Assault (1988). Play online

Summary

Assault, the 1988 top‑down twin‑stick shooter from Namco (distributed by Atari in the U.S.), still feels fresh thanks to its combination of fast‑paced action and unusual controls. You pilot a caterpillar‑tread gun‑tank using two joysticks: push both forward for movement, split them to turn, and fling them outward for a “Power Wheelie” that launches grenades. The same setup lets you perform rapid side‑rolls or even flip the whole vehicle, a rarity for arcade games of the era.

Eight distinct environments—deserts, forests, river runs, and massive mechanical complexes—make up the eleven stages, each capped by a huge boss mech. Lift zones raise the tank into a zoomed‑out view, while jump pads catapult you skyward for a blast of missiles, letting players trade ground‑level dodging for aerial firepower.

The arcade cabinet ran on Namco’s System 2 board, enabling sprite scaling and rotation that impressed critics. Shinji Hosoe’s soundtrack and character designs by Gundam veteran Kunio Ogawara add a polished flair. After winning several Japanese awards, Assault found a second life in Namco Museum Vol. 4, where fans still cite it as a hidden gem.

Storyline

In the year 2199 Earth hits its maximum population, prompting the massive starship Pilot 1—carrying 3,000 crew, including 2,000 soldiers—to scout the galaxy for a new home. 35,000 light‑years from the Milky Way the ship finds a habitable world of floating continents populated by an advanced but largely peaceful native civilization. Humans subdue the natives, seize the planet and begin fortifying it with massive weaponized structures, fearing a future uprising.
In the game Assault on Arcade, a lone native tankman rejects the human occupation. He pilots a caterpillar‑treaded self‑propelled gun, launching a one‑man war against the thousands of human invaders. The struggle becomes a desperate fight for the planet’s freedom, pitting a single warrior against an entrenched alien empire.