotated up to roughly 30 degrees left or right of vertical, and the stars and enemies change direction accordingly. This also allows the player to aim his shots quite precisely at the oncoming enemies, and to avoid their shots. The player's squadron is attacked by waves of Annihilators which fire small yellow star-shaped bullets. As the stage progresses, these are joined by Stingers which fire a single laser beam, often directly at one of the player's ships. Occasionally, one or two extra fighter ships float down the screen and can be picked up by any available empty slots in the formation.

 

 

Stage 2 :

3-D Armada Attack

 

At the end of the first stage the player's view changes from overhead to an eye-level perspective behind the player's squadron of ships. The change from 2-D to 3-D is accompanied by a great whistling/whooshing sound. The gameplay is essentially the same as the first stage but now the player shoots into the screen at the incoming Stingers and Annihilators. Piloting the ships through the barrage of Annihilator bullets is far trickier than in the previous stage, as is guiding the squadron to catch any extra ships. Although the second stage is visually very impressive (at least as stunning as Tempest), it is not in my opinion as playable as the previous 2-D stage.

 

 

Stage 3 :

Space Warp Tunnel

 

The final stage sees the fleet of ships escaping through the Space Tunnel to the next galaxy. The player must guide the fleet of ships through a tunnel of concentric rings that twist and turn. Any ships that collide with the sides of the tunnel are destroyed. In later rounds the tunnels get longer, tighter and faster. This is arguably the most memorable section of the game, and there were a number of home computer titles that featured remarkably similar gameplay and graphics to the Space Tunnel stage!

[Atariboy]

"You mean the arcade hardware was unreliable?"

 

No firsthand experiance on it, the only Sega vector game I ever played was a Tac-Scan in a Aladdin's Castle around 1990 or so, and it worked. I didn't realize until years later how lucky I probably was to get to experiance that game out in the wild at such a late date.

 

But everything I've ever heard about the hardware of Sega vector XY games make them appear as very unreliable, especially the Electrohome G08 X-Y monitor. Supposedly they have a tendency to catch fire for starters...

 

Here's a nice little resource for Sega vector games where I've got a lot of that information, but I've heard from more places than just this about their reliability as well.

 

http://www.gamearchive.com/Video_Games/Man...s/Sega-Gremlin/

[Csonicgo]

Tac-Scan (Sega 1983) D

9/9/1999

This is a rather annoying paddle-controlled space shooter. You control five ships who move in unison, which gives you some pretty good fire power. To conquer each stage, you need to shoot ten enemies coming down the screen. The enemies drop bombs which gradually take out your ships. At the end of each stage, there is a very easy lunar-lander phase in which replacement ships can be guided back into your formation. When I first started played this game and saw the five ships firing at once, I thought it was the greatest. But after playing twice I was already sick of it. The gameplay is repetitive and mind numbing. Your ships can only fire at three angles, which defeats the purpose of using the precise paddle controllers. The action moves so fast in the later stages that luck plays a bigger part than skill. You just fire like a madman. There are no level or difficulty controls. This one may give you a headache.

 

doesn't sound fun.

[Scooterb23]

Don't base your opinion on that one review...especially since you have a dozen ofus ready to dispute that one review...

[Atariboy]

I don't remember how many times I played it, but I thought it was pretty fun myself.

[Csonicgo]

well, he needs to RE-review the game. Maybe he'll get a better opinion about it.

 

just like the guy who rated yar's revenge 10%.

[gamerz]

I loved tac-scan. After I closed up Alladins Castle for the night I stayed for hours playing it.

[Mindfield]

I used to play Tac-Scan back in the day and loved it. Sure, it got pretty hectic, but that was part of the fun -- honing your skills to a fine edge to see if you can react quicker than the enemies. It was one of my favourite vector shooters, next to Tempest and Black Widow.

[Jess Ragan]

Yeah, Tac-Scan was a lot of fun back in the day.

 

I've got a funny story about this game. Because of the Paramount logo on the back of the box, and because Sega was also responsible for the arcade and 2600 versions of Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulation, I had convinced myself that Tac-Scan was a spin-off of the Star Trek television series. I know, I know, it sounds really silly, but twenty years ago I was absolutely certain that the Tac-Scan storyline was somehow related to Star Trek's.

 

JR

[slapdash]

I gotta say that I was a big Tac-Scan fan way back too... Very smooth gameplay, and the squadron thing made it reasonably compelling.