''Targ'' is a

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

shoot 'em up developed by Exidy and released as an arcade video game in 1980. It depicts vehicular combat in a future world. It was released in North America by Exidy in June 1980 and in Japan by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

in July 1980. It was listed by '' Play Meter'' as one of only two maze games among the top 20 highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980, which was dominated by space

shoot 'em ups Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

. Its success prompted Exidy to release '' Spectar'', a sequel with improved graphics, in July 1980. A port of ''Targ'' was developed for the Atari 2600 by CBS Games, but never released.

Gameplay

The locale, described by the game cabinet as "The Crystal City", is a 10x10 grid of roads demarcated by rectangular buildings. The player, piloting the ''Wummel'', which looks like a small green car, maneuvers through the maze trying to shoot enemies and avoid collisions with them. Most of the enemies consist of angry-looking red wedges known as ''Targs''. Occasionally, a small cyan-colored Spectar Smuggler appears; shooting it scores a significant bonus. None of the enemies shoot back; their sole means of destroying the Wummel is ramming into it. When all enemies are destroyed, a bonus is awarded and a new round starts. If the player takes too long to clear the board, the Targs' speed increases until they are traveling faster than the Wummel.

Reception

'' Electronic Games'' stated in 1983 that ''Targ'' had "one of the most unique approaches to the maze-chase contest".

Legacy

'' Attack Force'' for the TRS-80 is a clone of ''Targ'' released by Big Five Software in 1980. ''Targ'' was sublicensed to Centuri, who manufactured it in a cocktail version.

References

External links

* 1980 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Exidy games Shoot 'em ups Video games developed in the United States Video games set in the future {{shmup-videogame-stub