Astron Belt

Astron Belt is an early laserdisc video game and third-person space combat rail shooter, released in 1983 by Sega in Japan and licensed to Bally Midway for release in the United States. Developed in 1982, it is commonly cited as the first laserdisc game. The game's unveiling at the 1982 AMOA show in Chicago marked the beginning of laserdisc fever in the videogame industry, and its release in Japan the following year marked the first commercial release of a laserdisc game. However, its release in the United States was delayed due to several hardware and software bugs, by which time Dragon's Lair had beaten it to public release there. Nevertheless, Astron Belt did manage to beat Dragon's Lair to public release in Europe. 

Overview
Astron Belt is basically an enhanced version of the simple space-shooters that were popular at the time. The player controls a lone spacecraft on a mission to singlehandedly take down the entire enemy armada. Enemy fighters and ships shoot at the player, and there are mines and other objects that must be shot or avoided.

The game is divided into waves. At the end of each wave is a command ship that must be destroyed. In later waves the enemy fighters move and shoot more aggressively, and their shots are more accurate. Some waves take place in open space, while others require the player to battle enemies while flying through narrow trenches and tunnels.

The player is on a timer at the beginning of the game, with an unlimited number of lives available. The length of the timer can be adjusted by the machine operator, but is normally 60 seconds. After the timer expires, the player is given a limited number of additional lives. When all of those lives are lost, the game ends.

Astron Belt came in both upright and cockpit cabinets. The cockpit version featured illuminated buttons on the control panel, a larger 25" monitor (the upright used a standard 19"), and a vibrating seat. 

The background videos used in the game are a mixture of original artwork and borrowed material. In addition to the scenes created specifically for the game, the designers also incorporated footage from three science fiction movies: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Battle Beyond the Stars, and a Japanese movie called Message from Space that was released by Toei in 1978.

A common complaint about laserdisc games is their linearity. Many, like Dragon's Lair, are glorified "rail" games where the player's path is predetermined by the program; to beat the game, the player only has to memorize the proper sequence of joystick and button movements for any given scene. In Astron Belt, however, the laserdisc only generates the images of the backgrounds and the enemy fighters. The hazards, including the enemy laser blasts and the space mines, are randomly generated by the game's main program in response to the player's actions. This makes Astron Belt much more player-driven than scene-driven, unlike the majority of laserdisc titles.

Technical
Astron Belt used one of four laserdisc players, either a Pioneer LD-V1000 or LD-V1001, or a Hitachi VIP-9500SG or VIP-9550. Two different versions of the laser disc itself were also pressed, a single-sided version by Pioneer and a double-sided version by Sega. However, both discs have the same information and may be used in any of the four players.

Legacy
Astron Belt performed modestly well in the arcades, but not nearly as well as Dragon's Lair or Space Ace, which set the gold standards for successful laserdisc games.

Sega and Bally Midway released a sequel called Galaxy Ranger (also known as Star Blazer) in 1984. It had the same controls and very similar gameplay to Astron Belt, and one machine could be converted to the other by simply changing the laserdisc, game ROMs ROM and the sound board.

To date, Astron Belt has only been ported to the MSX Computer System.