Omicron

Survive 16 waves of 15 enemies each. Your ship starts at the top left and drifts on its momentum as you thrust, and everything bounces off the edges of the screen and off the status board in the middle. Hold the button and push the stick to turn, so you can fly one way and shoot another. Dark blue drifters are harmless, cyan bombers leave mines, nets and bombs behind them, yellow destroyers are twice as fast and fire at you, and in the last three waves orange battle satellites fire, bomb and bounce fast. Most bombs can be shot for points, but the indestructo cannot. A lost ship restarts the wave. Clearing a wave on the first try earns 1000, and bonus ships come after waves 4, 8 and 12. There are four skill levels, from ROOKIE to EXPERT.

Controls: Use either joystick. The stick thrusts. Hold the left button and push the stick to turn the ship; the left button also fires, again and again while held. The right button pauses. The keypad is not used.

ColecoVision version credited in the source to Claude (an AI made by Anthropic) for Amy Studio, in Amy, the language by Amy Bienvenu, 2026: a reimagined adaptation of the published rules. From COMPUTE!'s Gazette, April 1987, page 44: original Commodore 64 program by Sean Wagle. Built from the article's rules; the original was machine language and its code was not used. This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.