Sea Wolf

Sea Wolf is an arcade game by Midway, originally released in 1976. A video game update of an earlier coin-operated electro-mechanical (em) Midway game, Sea Devil, it simulated a naval battle in a virtual submarine environment. The cabinet includes a periscope the player looks through to see the monitor, which also includes a fire button used to fire torpedoes at various targets on the screen.

Gameplay
The player looks through a large periscope to aim at ships moving across the virtual sea line at the top of the screen, using a thumb button on the right handle of the scope to fire torpedoes. The periscope swivels to the right and left, providing horizontal motion of a targeting cross-hair. The cabinet features a mixture of video game and older em technology for player feedback. Using back-lit transparencies reflected inside the scope, the number of torpedoes remaining are displayed, as well as a red "RELOAD" light which lights up momentarily when the player has launched five torpedoes. Additionally, when ships are hit on the screen, an explosion "light" is reflected inside the scope. A blue overlay is affixed to the screen to provide a "water color" to the sea. Sounds include a sonar ping and the sound of the PT Boat racing across the screen.

Sea Wolf is time limited, with the player having an opportunity to win bonus time by reaching an operator set score. The player's score is shown on the bottom half of the screen as well as the high score, the first known instance of a high score in a video game. Targets include destroyers, a fast moving PT Boat, and mines floating across the screen can that serve as obstructions.

Legacy
Sea Wolf was followed by Sea Wolf II in 1978.

In 2008, Coastal Amusements released a "retro video" redemption game based on the original Sea Wolf, released by Midway in 1976. It is a 3D remake.

Ports
In 1983 Epyx ported Sea Wolf II and another Midway game, Gun Fight, to the Atari 8-bit family, and released them in an "Arcade Classics" compilation.

A version of the game with text mode graphics was released for the IBM PC in 1982.