Gorf

Midway Manufacturing

Company type	Private
Industry	Video game development and publishing
Founded	1958
Headquarters	Chicago , United States
Products	Arcade games, video games

Gorf is a fixed shooter arcade game launched in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing. It offers five varied stages, including levels inspired by Space Invaders and Galaxian. The game is notable for its use of synthesized voice, powered by a speech chip, delivering taunts from the Gorfian robot. Players can buy up to two additional lives per quarter before starting, with a cap of seven lives in total.

Due to licensing restrictions held by Japanese developer Namco, home versions omit the Galaxians level.

Gameplay

In Gorf, players pilot an unnamed spacecraft from the Interstellar Space Force, charged with halting the Gorfian Empire’s attempt to conquer Earth. Unlike earlier shooters such as Space Invaders and Galaxian, where movement was limited to horizontal shifts, this ship can move freely within the bottom third of the screen using a joystick—a feature that was innovative at the time.

The game includes five distinct missions, each with unique gameplay mechanics centered on eliminating all enemies. After completing all missions, the cycle restarts at the first level, increasing both player rank and game difficulty. The game ends when all lives are depleted.

Before starting, players can purchase up to seven lives; an extra life is granted after finishing all five missions. The ship fires a single vertical "quark laser" shot at any moment, which replaces any previously fired shot still on screen.

Player ranks advance from Space Cadet up to Space Avenger, with each promotion raising game speed, difficulty, and enemy behavior patterns. Depending on the arcade cabinet version, ranks are shown via built-in illuminated panels.

Missions

1. Astro Battles: This stage is a rendition of Space Invaders, uniquely set on Earth. Players face 24 enemies arranged in classic formations and protected by a parabolic force field that temporarily disables when firing and degrades under enemy fire.
2. Laser Attack: Taking place in space, players confront two groups of five enemies, including dive-bombing yellow ships, a white gunner firing a single laser beam, and a red miniature Gorf robot.
3. Galaxians: A variation of Galaxian, differing primarily in enemy numbers and firing sequences while maintaining similar gameplay mechanics.
4. Space Warp: Players maneuver through a wormhole as enemies emerge from the center attempting to collide with or shoot at the ship; enemy projectiles can be destroyed.
5. Flag Ship: Shielded by a force field like in Mission 1, this vessel moves back and forth while firing at the player. The objective is to break its shield and destroy its core by targeting the ship’s underside. Attacking other parts yields bonus points but may create hazards. Destroying the core triggers an explosion that raises player rank and increases difficulty upon returning to Mission One. At higher ranks, additional enemies appear during Flag Ship battles.

Background and pre-production

Gorf was created by Jamie Fenton at Dave Nutting Associates (DNA), consultants for Midway Manufacturing since the early 1970s. DNA had developed arcade hits like Gun Fight (1975). Initially, Nutting worked on a light gun title featuring a character named "Gorf," which eventually became Desert Gun (1977).

Fenton began her tenure at DNA working on pinball machines and co-developed early arcade games such as The Amazing Maze Game (1976) and 280 ZZZAP (1977). She led development of the Bally Astrocade console and incorporated some of its custom integrated circuits—including specialized LSI Framebuffer chips—into Gorf. These chips enabled advanced graphical layering effects, allowing objects to overlap realistically by passing in front or behind one another.

Voice synthesis chips adapted from the Bally console provided digitized taunts like "Long live Gorf!" and "Prepare for annihilation, Space Cadet!" Fenton explained these phrases were crafted to be clean yet deliberately annoying to enhance player engagement.

Initially planned as a video game adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Fenton abandoned this concept after reviewing the script due to its unsuitability for gaming. Nonetheless, elements such as the flagship boss resembling the USS Enterprise were retained in Gorf.

Level design

Fenton dedicated more than a year to creating Gorf, primarily working remotely to minimize interruptions from an office environment. During a period when most video game stages focused on repetitive tasks with escalating difficulty, she envisioned Gorf as a game composed of multiple distinct episodes, drawing inspiration from the scene-editing techniques of director D.W. Griffith.

