Gorf (Arcade Longplay)

Released in 1981 by Midway.
Gorf has 5 distinct levels. Once completed you're promoted to the next ranking. After completing 6 loops and reaching Space Avenger, you've essentially beaten the game on its highest difficulty. I managed to complete 8 loops before being vanquished by the "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force".
A great game without question, which also utilises the same Votrax speech synthesis as Q*bert.

[@Halpin2006]

Whomever played this longplay of GORF for the video, YOU ARE AWESOME! Handling the Space Warp at that level is nearly impossible to get through!

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much , that's really kind. Space Warp and Galaxians are the toughest levels.

[@davidclifton6666]

I mastered it as well back in my younger years, reached space avenger and went several times beyond that.

[@SanjaySingh-oh7hv]

Some fantastic playing. I could never make out the actual words being said sometimes, and when you're a kid you hear things like, "You will be a Gorfian goon, space cadet." But yeah you've shown some magnificent vintage arcade play. Hats off to a fine performance. It was great fun watching a real master.

[@towerbridge04]

That's so kind, comments like yours make it all worthwhile. Thank you 🙂

[@brianorakpohit]

Watching this and remembering how it felt age 8 or 9 playing it is a time machine. I think its probably the greatest arcade game ever. The sounds, the computer voice, the massive explosions, the dynamism of the levels. It took Space Invaders and evolved it tastefully but transformatively. Also, youre really good at this game!

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much for your kind words, and yes it certainly brings back memories for us kids!

[@24theMoney]

Classic game. The sound effects and gameplay still hold up today.

[@towerbridge04]

Yes so many classic games back then. Wandering into an arcade and having a crowd watching were the best times.

[@cgraham6]

That flag ship. Holy cow, what an epic explosion! The sound alone dialed this game up to the next level.

[@Halpin2006]

And his method is simple. Destroy the flagship as quickly as possible. The longer you delay, the harder it will get to hit the reactor.

[@fermataoverawholerestasapun]

I have just learned about Gorf today and was born much to late to ever play it.... thank you for the very good gameplay video

[@towerbridge04]

Sounds like you missed out on the "Golden Age Of Gaming"

[@squifty]

A lot of my very limited disposable income went into this game back in the early 80's. Space Warp was always my favorite level, it was so satisfying when you timed it just right and hit those ships swirling around. Space Warrior was the highest rank I ever got. Nice to see someone make it to Space Avenger (and beyond). Well done!

[@towerbridge04]

Thank you my friend. I hear you about Space Warp, so satisfying when timed right but tough to achieve. Space Warrior is a terrific effort, well played!

[@MovingBlanketStudio]

Had this on the vic 20. Awesome game. Love how you could fire multiple times, but only the most recent blast would remain.

[@towerbridge04]

Ah yes, vic-20 was my cousin's first computer, top choice. My first was the Atari VCS which I still own (widely known as Atari 2600, but always Atari VCS to me!)

[@markenetube]

I could never get past level 3. I loved the way it talked. I had never had an arcade machine insult me before. "Spaaaace Cadet" LOL I have never seen anyone play this with such skill. You are brilliant.

[@towerbridge04]

That's very kind, the cheque is in the post to you!

[@dylanmatthews1484]

its even crazier when you get to 100,000 points , start going cross eyed. Can't beat 80s games , wow look where we are now , crazy how gaming has moved so far in 40 years , nice content Ray cheers. Cya's Space Avenger.

[@towerbridge04]

Glad to have been a kid during the 80s. Day trips to Southend-On-Sea with mum and dad are cherished memories. Thanks for your kind words.

[@Randy-ul5hy]

OMG!! I spent countless hours in 1981 at local taverns/bars sitting alone in a corner pumping quarters into this game and Phoenix game and drinking draft beer. I wish I had one for my man cave..LOL!

[@towerbridge04]

Each Friday evening after school I went with mum to the local shopping mall. I would stay in the amusement arcade playing games like Gorf, Berzerk, Pacman, etc for an hour whilst she went shopping and then afterwards we'd grab a bite in Wimpy. The chef fancied mum and would serve us an extra portion of chips!

