Tempest

About

Tempest is a 1981 arcade shooter where you steer a claw-shaped ship along the edge of a twisting 3D tunnel. The screen shows a segmented tube that shifts and reshapes as you fire at enemies crawling toward you. You move between lanes to avoid collisions while clearing each level. The game lets you pick your starting difficulty based on past performance, a feature called SkillStep that keeps the challenge fresh. Simple controls and escalating tension make it a fast-paced test of reflexes. The game used Atari’s vector display tech to render sharp, geometric visuals years before 3D graphics became common. Though ports to home systems like the Atari ST and BBC Micro simplified the visuals, they preserved the core thrill. Tempest’s influence lingers, its lane-based movement and difficulty scaling concepts show up in modern shooters. With a 92% rating on the arcade preservation site MAME, it remains a benchmark for minimalist but intense action.

Storyline

You control a yellow crab-shaped shooter that travels along the outside rim of a 3-dimensional tunnel, shooting enemies down the alleys of the tunnel while avoiding any coming down the alleys. The tunnel takes on many different forms, and the shooter has a special "superzapper" that enables it to kill all enemies present in the tunnel.