She crafted three original stages and integrated two additional ones that borrowed gameplay elements from Space Invaders and Galaxian, utilizing Midway's licensing agreements with Taito and Namco. These levels introduced gameplay differences, such as enemy swooping maneuvers inspired by Galaxian. The initial stage, called "Astro Battles," incorporated aspects of Space Invaders but was renamed to avoid endorsing the original title. The third stage, named Galaxians—with an extra "s" due to a typographical error—was a direct reference to its source game.

The climactic encounter with the Gorfian flagship was influenced by the trench run sequence from Star Wars (1977). Fenton remarked that borrowing concepts was a common practice during that time.

Artwork for the arcade cabinet was produced by David Moore from Advertising Posters in Chicago.

Release

Gorf underwent field testing alongside Pac-Man in the United States and was released by Midway Manufacturing for arcade distribution in February 1981. George Gomez, who had joined Midway in 1978, played a role in designing both the controls and cabinet, including the innovative controller for Gorf that featured a fire button built into the pistol grip—a concept inspired by an earlier Rockwell B-1 Bomber controller.

The game was made available in three types of arcade cabinets: a standard model featuring external artwork, a compact version with walnut finish designed for limited spaces, and a cocktail table style.

Ports

The Commodore 64 adaptation was programmed by Eric Cotton. In April 1982, Roklan Corporation announced intentions to launch Gorf on several home computer platforms, including versions for Atari 400/800 and Atari 2600 developed under CBS Video Games, which also handled distribution for the Atari 2600 port.

The ColecoVision edition underwent 39 minor updates before its May 1983 release, reflecting Coleco's emphasis on quality assurance. CBS released an Atari 5200 version in October 1983, while the Atari 2600 port became available in December 1982.

CBS had plans for an Intellivision release slated for early 1983. Additional ports were issued for BBC Micro and VIC-20 between 1982 and 1983.

Fenton mentioned that Bally's loss of rights to Galaxian likely prevented that particular level from appearing in home versions. Notably, only the Commodore 64 port included synthesized speech through the Magic Voice Speech module.

Reception

The September 1981 issue of Play Meter, reporting sales data from July 3, showed that Gorf led arcade rankings, holding fifth place just prior and third place immediately after. Paul Drury of Retro Gamer described it as Midway's most successful arcade title since Gun Fight. Fenton recalled that witnessing players repeatedly insert quarters into Gorf was "better than any drug I've ever taken".

Mark S. Murley from Hi-Res Magazine commended the arcade version's fast-paced gameplay, noting that experienced players familiar with titles like Defender and Tempest often found Gorfs enemies particularly demanding. Meanwhile, The Winona Daily News recognized that although games such as Astro Invader and Galaxian had overtaken Space Invaders, they regarded Gorf as the leading successor to that classic.

Frank Seninsky of Play Meter criticized the construction quality of the arcade cabinet, describing it as hastily assembled and reporting maintenance problems caused by the large joystick damaging cabinets physically. The machine's artwork was also considered unattractive, with side decals peeling quickly after use. However, in 1984, academic Thomas A. DeFanti praised the joystick as "generally accepted as the best," highlighting its ergonomic design that avoided player fatigue common with other joysticks available at the time.

Ports

Regarding the Atari 2600 adaptation, Hi-Res Magazine described it as a "competent, stripped-down version" that omitted certain arcade features such as scrolling text and force fields. Despite these limitations in faithfully translating every aspect, The Video Game Update still recommended the port. On the other hand, Video Games criticized it for its lackluster difficulty and subpar visuals, labeling it "a dog." Meanwhile, Electronic Fun with Computers & Games observed that its initial stage bore a strong resemblance to Space Invaders.

The ColecoVision edition garnered acclaim from Electronic Games, which deemed it "possibly the finest home rendition," despite its sound effects not matching the arcade's quality. Additionally, The Video Game Update praised the detailed visuals, noting that the invaders’ smiles were distinctly visible.

