Liberator/Walkthrough

Once you have inserted your coin into the cabinet of Atari's 1982 multi-directional shooter arcade game Liberator and pressed the Start Button, you will be greeted with the screen shown above, which depicts Cmdr. Martin Champion (of the "Atari Force" miniature comic book series) saying: "WARNING! LONG RANGE SCANNERS DETECT ENEMY SCOUTS IN YOUR SECTOR."; four of your cannons will then appear in all the corners of the screen, as they start flying through hyperspace and four Scouts fly towards them in an attempt to collide with them. Pressing the Shield Button shall have no effect here, so you shall have to fire a shot at each of them to kill them before they ram your cannons - and once you have done so, they will fly onward to the first planet (which looks a little like Earth, and rotates in an anticlockwise direction) as the text "LEVEL: 1. BONUS: X1. ENEMY BASES: 4" appears on the screen. The flashing red missile bases will then start firing missiles at your cannons which can be destroyed for 10 points apiece; Satellites will also occasionally appear to do the same (and they can be destroyed for 40 points apiece). Once you've destroyed all four of the missile bases, the cannons will fly towards the planet, and you'll receive a bonus of 100 points for every cannon you have remaining as the text "NEXT BONUS SHIP AT: X0000." appears on the screen, "X" is determined by what the arcade operator has set the "Bonus Life" dip switch setting to; if your performance was below the game's average, Cmdr. Champion will appear to say "HEY ROOKIE! TRAINING LESSON 1: CONCENTRATE FIREPOWER ON MISSILE BASES TO SUCCESSFULLY DESTROY YOUR ENEMY." A new planet (which is differently-coloured and rotates in a clockwise direction) will then appear, as the text "LEVEL: 2. BONUS: X2. ENEMY BASES: 4" appears upon screen - and this is when Saucers, which are worth 300 points apiece, are introduced.

After the third level, the cannons will start flying through hyperspace again as six more Scouts come flying towards them in attempts to collide with them.

After the sixth level (which introduces MIRV missiles), you will be greeted with another message from Cmdr. Champion, saying "TECHNICAL REPORT: NEXT PLANET LAUNCHES DEADLY FIREBALLS. HIT 4 TIMES TO DESTROY."; the cannons will then start flying through hyperspace once again as eight more Scouts fly towards them (in an attempt to collide with them). Once you have killed all eight of them, they will fly onward to the seventh planet.

After the ninth level, the cannons shall start flying through hyperspace yet again as ten more Scouts fly towards them (in an attempt to collide with them).

After the twelfth level, the cannons will start flying through hyperspace for a 5th time as 12 more Scouts fly towards them in attempts to collide with them.

After the fifteenth level, the cannons start flying through hyperspace for a 6th time as 14 more Scouts fly towards them in an attempt to collide with them.

After the eighteenth level, the cannons will start flying through hyperspace for a seventh and final time as sixteen more Scouts come flying towards them in an attempt to collide with them; once you have fired a shot at each of them to kill them, they will fly onwards to the nineteenth planet, but the game will reset and return to attract mode, so the only way you can enter your initials upon the high score table is to lose your last cannon before that can happen.