Targ

Port of the of the obscure Exidy coin-op of the same name, Targ is a simple yet strangely addictive action game that never saw a home port.  Originally planned as a CBS release, Targ fairly far along in the development process but shelved due to the crumbling video game market.  Targ was eventually picked up, finished, and released by Telegames as Universal Chaos.  However due to licensing issues, the graphics and name had to be changed.

 Targ's gameplay is simple, you must maneuver you ship (the Wummel) through the Crystal City and destroy all the enemy ships before they ram into you.  Sound easy?  Well there's a little catch, the Wummel is constantly moving forward through the maze at breakneck speeds!  It takes several seconds to slow down and turn the Wummel around, making it a risk proposition. This makes a relatively simple game much more challenging (and exciting).  The further you progress into the game, the faster the Wummel and the Ram ships will move.

Due to the limitations of the 2600, the 9x9 maze from the original coin-op has been reduced to 5x9.  This actually makes the game much harder as there is less maze to hide in.  Another change to this version is that the Spector Smuggler is absent.  In the arcade version every now and then one of the squares in the maze will open up and a new ship called the Spector Smuggler will appear.  The Spector acts just like the Ram ships, but shooting it is worth big bonus points which increase with each level.  The Spector is present in Universal Chaos, so one has to wonder if this omission is due to the CBS version being incomplete.

While an official release of Targ never came out, several unauthorized clones made their way to various platforms.  The most famous of these is Crossfire by Sierra On-Line which was released for many different computers including the Atari 400/800.  Targ's sequel, Spectar, was promised for release on the Colecovision, but this version too never saw the light of day.  While it's not exactly a sleeper hit, Targ is still a great game that deserved a better fate.  Just one question; exactly what is a Targ?

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