THE CHALLENGE AWAITS YOU…
SCRAMBLE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS WAR
This time round on the pod the Ten Pence Arcade guys have put forth Pleiad(e)s. The marquee spells the game as Pleiades but the main screen spells the game as Pleiads. Go figure… Developed by Tehkan in 1981 and licensed to Centuri, it’s the spiritual successor / sequel to Phoenix. A 2-D vertical shooter, with lovely sprites, loud bleepy noises, and nasty bad guys. Oh and birds. Big birds. Big birds with kamikaze tendencies. In fact all the bad guys revel in smashing into you at high velocity until you raise your arms to the sky helplessly screaming “Pleiads. Nooooooooooooo!”
Over on Twin Galaxies the record on MAME is currently 135,790 and held by Richard Sion Lewis and according to my copy of Official Twin Galaxies Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, the high score is 1,164,900 and achieved by Patrick Orr, 23rd August 1982 at Galaxy Video Games in Charlotte, NC. Which quite frankly, after spending a couple of weeks with this game, is bonkers so kudos to Patrick. Despite playing a lot of Phoenix in my youth I’d never actually come across Pleaids until I had chance to play on an actual cab (supplied by Retro Games Party no lees) at Play Expo in Manchester. Under the expert tutelage of Ten Pence Arcade’s Shaun “in your face” Holley I got to grips with it. Well. I managed a semi decent score after a few goes and that’s what it’s all about right?