[@Zoyx]

I've made Space Avenger, but you seem to be the better player. Good game!

[@towerbridge04]

Well played, Space Avenger is a great effort!

[@raggersragnarsson6255]

This was really a flagship game in any arcade at one time. The sounds were amazing at the time and they were so loud. I still haven't a clue what the speech sounds say to this day, but it really drew you in, especially if you were a Galaxians fan like me. I found it to be a pretty tough game. Didn't it have a large black joystick controller on the cab?

[@towerbridge04]

Great times. I can still smell the hash inside the shopping mall arcade.

[@stuartbarrow666]

I remember playing this one summer back in 1982 at Pontins and reached the End I thought I was so cool back then Lol...

[@towerbridge04]

The flagship explosion makes it cool and worthwhile! 1982 we were nippers but great times 😊

[@sfeather7088]

Dude...GREAT ROUND !!! No $hit........ I Love this game.

[@towerbridge04]

aw thanks so much. Really sorry for taking so long to reply (smack on the wrist!)

[@HNCOCA]

Smoothest graphics at the time and didn't the joystick have some lights built in? I remember the cool but indecipherable speech on this machine at our swimming pool bar in Cranleigh, UK.

[@towerbridge04]

Yes I think you're right, well remembered. It was at my local arcade in North London. Asteroids and Berzerk were either side.

[@Stabby666]

I liked Gorf, but it always felt like the machine was struggling to redraw the screen. The arcade hardware would show sheering and the framerate was all over the place! I'm guessing it was a bitmap display, instead of the standard tilemap+sprites.

[@towerbridge04]

I mostly noticed framerate drops during the Galaxians stage where they swooped down with bullets spraying everywhere. Never bothered me too much though. A wonderful game.

[@sa3270]

It is indeed bitmap. Same graphics chip as in Bally's home console, in fact, just more memory so double the resolution in each direction.

[@Nick-ov8sm]

Didn't the galaxians get taken out when got later releases???

[@towerbridge04]

Yes on the home ports due to licensing issues.

[@ChantingInTheDark]

I remember thinking this game was ahead of its time, it felt like you were getting more for your money because it had several rip offs of other games in it. But it was absolutely fricken nails!

[@towerbridge04]

The sound effects and speech really elevated what was already a great game. Galaxians and Space Warp were totally nails on the latter levels. Sorry for not replying earlier, won't do it again!

[@davecook9770]

My first acid party sounded a bit like this

[@towerbridge04]

Must have been fun then!

[@pannoni8449]

Space Warp= Tempest

[@towerbridge04]

Kinda, though your ship spins right round in Tempest. I would consider Gyruss closer to Tempest 😀

[@keithpaw]

well played

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much, and sorry for taking so long to reply.

[@horder2344]

I remember this being so loud in the arcades

[@andrewjames2617]

Lol right!? I do too it was always blaring!

[@Ian.eastwood5457]

Yes you walked past the machine and it said INSERT COIN in that robotic voice - Fantastic memories on seaside piers

[@towerbridge04]

@@Ian.eastwood5457 Yes great seaside memories with mum and dad. Berzerk would say 'coin detected in pocket'

[@securityrobot]

I wish I could remember every 10p I put into the machine. But then there was spinning-that bumped up the credits!

[@binaryanticommunist1882]

One of the all time greats.

[@Q3ToPBuZz]

When I was a kid I worked at Pontins at the weekends in the arcade. I spent so much time on this game that I could literally just play it without dying until I got bored. It just repeats over and over. Isn't it amazing how music and sounds bring back memories so clearly.

[@towerbridge04]

Wow, mastering this is some achievement. Very well played, and thanks for sharing your story! Music is eternal and brings many emotions and memories.

[@truckstar2007]

I remember playing this at Pontins on the Isle of Wight! Is that where you worked?!

[@johndaarteest]

Tunes, sounds and smells are the pins that transfix the butterflies of our nostalgic memories.

