Lost In Translation/Exterminator

Exterminator
Manufacturer	Gottlieb / Premier Technology
Released	1989
Control; Method	8-way Joystick; Dial; 2 Button(s)
Main CPU	(2x) TMS34010 (@ 5.000 MHz); (2x) M6502 (@ 2.000 MHz)
Sound CPU	Mono; DAC (@ 4.000 MHz); YM2151
Video; Details	Raster (Horizontal); 256 x 240 pixels; 59.56 Hz; 34,816 Palette colours
Screens	1
ROM Info	22 ROMs; 1,376,256 bytes (1.31 MiB)
MAME ID	exterm

This page is a stub for arcade games that are part of the Lost In Translation series using information based on MAME (version 0.113u2).
For an example of preferred content and layout please refer to Out Run or The Ninja Warriors.

About The Game

Exterminator is an arcade video game.

A wholly abstract approach to the shoot-em-up genre in which one or two players take control of a disembodied, digitized human hand and must kill the swarms of insects that have infested a street of houses.

Exterminator is set in a street of houses and players must move from room to room in each property, clearing each one of the infestation, before moving onto the next house. Each player can initially only grap or 'thump' enemies (the latter for ground-based, crawling insects), but a number of power-ups, such as bug spray and somewhat bizzarely, a laser firing finger can be collected to make progress a little easier.

Trivia

This was the first game to use digitized graphics for every element of the game. It was also the first and only videogame produced by Premier and the last to carry the 'Gottlieb' badge. Production numbers are estimated at only 250 units worldwide; the machines proved to be very unreliable in the field and the abstract gameplay was not a huge hit with players. The dedicated and slightly odd cabinet design made it less appealing to operators, since many other games that were being released during that time were conversion kits. Exterminator remains one of the boldest, if least successful moves to bring something genuinly original to an increasingly staid arcade industry.

Tips and tricks

On the first level inside the kitchens of houses one and 3, the freezer door swings open only once, releasing some floor-based enemies. If you get the hand in laser mode and shoot while the door is open, you will warp to the other house.

Staff

Designed And Programmed By: Warren Davis

Graphics By: Jeff Lee

Cabinet and Artwork

Exterminator cabinet.
Exterminator flyer.
Back of the Exterminator flyer.

Ports

Computers: Atari ST (1991); Amstrad CPC (1991); Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1991); Commodore C64 (1991); Commodore Amiga (1991)

External Links

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version of Exterminator at the World of Spectrum

The contents of this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The sources used include MAME (version 0.113u2) and history.dat (revision 1.28 - 2008-10-18).
Please see http://www.arcade-history.com for credits.