/me downloads a 26 kilobyte .zip and converts it to .deb for xmame. l33t 0-DaY WaR3z!
An arcade game released in 1980-1981 by Atari. Designed and written by Dave Theurer.
This game is one of the earliest "more addicting than drugs" games. The gameplay is simple enough, and the whole game experience is just simply hypnotic.
Tempest is a space game, somewhat similar to Space Invaders hit game but the action is shown from a different perspective. The game has just simple vector graphics and fairly simple sound effects.
You pilot a C-shaped space fighter that I personally like to call the "spider". Each level is a "tunnel" or "tube" of sorts; There are different shapes of the tunnels. Your fighter moves along the rim closest to the player. Space monsters (most common variety of which in the earliest levels is shaped like bow tie) crawl along the edges of the tunnel, and you move on the top of the tunnel and shoot the enemy as they approach. There are also other hazards, like spikes you must avoid when moving to the next level!
Your armament includes the zappers (known elsewhere as lasers), and, of course, the dreaded SuperZapper (known in other circles as smart bomb) that you can use once per level.
(Personally, I got the game from "Microsoft Arcade" collection, supposedly a 100% conversion of the game...)
The arcade game (revision 3) runs on Our Holy 6502 (with clock speed of 1.52 MHz - slight overclocking here? =) and has two "Pokey" sound chips.
MAME is pretty nice with this game because it gives antialiased vectors! ooo k3wl! =) I've been told this game rocks even harder than usual when played with LaserMAME.
Sources: http://markn.users.netlink.co.uk/Arcade/tempest.html,
information given by MAME.