Grobda

Grobda is a multi-directional shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1984. It runs on Namco's Super Pac-Man hardware (two Motorola M6809 microprocessors run at 1.536 MHz), but with a video system like that used in Mappy and The Tower of Druaga (modified to support horizontal scrolling, and a DAC is also used for the "Get Ready" speech sample at the start of each round). It is also a spin-off from Xevious, as the player's tank (which is the eponymous "Grobda") first appeared in that game as an enemy. The game was also the second of only five games from the company that displayed its year in Roman Numerals on the title screen (the first was the aforementioned "Tower of Druaga", which had been released earlier in the year).

The player must take control of Grobda, a tank trapped in an arena filled with numerous indestructible obstacles and several enemy tanks. When an enemy tank is killed, it will cause an explosion, and any other enemies that happen to be in the blast radius at the time will also suffer the same fate. But if Grobda is too close to the explosion, it will also be killed. Grobda has a shield that offers very temporary protection from enemy fire, but this will soon disappear if it is constantly under attack or shot.