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Manufacturer:
Midway Year: 1981 Class: Wide Release Genre: Shooter Type: Videogame Monitor:
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1 Maximum number of Players: 2 Gameplay: Alternating Control Panel Layout: Single Player Controls:
Sound: Unamplified Mono (requires one-channel amp) |
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Gorf DescriptionThe player controls a spaceship that must blast its way through five missions, each a different challenge. The game features a pistol grip joystick and robotic speech synthesis that heckles the player during gameplay.Know anything more about this game? Cabinet InformationIn addition to the standard side-art and marquee, Gorf also has a lit, bottom decorative header, much like a marquee. This is located below the control panel. Unfortunately, the control panel was metal with screened on paint which tends to wear off.To the right of the screen, the player's "Space Rank" is displayed by a bulb that lights up the appropriate box. As well, the area directly above the screen in back-lit. Gorf has a total of five light bulbs for the marquee, and six for the rank display. The instructions and graphics on the control panel are not your typical control panel overlay. Instead, they are printed directly onto the metal of the panel. The result is that the graphics will erode and wear with use. Cheats, Tricks and BugsOn the Astro Battles screen, the last two invaders can be slowed down to a crawl if you fire like crazy. On the Laser Attack screen, if you shoot all the enemy ships except for the laser shooters, you can sit forever on the far left hand side of the screen.Game IntroductionThe player's goal is to defeat the Gorfian Empire in five separate missions. The first mission is like Space Invaders. The second mission pits the player against two squads of diving ships, each squad has a special ship that fires long laser beams. The third mission is like Galaxian. The fourth mission has the player fight a number of enemies that spiral toward the player shooting fireballs. The fifth mission has the player fight the Gorfian Flagship. The Flagship's shields must first be battered down, then the player must hit the Flagship in a tiny exhaust port in order to destroy it. The game then continues by sending the player through the missions again, which are harder than before. Each time the player destroys the Flagship, the player advances in rank. Starting out as a Space Cadet, the player moves on to Space Captain, Space Colonel, Space General, Space Warrior, and finally Space Avenger. The player's spaceship is equipped with a Quark Laser. This allows the player to cancel a poorly aimed shot and fire another shot. Game allowed player to start with double the amount of normal ships with the deposit of two credits instead of one.Game PlayGameplay is pseudo-alternating. Gameplay alternates when a player has successfully completed a mission. Play is then transferred to other player. If player does not complete mission, player continues playing until mission is completed or out of ships.MiscellaneousThis game was designed by Jay Fenton.Scarcity in collections (VAPS.org)Very Common - There are 140 known instances of this game owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 133 of them are original dedicated machines, and 7 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.Of the 52,012 video games (3,346 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 70 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records. Wanted - There are 10 VAPS members currently looking for this game. Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range. TechnicalOnly the game logic and RAM/ROM boards are specific to Gorf. The pattern board, cpu board, and RAM boards can be swapped out with other similar games, such as Wizard Of Wor.As bulbs burn out, only replace them with low wattage replacements. A wise move may be to replace them with flourescent lights that have standard bulb sockets. Flourescent lights will last longer (which makes bulb changes less frequent), produce less heat (which causes less damage to the marquees), and consumes less electricity (which lowers you energy bill). TriviaGorf was such a popular game that it was ported to most of the home console systems and personal computers of the time. One note about these ports was that the third (Galaxian) mission was removed due to licensing difficulties. Rather than being "Frog" backwards, GORF is actually an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force" according to an early flyer.eBay ListingsClick here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Gorf Videogame machine and items related to it.Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Midway. Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).
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