TRON GAME PLAY

Tron consists of four sub-games based on events and characters in the movie. In general, the player controls Tron, either in human form or piloting a vehicle, using an eight-way joystick for movement, a trigger button on the stick to fire (or slow down the player’s light cycle), and a rotary dial for aiming. The goal of the game is to score points and advance through the game’s twelve levels by completing each of the sub-games. Most of the 12 levels are named after programming languages: RPG, COBOL, BASIC, FORTRAN, SNOBOL, PL1, PASCAL, ALGOL, ASSEMBLY, OS, JCL, and USER. The game supports two players alternating.

At the start of each level, the player is taken to a “Game Grid” selection screen divided into four quadrants. The player must choose a quadrant, each of which corresponds to a different sub-game. The sub-game in each quadrant is not known to the player until it is selected. If the player fails the game and loses a life, they are taken back to this selection screen and an icon representing that game is now visible. Failure to choose a quadrant before an on-screen timer runs out results in a sub-game being chosen at random. Once the player completes a particular sub-game, it is taken out of play until the start of the next level.

The sub-games are as follows:

I/O Tower

The player must guide Tron to the flashing circle of an Input/Output Tower within a set time limit while avoiding or destroying Grid Bugs. This game is based on the I/O Tower scene in the film, while adding the Grid Bugs as enemies (which were only briefly mentioned in the film). A bit occasionally appears on the screen and can be picked up for bonus points.

MCP Cone

The player must break through a rotating shield wall protecting the MCP cone and enter the cone without touching any of the shield blocks. This game is based on Tron’s final battle with the MCP in the film, but changes the nature of the MCP’s shield. Bonus points are awarded for destroying every block in the shield.

Light Cycles

In a player-vs-AI variant of the Snake game concept, the player guides Tron’s blue Light Cycle in an arena against one or more yellow opponents. The objective is to force the enemy cycles to crash into walls, jet trails, or each other, while simultaneously avoiding them. When an enemy cycle crashes, both it and its trail disappear. This game is based on the Light Cycle Arena sequence in the film, though the colors of the friendly and enemy characters are reversed. This is the only sub-game in Tron to not use the rotary dial.

Battle Tanks

The player must guide Tron’s red battle tank through a maze and destroy all of the opposing blue enemy tanks by shooting each of them three times. The tank can warp to a random location in the maze by moving into a diamond in the center, and its shots bounce off walls or obstructions until reaching their maximum travel distance. In higher difficulty levels, the enemy tanks are replaced by red Recognizers that are much faster and attempt to collide with the player instead of shooting at him/her. This game is not based on any particular scene, but is rather based on Tank Program elements, including Clu’s failed intrusion into the ENCOM mainframe and the “Space Paranoids” game featured at the beginning of the film.

Tron was awarded “Coin-Operated Game of the Year” by Electronic Games magazine.

The New York Times reported that 800 arcade cabinets were sold in 1982. By January 1983, it was fourth on the RePlay arcade charts. The book The Naked Computer reported that Tron made $45,000,000 by 1983. In USgamer’s estimation 10,000 cabinets were sold and the game made more than $30,000,000 in revenue by 1983. In 1995, Flux magazine wrote, “Even many of today’s coin-ops can’t compete with the mighty Tron.”

Discs of Tron (1983) is an arcade game which was originally intended as a fifth segment of Tron but was left out because programming was not finished in time. In it, the player engages in disc throwing combat, similar to the film sequence. Discs of Tron was not widely released.

Two clones of the game, ElecTron (1984) and Kron (1983), were released for the TRS-80 Color Computer.

The light cycles segment of Tron has led to Snake games sometimes being called “Light Cycles” games, despite the concept dating from 1976. Some post-Tron snake games use themes or terminology from the film.

The 2004 Game Boy Advance game Tron 2.0: Killer App contains ports of the original Tron and Discs of Tron arcade games.

Tron was released for Xbox Live Arcade in January 2008, ported by Digital Eclipse and branded by Disney Interactive.

A miniature Tron arcade cabinet showing a looping video of the game’s attract screens is a mod that can be used to replace the supplied version in the Tron: Legacy pinball machine, released in 2011 by Stern Pinball.

In October 2021, Arcade1Up released a recreated cabinet of the original Tron arcade game.

Discs of Tron

This game was released just before the video game crash of 1983. This is the 2nd arcade game that was released after the original Tron  arcade game. Discs of Tron is a single game inspired by Tron‘s disc-battles. It is set in an arena similar to the one in the jai alai–style sequence.

The gameplay of Discs of Tron is based on several scenes in the Tron film, combining the jai alai-like combat between Flynn and Crom with the disc combat between Tron and Sark. The player controls Tron in a one-on-one battle with Sark, presented in a fixed three-dimensional view behind Tron. Using a control scheme similar to that of the original Tron arcade game, the player moves around with a joystick, throws discs using a trigger button, and defends with a thumb button. The player uses a rotary dial to move a targeting reticle around the arena walls, and in later levels the player can also pull up and push down on the knob to aim up and down.

Each match takes place in a closed arena on top of platforms made of concentric disks, like in the jai alai sequence. Tron and Sark attempt to destroy each other by either directly hitting their opponent or causing him to fall off his platform. Tron and Sark can each throw up to three discs at a time. Assuming it is not destroyed, each disc automatically returns to the player (destroyed discs regenerate). Tron can defend himself by hitting Sark’s discs with his own or by using a deflector, of which he has a limited supply. Sark can additionally attack Tron with high-speed missiles, chaser orbs, and “super chasers” (which consist of an orb and two orbiting disks), which cannot be deflected.

In later levels, platforms begin to move up and down vertically, requiring the player to aim up and down as well. Tron and Sark can bounce discs off the ceiling (similar to the energy ball in the jai alai sequence) with the goal of hitting one of their opponent’s platforms. If successful, the platform flashes briefly and then disappears, reducing the character’s movement or possibly causing him to fall and die. The platform reappears after about ten seconds. For some levels, a continuously scrolling wall of blocks appears between Tron and Sark; these blocks must be destroyed to open gaps in the wall before either character can hit the other.

The game has a total of twelve levels, with Sark becoming more aggressive throughout the game. Once the twelfth level is completed, levels repeat from six to twelve until the player runs out of lives.

The game’s concept originated as a 5th minigame for the original Tron arcade game, which was cut due to time constraints. The concept was then repurposed for Discs of Tron, using more advanced hardware.

*Some of the content information above was provided by Wikipedia and KLOV (Killer List of Video Games).

*Visit our main website https://cocktailhourentertainment.com

For More Information fill out our Contact Form