By Centuri, 1980
Post converted from old site, last revised 2/19/2008
Description of game:
Phoenix is a great “shooter” game that is one of the earliest shooters with different waves of ships for each level. There are five levels per round, and each one is different. The game starts out with a formation of fast moving, smaller birds. In the first level your ship fires at a slower rate. These smaller birds fly in formation above your ship. Birds will break formation and fly down towards your ship, firing shots back at you (similar to Galaga). The second level is similar, but the pace is faster and your ship fires much faster. The third and fourth levels have larger birds that hatch from flying eggs, and fly back and forth across the screen as they descend towards your ship. These birds must be hit in the center of their bodies, or they just lose a wing. In the final level you face off against the Mothership, where you must shoot through and destroy the alien leader in the middle of the ship, all while avoiding the continuing attack of the smaller bird formation above the ship. The farther down the mothership is on the screen when you shoot the alien, the higher your bonus score. The game then repeats the five levels in each future round, with increasing difficulty.
How I got it:
This one has a great story. A friend of mine decided to throw himself a 30th birthday party. A bunch of us went to an indoor go karting track that was about an hour away that we found on the Internet. When we got there, I noticed the black silouette of an arcade game out in the track building, covered in black tire rubber dust. I reconized it as a Phoenix. After talking to the owner I learned that it started smoking one day in their arcade years ago, so they threw it out there to get it out of the way. Since they didn’t want it, and I grew up playing one just like it, I worked out a way to pick it up the next week for my collection!
Recent repairs:
When I got it home, I had to figure out what to do to get it running. First and foremost I had to clean off all of the tire rubber that covered it from years of storage next to an indoor go kart track.
After cleaning it off both inside and outside, I started working on getting it to run. While inspecting the wiring I found that at one point someone tried to hook up a credit button on the coin door. However, to wire it they used Romex wiring (yes, the 14-3 solid copper wiring). I also noticed that there was a ton of additional build up of rubber, dust, and other stuff inside. The monitor was also different than any other I’ve come across in a color game. Not sure what model it is. The monitor chasis is mounted on a piece of plywood. Strange.
I rewired the credit button (since it was already drilled and mounted) and cleaned out the game further. I cleaned all the wiring connections as well. The game fired right up after that! The monitor was nice and sharp and the game worked perfectly. It really looks nice, except for the normal wear on the control panel overlay. The side art looks fantastic! It seems very durable.
What it still needs:
This game could use a new CPO to really make it look nice. However, the one on it isn’t too bad so I can live with it.
Final Thoughts:
This is a great classic that I played a ton when I was younger. It also has one of the best stories of my collection. Glad to have this game in the collection, and the kids love it!
