1976 Midway Sea Wolf

Description: Sea Wolf, Midway, 1976, electronic video game version of Sea Devil (1970), a submarine game where the player looks through a periscope to shoot ships on a black and white video monitor with a color overlay. Midway 8080 class CPU game (like Amazing Maze, Desert Gun, Gun Fight, Space Invaders, Space Invaders Deluxe, Space Invaders II Cocktail, Top Gun, etc.) Timed submarine game where player looks through a large periscope to aim at ships moving across the top of the screen. Torpedos are launched with a thumb button on the right handle of the scope. Mines floating across the screen can block players torpedoes. Fast-moving PT Boat (worth most points) is hardest to hit. Game ends when time expires. Bonus time is added when player reaches operator-selectable point level. Players look through a periscope to aim at ships. A targeting cross-hair and the number of torpedos remaining are seen through the scope. When the player has launched five torpedos, a red "RELOAD" light comes on momentarily. These are not shown on the screen, but are back-lit transparencies reflected inside the scope. Likewise, when ships are hit on the screen, an explosion "light" is reflected inside the scope. Torpedos are fired by pressing a thumb-button on the right-hand periscope handle. The most memorable and distinguishing sounds from this game have to be the sonar and the sound of the PT Boat racing across the screen (oscillating, buzzing sound). The ROM chips tend to get warm and slightly pop out of their sockets. Random game behavior (strange shapes or garbage on the screen, or a game crash) can usually be cured by gently reseating the chips. Inspired by 1968 Sega EM game Periscope and Sea Raider (1/70) and Sea Devil (11/70). Also there was a dual player Midway Sea Wolf II that came out in 1978, which used a color monitor.



* Email the collector cfh@provide.net
* Go to the EM Arcade History index
* Go to the Pinball Repair/History index