Teraburst is a classic 'shoot-em-up' arcade game made by Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

 in 1998.

Description

The game is set in 2017. An invasion of UFOs has appeared and started to invade Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

. You are charged to blast the aliens back into outer space

Outer space

Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....

 with a hand-held, recoiling machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

, homing missiles and Napalm

Napalm

Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...

 bombs. The game progresses through four stages of aliens.

Demographics

Teraburst, during its brief appearance in motorway service stations in the UK, was mainly played by first time players and dedicated seasoned players who would sometimes drive for up to three hours in order to find an active arcade. The rarity of these arcades, and the brief popularity that they attained, led to many players spending upwards of a thousand pounds to keep the top-score on the consoles. At one point in 1999 an older gamer, Dr Patrick Bell (WIG) of Dulwich

Dulwich

Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...

, attained the top score on all of the Teraburst arcades in the UK bar one in a Little Chef

Little Chef

Little Chef is a chain of roadside restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 and owned by the UK private equity group RCapital. Little Chef's previous owners were The People's Restaurant Group Ltd., a company belonging to British catering entrepreneurs Simon Heath and Lawrence Wosskow,...

 in Cumbernauld, off the A80 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, which was the only Teraburst arcade not encompassed by his trademark WIG topscore name.