Tempest is a 1981 tube shooter arcade game by Atari, Inc., built around a rotary-controlled blaster and a color vector display.
Quick Facts
| Title | Tempest |
| Year | 1981 |
| Manufacturer | Atari, Inc. |
| Designer(s) | Dave Theurer |
| Genre | Tube shooter |
| Hardware | Among the first arcade games to use Atari’s Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. |
| Ports | 5 ports, including BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, and Amstrad CPC — see Ports section |
History
Tempest arrived in North American arcades in October 1981, designed and programmed by Dave Theurer for Atari, Inc. Theurer originally set out to build a first-person take on Space Invaders, but ran into technical dead ends and shelved the idea. The concept he eventually shipped is said to have come from a dream about creatures climbing out of a hole in the ground, which he translated into a game where enemies crawl up a tube toward the player. Over development the project carried the working titles “Aliens” and “Vortex” before Atari settled on Tempest. Rather than a joystick, Theurer paired the game with a rotary control knob, letting players sweep their claw-shaped blaster around the rim of each tube the way a Pong paddle moves along a line.
The finished cabinet became one of the earliest arcade games built on Atari’s Color-QuadraScan vector display, giving its geometric tubes a crisp, glowing look that stood apart from the raster graphics of the time. Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell later named Tempest his favorite of the company’s releases. Its SkillStep starting-level system and 16 distinct tube shapes were unusual for 1981, when most shooters repeated one layout with rising difficulty, and both ideas left a mark on later arcade design. Designers Jeff Minter and John O’Neill have each credited Tempest as a formative influence on their careers. The Videogame & Arcade Preservation Society’s collector census still tracks over 200 surviving dedicated cabinets, reflecting how widely the machine was manufactured.
Gameplay
Players position a claw-shaped blaster at the outer edge of a three-dimensional tube divided into parallel lanes, rotating the knob to slide around the rim and firing straight down whichever lane an enemy occupies. Sixteen tube layouts, ranging from simple circles to angular and infinity-shaped webs, are cycled through as players advance, so the playing field itself keeps changing rather than repeating. Enemies climb the lanes from the far end of the tube and must be cleared before they reach the rim, where contact costs a life; a Superzapper power-up can be triggered once per level to instantly wipe every enemy currently on screen, with a second, riskier use available that destroys only a single random target. The SkillStep system lets players choose which of several starting levels to begin on, trading a lower score ceiling for an easier opening.
- Rotary-knob movement around the rim of a 3D tube
- 16 unique level shapes cycled instead of one repeating layout
- Superzapper power-up, usable once per level to clear the field
- SkillStep system for choosing a starting level
Cabinet & Hardware
Tempest was among the first Atari arcade games built around Color-QuadraScan, the company’s color vector display technology, which drew the tube shapes and enemies as sharp glowing lines rather than the filled raster graphics used by most contemporaries. The cabinet was produced in upright, cabaret, and cocktail-table variants, with the two-player cocktail version flipping the screen orientation between turns.
Ports & Re-releases
| Platform | Year |
|---|---|
| BBC Micro | 1985 |
| Acorn Electron | 1985 |
| Atari ST | 1985 |
| ZX Spectrum | 1987 |
| Amstrad CPC | 1987 |
Tempest has since resurfaced in several official compilations, including Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1, Atari Anniversary Edition, Atari Anthology, an Xbox Live Arcade release, and the 2022 anthology Atari 50, keeping the original coin-op version playable on modern hardware. Jeff Minter later built an official lineage of sequels, including Tempest 2000 and Tempest 4000, that reinterpret the original tube-shooter concept rather than simply porting it.
Where to Play Legally Today
- Official compilations such as Atari 50 and Atari Anthology on current-generation consoles and PC
- MAME, run only with legally owned ROM dumps from a cabinet or licensed source you own
- Arcade museums and retro arcade venues that keep a working Tempest cabinet on their floor
Collector Value
Original Tempest cabinets are sought after by vector-game collectors, since Color-QuadraScan monitors are more delicate and harder to source parts for than standard raster arcade monitors, which pushes well-preserved units above the price of typical raster cabinets from the same era. Standalone PCBs circulate on their own for collectors who already own a compatible cabinet shell, and working vector monitors in particular carry a premium given their scarcity. The scattered home-computer ports on systems like the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum are comparatively easy to find and inexpensive, offering a lower-cost way to experience the game away from the arcade original.
FAQs
Who made Tempest?
Tempest was designed and programmed by Dave Theurer for Atari, Inc.
What year did Tempest come out?
Tempest was released by Atari in 1981.
What genre is Tempest?
Tempest is a tube shooter, in which the player fires down lanes of a tube-shaped playfield from a blaster that moves around its rim.
What hardware did Tempest run on?
Tempest was among the first arcade games to run on Atari’s Color-QuadraScan vector display technology.
Has Tempest been ported to home computers?
Yes, Tempest was ported to the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST.
See also the related Centipede and Gyruss arcade pages, and browse the Golden Age of Arcade Games hub for more classic shooters.
Sources
Facts on this page last verified 2026-07-15.