For home computer versions, Charlene Komar of Electronic Games considered the VIC-20 port among its standout titles due to its brisk gameplay pace. This sentiment was shared by Electronic Fun with Computers & Games, which pointed out that the arcade’s main advantage was its specialized controller. Both these sources, along with Ahoy!, lauded the ports for their graphical fidelity. Mark S. Murley complimented the Atari 8-bit computer iteration for faithfully preserving the arcade’s aesthetic and gameplay experience, describing it as a "competent and enjoyable" software product. Neil Harris of Commodore Power/Play ranked this version as one of the top video games available, highlighting how its speech features enhanced player engagement without feeling gimmicky.

At the 4th annual Arkie Awards, the Atari 2600 version received a Certificate of Merit for "Best Solitaire Video Game," and at the 5th Arkies, it won "Best Computer Game Audio-Visual Effects." Judges noted that Atari versions surpassed ColecoVision and Commodore 64 in popularity, attributing this to the game’s diverse action that encouraged repeated play.

Retrospective

Several retrospective evaluations acknowledged the original arcade title for its groundbreaking elements. Earl Green of AllGame emphasized its pioneering use of speech synthesis and vibrant visuals, calling it "historically significant as the first multi-level arcade game ever." Spanner Spencer from Eurogamer praised its diverse gameplay mechanics and innovative features such as digitized speech and options to purchase extra lives or credits.

Conversely, in his 2013 book The Video Game Guide, Matt Fox regarded the game as overly derivative of contemporaries like Space Invaders, Galaxian, Tempest, and Phoenix.

In 2006, Electronic Gaming Monthly included it among their Top 200 Best Games of All Time.

Legacy

Alongside titles such as Stratovox, Taskete, and Berzerk, Gorf was one of the earliest arcade games to incorporate speech synthesis technology.

Following this, Fenton’s next project, The Adventures of Robby Roto! (1981), failed commercially, which led her to initiate a sequel to Gorf. She began developing Ms. Gorf using Forth, employing two Z80 processors to separately manage coding and animation tasks. However, this project was eventually abandoned. Fenton described it as "a game you create as you play," featuring levels where the player’s ship functioned like a paintbrush laying down obstacles, though she noted it lacked a unified storyline akin to that of Gorf. The source code remains preserved on 8" floppy disks labeled "RIP Ms. GORF 6/82 - 8/83".

Plans existed for a hybrid pinball machine combining video gameplay elements from Gorf with traditional pinball mechanics; however, development ceased after only a breadboard prototype due to a patent conflict.

In 2006, an unofficial port titled Gorf Classic was released by 3D Stooges Software Studios for the Atari Jaguar CD. This edition is unique among home versions for including every original arcade level. It earned recognition from both Retro Gamer magazine (2006) and Time Extension (2023) as one of the premier Atari Jaguar titles. According to Retro Gamer, this release helped spur an independent development community for the Atari Jaguar platform.

See also

• Golden age of arcade video games

Sources

• Drury, Paul (2010). "The Making of... GORF". Retro Gamer. No. 82. Imagine Publishing.
• Steere, Noel (August 1983). "Hits & Missiles". Electronic Fun with Computers & Games. Vol. 1, no. 10. United States. ISSN 0746-0546.
• William Workman. "Classic Gaming Expo 2000 Keynote Addresses Arcade". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
• "New Products". Compute!. Vol. 4, no. 23. Small System Services. April 1982. ISSN 0194–357X. {{cite magazine}}: Check |issn= value (help)
• "Complete Games Guide" (PDF). Computer and Video Games. No. Complete Guide to Consoles. United Kingdom. October 16, 1989. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
• "Availability Update p112". Computer Entertainer The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer. Vol. 2, no. 7. October 1983.
• "Video Games: Sophisticated Machines vie for Your Quarter". The Winona Daily News. April 25, 1981. p. 6. Retrieved December 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Gorf at GameFAQs
• Gorf at MobyGames