Alien Attack
Encyclopedia
Alien Attack is a 1979 handheld video game made by Coleco
using a VFD
display. It came in a bright orange futuristic-styled case and controls were a joystick
, fire button, and move button. The controls were unusual in that the player's ship could fire in any direction by moving the joystick with the fire button pressed. Movement only occurred when the move button was pressed. Firing while moving was not possible. There was a grid-like arrangement of barriers representing a city that the player could use for cover.
Coleco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
using a VFD
Vacuum fluorescent display
A vacuum fluorescent display is a display device used commonly on consumer-electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. Invented in Japan in 1967, the displays became common on calculators and other consumer electronics devices...
display. It came in a bright orange futuristic-styled case and controls were a joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
, fire button, and move button. The controls were unusual in that the player's ship could fire in any direction by moving the joystick with the fire button pressed. Movement only occurred when the move button was pressed. Firing while moving was not possible. There was a grid-like arrangement of barriers representing a city that the player could use for cover.