Pulsar

Pulsar was released to arcades in 1980 by Gremlin and later by Sega in Japan. Despite its unique mechanics and tense, shifting maze gameplay, it was never released on any home console or computer system. For decades, the original arcade version — now accessible through emulation — was the only way to play it outside of an arcade cabinet.

This video starts with original arcade gameplay of Pulsar, followed by a look at my in-progress home version for the ColecoVision.

I’ve been working on this project since August of last year. At this point, the core gameplay is in place, and I’m in the final phase — tightening behavior, tracking down edge cases, and adding sound effects.

One of the biggest challenges was adapting a game designed for a vertically mounted arcade CRT to a horizontal home system, while preserving the original feel and pacing. The goal wasn’t to shrink the game, but to keep how it plays intact.