Editing Radar Scope

{{good article}}
{{short description|1980 shooter arcade game}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Radar Scope
| image = Radar scope arcadeflyer.png
| caption = Arcade flyer
| developer = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Nintendo Research & Development 2|Nintendo R&D2]]
  | [[Ikegami Tsushinki]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=McFerran|first=Damien|date=2018-02-26|title=Feature: Shining A Light On Ikegami Tsushinki, The Company That Developed Donkey Kong|url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/02/feature_shining_a_light_on_ikegami_tsushinki_the_company_that_developed_donkey_kong|access-date=2020-06-09|website=Nintendo Life|language=en-GB}}</ref>
  }}
| publisher = [[Nintendo]]
| composer = [[Hirokazu Tanaka]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hirokazutanaka.com/works/nintendo/|title=Nintendo Archive - Works｜Sporadic Vacuum|first=Works｜Sporadic|last=Vacuum|website=Hirokazutanaka.com|access-date=September 16, 2017|archive-date=August 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808171105/http://www.hirokazutanaka.com/works/nintendo/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| released = {{vgrelease|JP|October 8, 1980<ref name="USCO"/>|NA|December 1980<ref name="TV Book">{{cite book|last=Akagi|first=Masumi|url=https://archive.org/details/ArcadeGameList1971-2005/page/n129|title=任天堂 Nintendo; Nintendo of America; R|work=アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005)|edition=1st|publisher=Amusement News Agency|date=13 October 2006|pages=128, 162|isbn=978-4990251215|language=ja}}</ref>}}
| genre = [[Shoot 'em up]]
| modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]], [[multiplayer]] (alternating turns)
| platforms = [[Arcade video game|Arcade]]
}}
{{nihongo foot|'''''Radar Scope'''''|レーダースコープ|Rēdā Sukōpu|lead=yes|group=lower-alpha}} is a 1980 [[shoot 'em up]] [[arcade game]] developed by [[Nintendo Research & Development 2|Nintendo R&D2]] and published by [[Nintendo]]. The player assumes the role of the Sonic Spaceport starship and must wipe out formations of an enemy race known as the Gamma Raiders before they destroy the player's space station. Gameplay is similar to ''[[Space Invaders]]'' and ''[[Galaxian]]'', but viewed from a three-dimensional third-person perspective.

''Radar Scope'' was a commercial failure and created a financial crisis for the subsidiary [[Nintendo of America]]. Its president, [[Minoru Arakawa]], pleaded for his father-in-law, Nintendo president [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]], to send him a new game that could convert and salvage thousands of unsold ''Radar Scope'' machines. This prompted the creation of ''[[Donkey Kong (1981 video game)|Donkey Kong]]''. ''Radar Scope'' is one of the first video game projects for artist [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] and for composer [[Hirokazu Tanaka]].

Retrospectively, critics have praised ''Radar Scope'' for its gameplay and design being a unique iteration upon the ''Space Invaders'' template. One critic labeled it one of Nintendo's most important games because its commercial failure inadvertently led to the creation of [[Mario|Nintendo's mascot character]] and helped pave the way for the company's entry into the console video game market.

==Gameplay==
[[Image:Radarscope.png|left|thumb|Game screenshot]]

''Radar Scope'' is a shoot 'em up in a three-dimensional third-person perspective over a gradient-blue background,<ref name="A Brief History">{{cite book|last1=Stanton|first1=Rich|chapter=11. The Rise of Nintendo|title=A Brief History Of Video Games: From Atari to Xbox One|date=2015|publisher=[[Little, Brown Book Group]], [[Hachette Book Group]]|isbn=9781472118813|page=114|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUFIBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA114|quote=Radar Scope owed much to the popularity of ''Space Invaders'' and ''Galaxian'', but nevertheless felt original thank to its 3D third-person perspective.}}</ref> often described as a cross between ''[[Galaxian]]'' and ''[[Space Invaders]]''.<ref name="KLOV"/> The player pilots the Sonic Spaceport starship and must defend the space station against enemies called the Gamma Raiders. Gameplay involves clearing each stage of the Gamma Raiders without colliding with them or their projectiles.<ref name="USGamer"/> Each stage sets 48 Gamma Raiders in a formation, who break away and swoop down toward the player. Some will simply swoop down and fire at the player, and others will try to ram into the space station.<ref name="USGamer"/><ref name="KLOV"/> The Sonic Spaceport has a damage meter at the bottom of the screen, which depletes with enemy fire.<ref name="USGamer"/> The player can lose a life by either allowing this meter to deplete or by colliding with a Gamma Raider or their projectile.<ref name="KLOV"/> Three types of arcade cabinets were produced: a standard upright, a tabletop version, and a rare sit-down cabinet.<ref name="KLOV">{{cite web |title=Radar Scope - Videogame by Nintendo |url=https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9238 |website=[[Killer List of Videogames]] |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925042709/https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9238 |archive-date=25 September 2019}}</ref>

