Two Tigers is a multidirectional shooter created by Bally Midway and released as an arcade video game in 1984. One or two players each control a World War II-era fighter plane to shoot enemy planes which fall and damage a naval ship at the bottom of the screen. After enough damage, the ship explodes. Players can also drop one bomb at a time to the same effect. An alternate dogfight mode allows two players to attempt to down each other's plane.
| Two Tigers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bally Midway |
| Publisher(s) | Bally Midway |
| Designer(s) | Ron Haliburton Tim Gilbert[1] |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | 1984 |
| Genre(s) | Multidirectional shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player 2 player cooperative 2 player competitive |
| Arcade system | Midway MCR II[2] |
The game was released as both a standalone cabinet and as a conversion kit for Tron. The two have different controllers and differ in gameplay and presentation details.
Gameplay
editEach player steers an always moving plane by rotating it clockwise and counter-clockwise. Enemy planes fly horizontally across the screen; shooting them causes them to crash into the ocean or the large ship floating in it. Each hit from a downed plane destroys a piece of the ship where it crashes. Naval mines drifting in the water can be shot, damaging the ship from below.[3] Players can damage the ship directly by dropping bombs. Only one bomb per player can be in the air at once.[4]
Destroying an entire vertical column of a ship causes a leak. When enough leaks have been created (based on the level), the ship explodes. As an intermission, submarines, sharks, and swimmers occupy the open water and can be shot. After a brief respite, a new ship arrives.
Lives are unlimited in Two Tigers. Flying into another plane spawns a replacement once the wreckage falls offscreen. Player-controlled planes do not collide with the ship at the bottom. After a certain amount of time an undestroyed ship leaves; three such departures ends the game.
Release
editThere are two variations of Two Tigers machines. The original, standalone version has a flight yoke to steer the plane.[4] Ambient audio is provided by an 8-track tape player in the cabinet.[2] The game was later released as a conversion kit for Midway's Tron which uses the weighted spinner to rotate the plane and does not include the 8-track player. It has significant differences in terms of gameplay, visuals, and audio compared to the original.[5]
References
edit- ^ Hague, James, The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers
- ^ a b Two Tigers at the Killer List of Videogames
- ^ "Two Tigers". The Arcade Flyer Archive.
- ^ a b Butler, Kevin (August 28, 2003), Two Tigers FAQ
- ^ "Two Tigers Conversion kit for Tron". Arcade History.
External links
edit- Two Tigers at Arcade History