Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

Tempest

Title	Tempest
First release	1981
Developer	Atari
Publisher	Atari, Inc.
Platforms	Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Arcade ADB
Genre	tube shooter
Players	1–2 playersADB
Wikidata ID	Q1340846

Defending a central structure against incoming waves of enemies defines this shoot-em-up. Players manage their positioning to intercept threats before they reach the core, utilizing the two-player mode to coordinate defenses. The gameplay focuses on reactive shooting to clear the screen of multiple approaching targets in a continuous arcade-style loop.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q1340846) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (zxspectrum/tempest) · last updated 2026-10-08 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

Arcade Database (ADB) (tempest) · last updated 2026-10-02 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`tempest`
Title at ADB	Tempest (rev 3, Revised Hardware)
Manufacturer	Atari
Year	1980
Genre	Shooter / Gallery
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Atari); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-02 16:29 UTC · filled here: platform, players

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Atari, Inc. · internal use only

1 / 7 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots (3): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Atari, Inc. · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art, Screenshots (3): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Atari, Inc. · internal use only.

Logo: Atari, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (“Tempest Logo.jpg”)

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

TEMPEST (ATARI ST - FULL GAME)

Zeusdaz - The Unemulated Retro Game Channel · Atari ST version · longplay · 1:18:28auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

TEMPEST (AMSTRAD CPC - FULL GAME)

Zeusdaz - The Unemulated Retro Game Channel · Amstrad CPC version · longplay · 1:48:18auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.