Blast Off

Blast Off is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1989 only in Japan. It runs on Namco System 1 hardware and is the sequel to Bosconian, which was released 8 years earlier.

As in the previous game, the player controls the Star Fighter. But this time, it is now always facing the top of the screen and moving forward, while the background scrolls down, bringing enemies into view. The player may destroy them for points.

The game has 2 buttons. One is used to fire shots at the enemies, while the other is used to change the Star Fighter's firing pattern. The patterns are as follows: By pressing and holding down the button, the Star Fighter will fire more powerful shots.
 * Red: two shots in a spiral pattern.
 * Blue: one shot straight ahead and one behind.
 * Yellow: one shot straight ahead, one left, and one right
 * Green: two shots diagonally forward (one to the left and one to the right), and one straight behind.

Even though the game is a sequel to Bosconian, Blast Off had more in common with Namco's own Dragon Spirit than with its predecessor. This is especially noticeable in the third area of every world, where the Star Fighter increases in size. Despite the gameplay differences, the connection with Bosconian was emphasized by Namco in the marketing of the game, with the hexagonal space stations from Bosconian appearing on the title screen and on the game's flyer, and also making appearances in the game itself.