Atari’s Tempest, one of the best arcade shooters of all time, will be getting a new lease on life next month with the release of the excitable Tempest 4000 for Nintendo Switch. From March 22, Llamasoft’s engrossing sequel will be available for download from the Nintendo eShop.
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Tempest 4000 is the latest installment in Dave Theurer’s famed shmup series, which premiered in 1981. Tempest 4000, like Llamasoft’s classic 1994 release Tempest 2000, keeps the series’ iconic “into-the-screen” gameplay while adding a kaleidoscopic pallet of colors and a bass-boosting dance soundtrack to the audio/visuals. The bright new iteration is showcased in all of its day-glo glory in the trailer linked below, which invites you to “Feed Your Head to the Web” and “Eat Electric Death.”
Tempest is a game in which the player controls a scary claw-like vessel through a series of odd geometric battlezones, blasting a variety of opponents as they slither their way up the infrastructure with blasters. Tempest was several years ahead of its time in terms of design when it was released in 1981, and its hectic, fast-paced, precise gameplay is still as appealing today as it was over 40 years ago.
The game Tempest 4000 is already available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam).