Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This little arcade commercial is a genuine piece of history, because Zaxxon was the very first video game ever advertised on television. Before 1982, nobody put video games on TV at all. Sega's parent company at the time was Paramount Pictures, and they produced this ad for a budget reported anywhere from a hundred and fifty thousand dollars up to a full million, with effects help from MAGI, the same company that did the effects for the movie Tron. And it worked. Sega credited the commercial with almost doubling Zaxxon's sales, and even rival arcade makers admitted it pulled brand new crowds into arcades. It basically invented video game advertising.
The game earned the attention too. Zaxxon was the first game ever to use isometric projection to fake a 3D view, and that is literally where the name comes from. Take AXONometric projection, pull out the AXXON, and you get Zaxxon. You fly a ship diagonally through these defended space fortresses toward a final robot boss, and the big new trick was altitude. Your ship could fly at different heights, shown by a gauge and by the shadow it cast on the ground, and you had to judge that height to clear walls and force fields. Nobody had seen anything like it in 1982.
It even had that classic bit of arcade logic where your fuel constantly drains, and you refill it by shooting fuel tanks. Makes total sense.
Zaxxon became one of Sega's first big arcade hits and its isometric look went on to influence years of games, from shooters to isometric RPGs. It got board games, handhelds, and home ports, and the best home version was actually on the ColecoVision, the only early port that kept the real isometric graphics while the Atari 2600 version had to flatten it out. The all time world record, if you are wondering, sits at over four point six million points, set way back in 1982.
Did you ever play Zaxxon in the arcade, and could you make it through those fortress walls? Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#zaxxon #sega #arcadegames #retroarcade #isometric #shootemup #coinop #80sarcade #1982 #firsttvad #arcadegaming #gaminghistory #retrogaming #colecovision #gameforestgf #youtubeshorts #gaming
This little arcade commercial is a genuine piece of history, because Zaxxon was the very first video game ever advertised on television. Before 1982, nobody put video games on TV at all. Sega's parent company at the time was Paramount Pictures, and they produced this ad for a budget reported anywhere from a hundred and fifty thousand dollars up to a full million, with effects help from MAGI, the same company that did the effects for the movie Tron. And it worked. Sega credited the commercial with almost doubling Zaxxon's sales, and even rival arcade makers admitted it pulled brand new crowds into arcades. It basically invented video game advertising.
The game earned the attention too. Zaxxon was the first game ever to use isometric projection to fake a 3D view, and that is literally where the name comes from. Take AXONometric projection, pull out the AXXON, and you get Zaxxon. You fly a ship diagonally through these defended space fortresses toward a final robot boss, and the big new trick was altitude. Your ship could fly at different heights, shown by a gauge and by the shadow it cast on the ground, and you had to judge that height to clear walls and force fields. Nobody had seen anything like it in 1982.
It even had that classic bit of arcade logic where your fuel constantly drains, and you refill it by shooting fuel tanks. Makes total sense.
Zaxxon became one of Sega's first big arcade hits and its isometric look went on to influence years of games, from shooters to isometric RPGs. It got board games, handhelds, and home ports, and the best home version was actually on the ColecoVision, the only early port that kept the real isometric graphics while the Atari 2600 version had to flatten it out. The all time world record, if you are wondering, sits at over four point six million points, set way back in 1982.
Did you ever play Zaxxon in the arcade, and could you make it through those fortress walls? Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#zaxxon #sega #arcadegames #retroarcade #isometric #shootemup #coinop #80sarcade #1982 #firsttvad #arcadegaming #gaminghistory #retrogaming #colecovision #gameforestgf #youtubeshorts #gaming
