Lost In Translation/Targ

About The Game
Targ is an arcade video game shoot-em-up.

Your town is invaded by Targ riders, you must manoeuvre the heroic vehicle Whummel to destroy them. From time to time, a Spectar comes into screen, and can be destroyed for extra bonus.

Action takes place into a 9x9 grid, 'Crystal City', where the player's vehicle must avoid and chase down 10 enemy wedge-shaped vehicles. When all enemies are destroyed, you are awarded an extra bonus and can access the following level. 2 players can alternate in the game. Progressing in the game-play causes the Targs to become faster and smarter, for a fast and furious game-play.

Trivia
Released in June 1980.

Targ was the first 'fantasy theme' game.

While in that period many western companies licensed games from Japanese developers (Exidy itself licensed Nintendo's "Sheriff" as "Bandido"), Targ is one of the few western games that made it in the opposite way, being licensed by Sega for Japanese distribution.

Targ is short for 'Target'. 'Spectar' stands for 'Special Target'.

Scoring
Scoring in this game is pretty easy although it is done a bit differently. You will be given the score value of a Targ Ramship at the beginning of each level. This is how you can figure out which level you are currently on.

Targ Ramship : 10 points x level

Spectar Smuggler : 100-900 points (by 100's)

You also get a bonus for completing a level. The bonus is 1000 points x level number.

Tips and tricks
When you start the game, your Wummel will be in the bottom right corner of the screen. There will be 10 Targ Ramships at the top of the 10 vertical lanes.


 * Learn how your Wummel operates. You can go pretty fast in one direction. To turn around, though, takes a little time since you have to slow down before you turn around. You can use this deceleration, though, to your advantage to trap enemy units and sometimes get multiple kills.


 * You can only have one missile on the screen at any one time. Plan your shots accordingly. In addition, you can only fire forward.


 * All enemies on the screen will avoid trying to be in front of your Wummel. That means you must quickly get in front or behind them so they don't veer off to avoid your fire. This means you may have to plan a few ambushes to take out the enemies.


 * All the enemies (Targ Ramships and Spectral Smugglers) only move at full speed. This can work to your advantage since if they are coming at you, you can decelerate your Wummel and pick them off.


 * If you must turn around quickly, the easiest (and best) way to achieve this is to go around the blocks. Three right turns can turn you from the hunted into the hunter. In addition, this is great for setting up ambushes and taking out the enemy ships quickly.


 * Try to isolate enemy ships. If you try to take on a 'pack' of them, you will lose since there are so many different directions that the enemy ships can come from.


 * During the first three levels, you have enough speed to avoid your attackers. This changes on level four and beyond as the enemy ships can easily outrun your Wummel. This means you will need to make very quick turns in order to get behind them.


 * Also, if you take too long on a level, the enemy ships will speed up to make quick work of your Wummel.


 * As you progress through the levels, the enemy ships will get 'smarter' and attempt to corner your Wummel. Your safest action is to avoid being trapped while picking off individual enemy ships to even the odds.

Optical Illusion
Nifty little trivia note : The game screen is an optical illusion. If you stare at the yellow boxes, you will see yellow circles form at the intersections. Nothing that affects game play but still interesting.

Series

 * 1) Targ (1980)
 * 2) Spectar (1980)

Ports

 * Computers :
 * Tandy Color Computer (1983, "Storm Arrows")
 * Commodore C64 (19??)