[@MisterCreamyDude]

Thats some great skill there! I played this to death back in the arcades in '82 onwards and I never got that far! Well done! Thanks for sharing, one of my favourites back then as it was 6 different mini games all in one. Mr Horder is right this was mega loud in the arcades and I loved the alien speech, even if I had no idea what they were saying!

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much, it's a great game. I've never been able to shoot the Gorf character when he briefly appears on the Galaxians stage. Maybe one day!

[@london19657]

Can't thank you enough for posting this. Great stuff.

[@towerbridge04]

That's so kind. You're more than welcome.

[@dalyb7555]

yep i second that, thank you. fecking huge part of my early youth was gorf and all things arcade.. dont think i ever made it to far in gorf,,,, it was fecking hard.. maybe got to 5th round ,maybe, or general in rank.. 👍

[@towerbridge04]

@@dalyb7555Thanks and sorry for taking so long to reply. 5th round is a top effort, well played!

[@DeskoDev]

Ah, Gorf. A Hatsune Miku classic.

[@towerbridge04]

A wonderful game and memories of visiting the arcades

[@marcellachine5718]

Fun fact, gorf was going to be a star trek the motion picture game.

[@towerbridge04]

Oh really, didn't know that. Another fun fact, the coder's nickname was Frog (Gorf backwards).

[@JohnS-er7jh]

Thanks for posting. When I was a young teenager, I was really hooked on arcade video games (during the golden era), I must have played hundreds of different arcade video games. Gorf was my favorite of them all, I just really liked the intensity, the graphics and the sounds.

[@towerbridge04]

Same here. Loved visiting arcades back in the 80s. Great times. Thanks for commenting!

[@MrSolar.]

I remember this game in the 5 and 10 store. Was a fun game. Nice game play.

[@towerbridge04]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 🕹

[@SuperVexxy]

@@towerbridge04 yes yes - Really Really Nice Gameplay !! I Just remember me at Wizard of Wor, and found out that Gorf use the same Sound and Grafik Engine.

[@towerbridge04]

@@SuperVexxy Gorf, Wizard Of Wor, Berzerk.....the speech and memories!

[@PhilMoskowitz]

The only arcade video game I was ever really good at. People would gather behind me to watch as I worked my way up to Space Warrior an Space Avenger.

[@towerbridge04]

Really well played, that's a wonderful achievement. Having a crowd of people watching over you were the best times.

[@ctg6734]

Man! The sounds of this game really bring back memories! I love the taunts from the Gorfian commander, and the way the sound effects keep you in a perpetual state of alarm.

[@towerbridge04]

Absolutely, and proof that atmosphere can be created with minimal sound channels.

[@20thcenturygamingc64]

Ray you have nerves of steel. It gets bloody hectic. Top skills man.

[@towerbridge04]

Sorry for taking over 2 years to reply. It's certainly getting plenty of love.

[@weevie833]

7:50 We always thought it was saying "You will be a Gorfian food, spay-ees gen-er-uhll" I think that is actually worse than meeting a Gorfian doom.

[@towerbridge04]

Being eaten alive is unquestionably worse than being shot!

[@Nhamp2000]

Can someone tell me what the game says just before it starts?

[@towerbridge04]

Long live Gorf. My Gorfian robots are unbeatable.

[@Nhamp2000]

Thanks. 40 years of wondering.

[@towerbridge04]

@@Nhamp2000 You'll sleep well tonight 😊

[@rocker-barrel4786]

Great post!! Im 15 again!! :)

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Stay young and retro, and glad your washing machine is fixed 🙂

[@eandatoo]

This was always my go-to game in 1982 when I was in eighth grade. I saved my lunch money to play these games everyday. I never got really good at it but I still loved it. Thanks for sharing.

[@towerbridge04]

Same here, me and a friend would sometimes skip lunches for 2-3 weeks then travel from London to our nearest seaside resort (Southend-On-Sea) at the weekend and spend the day there. Thanks for watching, and sorry for the delayed reply.

[@wleon4068]

Another game I was absolutely addicted to in the arcades back in the '80's.

[@towerbridge04]

Miss the arcades how they were back then!