==Development and release==
[[File:Nintendo Radar Scope - May 15th 1981 Play Meter advert - page 02.jpg|thumb|Print ad for ''Radar Scope'' from ''[[Play Meter|Play Meter's]]'' May 15, 1981 issue]]
In the late 1970s, [[Nintendo Co., Ltd.]] began shifting its focus away from toys and playing cards into the arcade market. This followed the [[1973 oil crisis]] having increased the cost of manufacturing toys, and the widespread success of [[Taito]]'s ''[[Space Invaders]]'' in 1978.<ref name="USGamer"/> Nintendo had briefly experimented with [[Arcade game#Electro-mechanical games|electro-mechanical arcade]] gun games such as ''[[Wild Gunman]]'' and the ''[[Laser Clay Shooting System]]'', followed by [[arcade video game]]s such as ''EVR-Race'', ''[[Sheriff (video game)|Sheriff]]'', ''[[Space Fever]]'', and the [[Color TV-Game]] line of dedicated home consoles.<ref name="Ultimate History">{{cite book|last=Kent |first=Steven L. |author-link=Steven L. Kent |title=The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World |date=2002 |publisher=Random House International |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7615-3643-7 |oclc=59416169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624183529/https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=June 24, 2016 }}</ref>

''Radar Scope'' was created by Nintendo Research & Development 2 (R&D2). Masayuki Uemura led the development of the game, while [[Hirokazu Tanaka]] programmed the audio and composed the music. [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] assisted in the game's art production as one of his first video game projects; however, his role in development is often debated, with some claiming he designed the onscreen graphics, and others saying he simply created the arcade cabinet artwork.<ref name="USGamer"/> David Scheff's book ''[[Game Over (Sheff book)|Game Over]]'' claims that Miyamoto found the game "simplistic and banal" after it was completed.<ref name="USGamer"/><ref name="Game Over">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/0966961706 |title=Game Over: How Nintendo conquered the world|last=Sheff|first=David|date=1994|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=9780307800749|edition=1st Vintage books|location=New York|oclc=780180879 | access-date=27 July 2019}}</ref>

The arcade hardware for ''Radar Scope'' was co-developed with [[Ikegami Tsushinki]]. It is based on [[Namco]]'s ''[[Galaxian]]'' (1979), with technology such as high-speed [[emitter-coupled logic]] (ECL) [[integrated circuit]] (IC) chips and [[Computer memory|memory]] on a 50 MHz [[printed circuit board]]. ''Galaxian'', in turn, was based on ''Space Invaders'' hardware, replacing the more intensive [[bitmap]] rendering system with a hardware [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]] rendering system that animates sprites over a [[scrolling]] background, allowing more detailed graphics, faster gameplay, and a scrolling animated starfield background.<ref name="Nikkei6">{{cite magazine |title=【任天堂「ファミコン」はこうして生まれた】 第6回：業務用ゲーム機の挫折をバネにファミコンの実現に挑む |trans-title=How the Famicom Was Born – Part 6: Making the Famicom a Reality |magazine=Nikkei Electronics |date=September 12, 1994 |publisher=[[Nikkei Business Publications]] |lang=ja |url=http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20081001/1019315/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006082447/http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20081001/1019315/ |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=13 April 2021}}
*{{cite web |date=March 28, 2012 |title=Making the Famicom a Reality |website=GlitterBerri's Game Translations |url=https://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/making-the-famicom-a-reality/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505103737/https://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/making-the-famicom-a-reality/ |archive-date=2012-05-05}}</ref>

''Radar Scope'' was released in Japan on October 8, 1980.<ref name="USCO">{{cite web |title=Radar scope (Registration Number PA0000096933) |url=https://cocatalog.loc.gov |website=[[United States Copyright Office]] |access-date=25 May 2021}}</ref> That year, [[Minoru Arakawa]] established the subsidiary [[Nintendo of America]] in New York City. Based on favorable tests at arcades in Seattle, he wagered most of the company's modest corporate budget on ordering 3,000 ''Radar Scope'' units from Nintendo Co., Ltd.<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|103–105}}<ref name="History of SMB at IGN"/> Shipping the units into New York by boat took four months, by which time the market lost interest.<ref name="USGamer"/> A total of 1,000 ''Radar Scope'' units were sold to an underwhelming reception, and the remaining 2,000 sat in Nintendo's warehouse. This expensive failure put Nintendo of America into a financial crisis.

Arakawa moved the distressed startup to the Seattle area to cut shipping time. He asked his father in-law and Nintendo CEO [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]] to develop a new game that could be retrofitted into the unsold ''Radar Scope'' cabinets.<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|103–105}}<ref name="History of SMB at IGN"/> Yamauchi polled the company's entire talent pool for fresh game design concepts that could satisfy Nintendo of America's needs. The result was Shigeru Miyamoto's debut as lead game designer with ''[[Donkey Kong (1981 video game)|Donkey Kong]]'', starring [[Mario]] and released in 1981.<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|106}}<ref name="History of SMB at IGN"/><ref name="Ultimate History"/> The ''Donkey Kong'' conversion kits consisting of [[ROM chip]]s and cabinet marquee graphics were shipped to Nintendo of America and installed on more than 2,000 ''Radar Scope'' machines by a small team including Arakawa and his wife.<ref name="History of SMB at IGN"/><ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|109}}

