Platform: Arcade
Region: NTSC-U
Country: United States of America
Developer(s): Tehkan Ltd.
Publishers(s): Centuri, Inc.
ReleaseDate: 1981-06-15
Players: 2
Co-op: No
Pleiades is a 1981 arcade fixed shooter video game developed by Tehkan and released by Centuri in the USA on June 15, 1981. In Pleiades, enemy ships fly at the player in waves in a similar fashion to games like Galaxian and Phoenix. Ships emerge from a mothership at the top of the screen and swoop downwards in a series of patterns which players must anticipate as they shoot the ships and avoid being obliterated by the Martian onslaught. There are four stages in the game. In the first stage the Earth space ship must defend the space station from Martian invaders who have the ability to transform from flying invaders, to walking invaders who build walls across the Earth city; these barriers must be destroyed. At the end of stage one the Earth space ship flies to the top of the screen to prepare to meet stage two. In the second stage the player encounters eight space monsters who must be hit directly on center to be destroyed before moving onto stage three. In this stage invaders emerge from a space ship at the top of the screen and swoop down on the player in sweeping attacks. In the final wave the player has to navigate through parked spaceships to dock on a landing pad as the screen scrolls downwards. Extra points can be gained in this stage by collecting flags as the player moves towards the landing corridor.
ESRB Rating: E - Everyone
Genre(s): Action | Shooter