[@antonyconnolly2738]

I played this & 'Defender', at an Arcade in South Shields, U.K., in the 80s & was impressed by the 3D-looking Graphics & sparkling Pixel Colours. Also, 'GORF' was one of the 1st, with Speech Synthesis. Back then, each Pixel in the Screen was big enough, so You could see how the RGB colours were used !! The Graphics Card worked hard on these Games !!! 👍🏻😀

[@towerbridge04]

Berzerk and Wizard Of Wor were also memorable for their speech around this time period. All top games!

[@antonyconnolly2738]

The Speech was quite difficult to understand, but if You bear in mind, this was before Speech Sampling came along, so each Word was formed using multiple sound-bytes, it is still impressive !!!

[@gl1500ctv]

Makes me so nostalgic of those days where as a pre-teen I couldn't wait to go to Putt-Putt to play their games. Five dollars worth of quarters felt like a small fortune! My parents even set up a birthday party with all of my friends at a local arcade, with free games for all. I like modern day gaming, but there's this visceral taste and smell of arcades back in the eighties. I'm sure previous generations had similar feelings from their childhood. Live life today, because you can never go back!

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much for sharing your story and sorry for the delayed reply. Your mum and dad sound really cool, bless them both. During my pre-teens each Friday after school I'd go with mum to the local mall. She'd go shopping for an hour and I'd be in the arcade. There was always a smell in there which I later recognised as hash. Mum would collect me and we'd usually visit Wimpy for buger and chips. The chef fancied mum (she was happily married!) and would serve us an extra portion of chips. So funny looking back!

[@WinslowLeach1974]

That's some killer playing. The Space Warp round was my bad luck round, I was always lucky to get through that one the 2nd or 3rd time. The flag ship blowing up is still one of the coolest classic arcade sound FX ever. Great game!

[@towerbridge04]

Survivng every Space Warp was seriously lucky; should have bought a lottery ticket that evening!

[@dylanmatthews1484]

when i was 12 i clocked this machine , i felt like a king in the arcade , totally love this game , its in my top 5 arcade games . Loved tron , Defender , scrambler and Galaga.

[@towerbridge04]

That's a mighty impressive achievement. Could never get into Defender, too many buttons to master, but enjoyed watching others play!

[@dalyb7555]

brilliant game, i took the flagship out once with one shot first bullet

[@towerbridge04]

That's some sharp shooting, well played! Sorry for taking over a year to reply (must do better!)

[@HeroQuestFans]

ah yes, the game that taunts you... and makes you feel like you broke the machine when you destroy the enemy flagship (I never made it out of space cadet!)

[@towerbridge04]

There was also an early 80s game called Pisces where the guardian smiled after destroying your ship. That really irritated my friend! Sorry for taking such a long time to reply.

[@soundspark]

I don't remember the Space Rank. Were those lights on the machine that lit up as you ranked up?

[@towerbridge04]

Yep, there should be a few images on Google.

[@Bammer2001]

How did Bally Midway earn the license from Taito and Namco to make this?

[@towerbridge04]

Sorry for the delayed reply. That's a very good question! The home conversions didn't include the Galaxians stage because Namco owned the licence.

[@Foxonian]

Hate to tell you how many quarters I wasted playing this game at the old 7-11 back in the day.

[@towerbridge04]

Join the group! Fun times 🙂

[@crazyman8472]

Nice shootin’, Tex. 😎

[@towerbridge04]

Ghostbusters?

[@crazyman8472]

@@towerbridge04I ain’t ‘fraid of no robots! 🤖

[@towerbridge04]

@@crazyman8472hehe. One of my mum's fave films (I like it too obviously!)

[@pedropedrocki6317]

You know what you are doing! I have only made it to Space Avenger but never beat it.

[@towerbridge04]

You should be very proud of getting that far. I always wanted to hear the speech after completing Space Avenger, given there are no further promotions, and still unsure what it says!

[@dallase1]

What did he say when you blew up his Flag Ship as a Space Avenger?

[@towerbridge04]

Good question, wish I knew!

