Tail Gunner
Tail Gunner is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Vectorbeam in 1979. The premise of the game is that the player is the tailgunner of a large space ship. Enemy spacecraft attack the vessel in groups of three, and the player must aim a set of crosshairs and shoot the enemies before they slip past the player's cannons.
Tail Gunner
- Date
- 1979.
- Publisher
- Vectorbeam.
- Genre
- first-person shooter.
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Documentary summary
Tail Gunner is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Vectorbeam in 1979. The premise of the game is that the player is the tailgunner of a large space ship. Enemy spacecraft attack the vessel in groups of three, and the player must aim a set of crosshairs and shoot the enemies before they slip past the player's cannons.
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wikidata · Q7676061 · wikipedia · Tail Gunner
In this article
The object
The object
Because of the game's viewpoint, instead of appearing to fly into the starfield, the stars move toward the left and center of the screen. In addition to shooting down the enemy ships, the player is also given limited use of a shield that can block ships from passing. The game ends when ten ships slip past the player's cannon. The game was sold as Tail Gunner II in a sit down cabinet and its controls consisted of a single metal joystick with fire button integrated to the tip. Tail Gunners sound card was more complicated than any Cinematronics/Vectorbeam game before it. The cabinet uses the monitor's DAC to translate input from the joystick, so other games cannot necessarily be mounted in a Tail Gunner cabinet.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Tail Gunner • Developer — Vectorbeam • Publisher — Cinematronics • Designer — Dan Sunday Larry Rosenthal • Platforms — Arcade • Released — November 1979 • Genre — Shooter • Modes — Single player • Arcade System — Vectorbeam hardware
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
Explore 1979–2002
The full dated record · 3 entries
1979
Tail Gunner published.
1999
Tail Gunner (2 catalogued editions) (1999) is digitised and catalogued by Open Library.
2002
Tail Gunner (3 catalogued editions) digitised by Open Library.
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Tail Gunner stands. Issued for arcade video game. Published by Vectorbeam. Developed by Tim Skelly. Recorded as video game.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7676061: Tail Gunner
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Tail Gunner”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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