Tron The Popular Arcade Game
In 1982, Walt Disney created the movie Tron, which was inspired by the new video arcade games that were being released into the market at the time. Also in 1982, Midway created the coin-operated Tron video game, which was inspired by the movie that was inspired by video games. Confused yet?
Tron is obviously based on the movie, which is still hugely popular today. Actually, event from the movie were the basis for many of the sub-games within the main game. Some of the out-of-this-world characteristics that the game and film share include Light Cycles, Battle Tanks and the Input-Output Tower.
Light Cycles: Players must direct a blue Light Cycle inside an arena, while keeping away from walls and trails that have been created by the player's or their opponent's Light Cycle.
Battle Tanks: The red tank must be directed by the player to destroy a number of blue tanks and red recognizers, without taking any hits themselves.
Input/Output Tower: This feature is the same as Tron's search to visit the Input/Output Tower in the movie. To get there, players must destroy Grid Bugs with Tron's Disc.
The Movie
Tron was one of the first movies to use computer graphics, and was one of the most innovative films of its time. In fact, this movie was passed up for an Oscar for special effects because the team "cheated" by using a computer. Boy how times have changed. It wasn't long before using computers for special effects was common place, and Tron pretty much started it all.
Tron was inspired by the early video games. Artist Steve Lisberger was fascinated by video games, and wanted to make a movie that used them. By 1980 he was ready to take the idea to Disney, and the rest is history. Here's the premise: Hacker Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) tries to prove that his former employer stole his work by hacking into the ex-boss' mainframe. Instead of getting the information he needs, Flynn finds himself beamed inside the mainframe by a master control program, and ends up playing video games for real, and for his life. This movie was only marginally successful in the theatres, but rentals, home-video sales and merchandise have been extremely popular.
The Game
When Tron was introduced, there were three cabinets for the game: the standard upright, the mini upright and the cocktail table. The upright version was a tie-in to the movie, and had black lights and florescent lines that were similar to the circuit lines from the movie. And, they glowed in the dark! Each cabinet had a joystick, and the game could be played by one or two players, with each player having to take turns.
Tron is a game that was immensely popular, and is a huge collectors' item today. It makes a terrific addition to any collection, and if you can get your hands on one, it will be a popular game for your entire family to play all the time.
About the Author:
Howard Symington is the owner and managing director of Southern Star Amusements and Vending. Australia's leading Amusement, Arcade, Pinball, Redemption and Vending Machine Hire, Rental and Sales Company. For all your Pinball, Arcade and Amusement Machine Sales, Rentals and Coin Share Programs for your Pub, Hotel, Club, Company or Venue requirements visit Southern Star Amusements
Article Marketing
3 people like this article