[@joshendebar]

Now i know where my Money is, It was was a Great Time. THX for this

[@towerbridge04]

haha money well spent. Great times indeed.

[@bigjohn1717]

I have 2 of these in storage buried, I need to go dig them out....!

[@towerbridge04]

Do it! Would love to see a video of you firing it up!

[@galenstone9097]

I used to be aces at this game. Good memories.

[@towerbridge04]

Remember the times when people watched over your shoulder.

[@lalissesebastien1891]

Looks superb !!! And this voice is used in the Radiohead album Ok Computer !!!

[@towerbridge04]

Ah didn't know that. Wonder what track that was!

[@lalissesebastien1891]

@@towerbridge04 Fitter Happier, the sound is not exactly the same but very close in the idea, to my ears...

[@rayalexander411]

Kirk V Gorf kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6akl4KumpWMgsUsi=haU9CCde_DcayTdN

[@towerbridge04]

Very good, well done.

[@nuttyprofessor]

It's like space invaders meets galaga/galaxian meets phoenix

[@towerbridge04]

You can't go wrong with those games ⚡✊

[@herds22]

never saw this one in the arcades; i think i was too young. But it was my fav game on the VIC20

[@towerbridge04]

I had an Atari 2600 and my cousin had a VIC-20. I was slightly envious of him!

[@herds22]

@@towerbridge04 i couldn't get enough of either one, tbh. At least until the C-64 came out. No, wait... that's not true. I still went back for more Gorf, occasionally.

[@towerbridge04]

@@herds22 C64 is my fave ever computer. Sold it to buy an Amiga and wish I hadn't - young and stupid! Just uploaded the best C64 tunes, and top 100 coming end of this week.

[@psterud]

One of the greats from the day. Similar to Phoenix, another great game. It was a small revolution when games had multiple levels that borrowed from other successful games like Space Invaders and Galaxian. So much fun. Gorf is in my top five arcade cabinets, a bucket list game to maybe own someday. Thanks for the cool video.

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks for your kind words and apologies for the delayed reply! The Galaxians level is really tough, it was omitted from the home ports presumably due to licensing issues. Look forward to your next restaurant video 😀

[@jeopardy60611]

This game fascinated me so much! I was so fascinated with computerized speech like what Gorf has that I ended up doing a Net-By-Phone system that read email and web pages over the phone with computerized speech.

[@towerbridge04]

It's wonderful that games like Gorf, Berzerk, and others of that era inspired you in this way. Very well done.

[@jeopardy60611]

@@towerbridge04 That's right. I did play Berzerk, as well as Wizard of War, and there was also a talking chess computer, and I learned about TRS-80 computers which had a voice synthesizer add-on.

[@aytviewer2421]

This was my game in high school. I was awesome at it! Lord knows how many rolls of quarters I dumped into this game during the early 1980s. But yeah, I got to where I could play for an hour or more per quarter. Miss those days!

[@towerbridge04]

Yes mate they were the best times! I'm grateful to have been a kid back then who had the opportunity to play games in amusement arcades and cafés!

[@detroitpyro2859]

Man i remember this at 12 years old arcade at the mall i played for hours

[@towerbridge04]

So many great games to choose from. Being in an arcade during the 80s were great times.

[@24theMoney]

One of the few games where you could put in two quarters and double your ships to start. Brilliant!

[@towerbridge04]

Yes a novel feature for the time! It wasn't until the mid 80s that games provided the opportunity to buy additional lives by continuing.

[@KeithFroehlich07]

What a badass performance on this video game by the player. Well done.

[@towerbridge04]

Thanks so much and sorry for taking so long to reply!

[@michaelhughes3273]

Gorf, Tempest, Missile Command, Robotron 2084, Defender, Joust, etc. This was waaay before the internet, hanging out at the arcade on weekends.

[@towerbridge04]

Amen brother, great times.

[@cathynjohn]

Forgot how good this game was, it had a little bit of everything

[@towerbridge04]

A classic, timeless game. Sorry for taking over a year to reply!

[@TangoDragonfruit]

You know, when the game starts lagging on hardware that it was designed for, you know stuff is getting real.