Zaxxon/Walkthrough

Good Zaxxon strategy means good flying abilities. A general strategy is to stay low when you're on the Space Platform and change altitude often when in outer space. If you consider Zaxxon an obstacle course, you basically understand the game. The following strategies will help to get you think about the game's design.

Flying over Walls
You'd better learn to navigate over Walls if you want to succeed at Zaxxon. Although you'll probably collide with one during your first few games, a little foresight will ensure accurate and consistent passage over all Walls. Always shoot at the Walls and Forcefields to observe where your shots are hitting. Adjust your position by this observation and then fly through the gap the the top of the Wall and below the Forcefield. This gets trickier as the game progresses, but test fire should ensure safe passage. When your shots continue on past the Wall and the Forcefield without exploding against either one, you're on course.

Respect Forcefields
Forcefields are dangerous. High point targets are often inconveniently placed just after the Forcefield. Therefore, you must learn to make quick sharp turns immediately after passing a Forcefield in order to maneuver into position to hit these targets. On later screens, beware of horizontally firing Guns which are designed to thwart such maneuvers.

Outer space
You must learn to survive the dogfight in outer space without loss of your ship. If you destroy 20 Fighter Planes, you're awarded 1,000 bonus points. This count includes any grounded Planes that you may have destroyed before you reach outer space. By all means, destroy the Fighter Planes. It is usually good strategy to change altitude immediately after hitting one to avoid being hit by its final shot.

Defeating Zaxxon
Confrontation with the Robot occurs on the second wave, the fourth wave, and so on. Your prime objective is to destroy the Robot's Cruise Missile. You get 1,000 points if the Missile is destroyed while still in its launching site in the Robot; 200 points if it's already launched. It takes 6 shots to destroy the Cruise Missile. Start firing as soon as the Robot appears. The Missile is located at a height of about 2½ marks on your Altimeter. As when negotiating safe passage over the Walls, fire constantly and gauge your position by where the shots are exploding against the indestructible Robot. Caution: If the Missile is launched, nail it. It is impossible to avoid. You must destroy it. If you don't destroy it, watch out: You're one dead pilot.