Retro Coin Op Synopsis

Sometime during the early history of the planet Earth, a race of beings called the Xevious developed an advanced civilization. The approaching Ice Age forced the Xevious to find a new planet, but they always planned to come back home. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, they did. Thus began Xevious, a Namco arcade game brought to the U.S. by Atari.

A classic vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up, Xevious sent your “Solvalou” craft into solo battle against the invading Xevious armies. In the time it took for the earthlings to react, the Xevious had already entrenched themselves into certain areas of the planet, forcing your Solvalou to mount both an air-to-air and an air-to-ground assault. Two separate buttons controlled your blaster and your bombs, allowing you to launch an attack on both areas simultaneously, aiming your bombing run with the crosshairs in front of your ship. Unfortunately, the Xevious could attack from the air and ground as well, putting your Solvalou into the heart of a deadly crossfire.

Since the object of Xevious was simply to shoot and bomb everything in sight, the programmers made sure there was enough of “everything” to keep the game moving. From flying rings and shiny metal ground targets at the beginning, the game moved on to tanks, speedy mini-jets, invulnerable flying mirrors and the enormous Andor Genesis Mother Ship, which could only be taken out with a direct bomb hit to its reactor core. As the game went on, the machine actually reacted to player skill, bringing out tougher enemies if the player was having too easy a time blasting the lesser foes.

A monster hit in arcades, Xevious ushered in a new wave of action games, as vertically-scrolling shooters became one of the most popular genres of the mid-to-late 80’s. A handful of sequels appeared over the years, including a more difficult 1984 update, Super Xevious.

In 1991, Namco released Solvalou, a 3-D sit-down version. And for all we know, the next sequel may come in the not-too-distant future, when the Xevious really do return to reclaim this planet. Keep watching the skies.

Arcade Machine Release History

1982 - Xevious
1984 - Super Xevious
1991 - Solvalou

Arcade Game Sub Categories

action

Machine Manufacturer

Namco, Atari

Other Arcade Game Links