is a 1981 multidirectional shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was released by Midway Manufacturing in North America. The goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases using a ship which shoots simultaneously both the front and back.
Bosconian was commercially successful in Japan and received positive critical reception, but did not achieve the global commercial success of other shoot 'em ups from the golden age of arcade video games. It was ported to home computers as Bosconian '87 (1987) and spawned two sequels: Blast Off (1989) and Final Blaster (1990). Since its release, Bosconian has been regarded by critics as influential in the shoot 'em up genre.
Gameplay
thumb|left|A damaged enemy base (green) and another mid-explosion.
The objective of Bosconian is to score as many points as possible by destroying enemy missiles and bases. The player controls the Starfighter, a ship that can move in eight directions and fires both forward and backward simultaneously. Throughout the game, the Starfighter stays affixed to the center of the screen as it moves. The game also features a color-coded alert system with voice commands.
Additionally, the player must avoid or destroy stationary asteroids, mines, and a variety of enemy missiles and ships which attempt to collide with his or her ship. Enemy bases will also occasionally launch a squadron of ships in formation attacks — destroying the leader causes all remaining enemies to disperse, but destroying all enemies in a formation scores extra bonus points. Throughout the game, a digitized voice alerts the player to various events, such as incoming enemies or an approaching spy ship.
Development
Designer Seiichi Sato was tasked with coming up with ROM-swappable games using Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Rally-X boards. These all became Galaga, Dig Dug, and Bosconian. Sato originally worked on both this game and Galaga together with Shigeru Yokoyama, but the two gradually began working on just one game each. A woman from Namco's sales department was originally brought on to provide the game's voice lines due to the popularity of female voices in American science fiction. Her takes ended up being scrapped in favor of those by Hideyuki Nakajima, the president of Namco America at the time.
Reception
In Japan, Bosconian was the seventh highest-grossing arcade game of 1981, according to the annual Game Machine chart. Game Machine later listed Bosconian as the 22nd most successful table arcade cabinet of August 1983. However, the game was less successful internationally. Due to the rising popularity of Galaga and a shortage of arcade cabinets for the game, many of the Bosconian cabinets that were not selling were converted into Galaga cabinets.
Upon release, Bosconian received generally positive reviews. Video Games Magazine referred to the game as a "treat for Galaxian fans" and opining that, while it did not "break ground insofar as graphics, sounds, weaponry, and antagonists are concerned", it had "a terrific eight-way joystick that has great maneuverability".
Mike Roberts and Steve Phipps of Computer Gamer reviewed the arcade game several years after its release in 1985, stating it was "good value" and still "enjoyable" to play. In a retrospective 1998 review of the game, Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame wrote that the game's front-rear firing system, radar display, and alert system "help[ed] make the game a cut above the average shooter of the era". Beep! criticized the Sord M5 version of the game for its poor quality, low difficulty level, and the lack of features from the arcade original, such as the voice samples.
Accolades
Bosconian won the 1983 Arcade Award for "Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Coin-Op Game", beating both Atari's Gravitar and Sega's Zaxxon.
Sequels
Bosconian '87, a home computer port of Bosconian, was created by Binary Design and released for several systems, including the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in 1987. In 2003, PC Zone called Bosconian '87 a "spiffing little game", praising the game's soundtrack on the Spectrum 128. Sinclair Users Tamara Howard gave the port seven out of ten stars.
Bosconian, Blast Off, and Final Blaster were retroactively added to the UGSF timeline shared with Galaxian and other Namco arcade titles.
Legacy
Bosconian has been considered influential for other multidirectional shooters, and has been called "a granddaddy of the multidirectional shooter" by Retro Gamer. The game has also been released as part of Jakks Pacific's TV game controllers. Hamster Corporation re-released the arcade version as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in August 2023.
Among the games based on Bosconian was Draconian, a multidirectional shooter for TRS-80 Color Computer written by Mike Hughey and published via Tom Mix Software in 1984, then converted to the Dragon 32/64.