Midway's 1976 classic, Sea Wolf, is a submarine game where the player shoots boats and ships by looking through a faux periscope at a black and white monitor with a color overlay. Pressing a thumb button on the right handle of the scope launched the torpedoes. Targets included passing freighters, battleships, and the fast PT motorboat. Players had floating mines on screen that would block torpedoes from hitting their intended targets. The game is timed but bonus time is added when a certain score is reached (set by the DIP switches).
The unique feature/gimmick of Sea Wolf is the rotating periscope. The targeting crosshairs, number of remaining torpedoes, and a red "reload" light where not shown on the screen but on a back-lit transparency reflected in the periscope viewer. The crosshairs were moved by rotating the scope left or right. Explosions would also be reflected in the scope. The sound scheme was simple but memorable featuring a sonar 'ping' and the underwater oscillating sound of the PT boat buzzing by. The cabinet design was extremely detailed, featuring artwork on all three facing sides of the cabinet. There was also a small step at the bottom of the cabinet to enable shorter players to see through the scope. Due to the periscope being its defining gameplay feature, the Sea Wolf experience cannot be 'truly' emulated on any modern computer or game console.
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