==Reception and legacy==
{{Video game reviews
| Allgame = {{rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="Allgame">{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Earl |title=Radar Scope - Review |url=http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=4462&tab=review |website=[[Allgame]] |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114211414/http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=4462&tab=review |archive-date=14 November 2014 |date=1998}}</ref>
}}
''Radar Scope'' was a commercial failure for Nintendo upon release. Out of an estimated 3,000 arcade cabinets shipped to the United States alone, 1,000 were sold to an underwhelming reception and the remaining 2,000 sat unsold in Nintendo's warehouse.<ref name="History of SMB at IGN">{{cite web |last1=Nix |first1=Marc |title=IGN Presents: The History of Super Mario Bros. |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/09/14/ign-presents-the-history-of-super-mario-bros |publisher=[[IGN]] |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109000531/https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/09/14/ign-presents-the-history-of-super-mario-bros |archive-date=9 November 2019 |date=14 September 2010}}</ref> The salvage of unsold ''Radar Scope'' hardware{{mdash}}by creating ''Donkey Kong'' and [[Mario]]{{mdash}}provided the company with its first international smash hit and a resulting [[windfall gain|windfall]] of {{nowrap|$280 million}}. This rescued Nintendo of America from financial crisis, established Nintendo as a prominent brand in America, and helped fund its launch of the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]].<ref name="Game Over"/>{{rp|111}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Wii Innovate – How Nintendo Created a New Market Through Strategic Innovation |author=Jörg Ziesak |publisher=[[:de:GRIN Verlag|GRIN Verlag]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-640-49774-4 |page=2029 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8rHXoUCbfAC&pg=PA2029 |access-date=9 April 2011 |quote=Donkey Kong was Nintendo's first international smash hit and the main reason behind the company's breakthrough in the Northern American market. In the first year of its publication, it earned Nintendo 180 million US dollars, continuing with a return of 100 million dollars in the second year. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418041705/https://books.google.com/books?id=C8rHXoUCbfAC&pg=PA2029 |archive-date=18 April 2016 }}</ref>

In a 1998 retrospective review, Earl Green of ''[[Allgame]]'' said the 3D perspective is a unique idea for the time, and that ''Radar Scope'' improved the trend of countless games styled after the archetypal ''[[Space Invaders]]''.<ref name="Allgame"/> ''Shack News'' writer Greg Burke liked the game's colorful visuals and interesting gameplay which differentiate it from games like ''Galaxian'' and ''Space Invaders''.<ref name="Shack News">{{cite web |last1=Burke |first1=Greg |title=Shack's Arcade Corner: Radar Scope |url=https://www.shacknews.com/article/100419/shacks-arcade-corner-radar-scope |website=Shack News |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623061223/http://www.shacknews.com/article/100419/shacks-arcade-corner-radar-scope |archive-date=23 June 2017 |date=22 June 2017}}</ref> ''[[1UP.com]]'' criticized the lack of "tight design" as found in ''Galaxian'', and for its blaring and annoying sound effects. They said the third-person perspective is a unique innovation, imitated years later by games such as Konami's ''[[Juno First]]'' and Activision's ''[[Beamrider]]''.<ref name="1UP.com">{{cite web |last1=Ragan |first1=Jess |title=Where Were They Then: The First Games of Nintendo, Konami, and More |url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3181467 |website=[[1UP.com]] |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222352/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3181467 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |page=2 |date=2011}}</ref>

In 2014, Jeremy Parish of ''[[USGamer]]'' said that ''Radar Scope'' "belonged to the better class of [''Space Invaders''] rip-offs".<ref name="USGamer"/> He greatly applauded the 3D perspective for providing a unique sense of progression and depth.<ref name="USGamer"/> He was disappointed that the game is poorly recognized over the decades due to its rough history and scarcity, writing: "Sadly, ''Radar Scope'' tends to be brushed under the rug as a matter of no real significance: A failed game whose only positive contribution to gaming history was providing an opportunity for something better to come along. In truth, though, ''Radar Scope'' wasn't a poor game by any measure; its crimes were instead a simple matter of timing, and of being the focus of Nintendo's ill-conceived ambitions."<ref name="USGamer"/> He said that ''Radar Scope'' created a "lever" that allowed Nintendo to successfully propel themselves into the console market.<ref name="USGamer">{{cite web |last1=Parish |first1=Jeremy |title=35 Years Ago, Nintendo's First Brush With Video Disaster |url=https://www.usgamer.net/articles/35-years-ago-nintendo-had-its-first-brush-with-video-game-disaster |website=[[USGamer]] |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051532/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/35-years-ago-nintendo-had-its-first-brush-with-video-game-disaster |archive-date=2 May 2019 |date=21 January 2014}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Portal bar|Video games|1980s|Japan}}

[[Category:1980 video games]]
[[Category:Arcade video games]]
[[Category:Arcade-only video games]]
[[Category:Nintendo arcade games]]
[[Category:Shoot 'em ups]]
[[Category:Video games developed in Japan]]
[[Category:Video games scored by Hirokazu Tanaka]]
[[Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games]]