Bosconian cover
SeriesBosconian

Bosconian

First release
Nov 20, 1981
Genres
Shooter, Arcade · Action, Science fiction

The object of Bosconian is to score as many points as possible by destroying enemy bases and ships. The player controls a small fighter ship that can move in eight directions and can fire both forward and backward. Each level consists of a number of green space stations that must all be destroyed to advance to the next level (a semi-transparent mini-map helps identify their location). Each station consists of six cannons arranged in a hexagon, surrounding a central core. The player must either destroy all six cannons or shoot the core to destroy a station, and in later levels the core is capable of defending itself. Additionally, the player must avoid or destroy asteroids, mines, and a variety of enemy missiles and ships that attempt to collide with the player's ship. Enemies occasionally launch formation attacks — destroying the leader causes all remaining enemies to disperse, but destroying all enemies in a formation scores extra bonus points. A spy ship (worth a random bonus value) also appears occasionally, which must be destroyed or the enemies will go berserk.

Also known as Star Destroyer

Attributes

No Attributes added.

Details

Storyline, release dates, time to beat, age ratings, modes, links, keywords

Release dates
Arcade
Nov 20, 1981
Arcade
Feb 1982
MSX
1984
All 6 release dates
Sharp X1
1987
Sharp X68000
Dec 01, 1988
Wii
Nov 17, 2009
Game modes
Multiplayer, Single player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Keywords
shoot 'em up, spaceship, space battle, digital distribution, pseudo non-linear
… All 8, shoot the core, retroachievements, wii virtual console

How it plays

Languages

  • Englishinterface, audio
IGDB · recorded 1 Nov 2026

Language data: IGDB · recorded 1 Nov 2026