Space Cruiser

Space Cruiser was produced by Taito in 1981.

The year is 2100, and you’re the captain of a space cruiser, which is insightfully named Space Cruiser. Your mission is to pilot it through outer space, defeat the UFO onslaught that’s headed straight for Earth, then teach those aliens a lesson they’ll never forget by destroying their entire planet.

Gameplay: Taking a page from Taito’s classic Space Invaders, your space cruiser moves from side to side, and you can use your laser cannon to blast the UFO missiles right out of the sky. Once you master those controls and their associated skills, you’re on your way to, uh, enjoying eight levels of totally not-tedious-or-repetitive, uh, action. If you get past them, you complete your mission by blowing up the aliens’ home planet, then starting the process all over again. Ah, the joys of perpetual war!