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Gorf

Gorf - Japanese Title

Gorf - marquee

Manufacturer: Midway Manufacturing Co.
Year: 1981
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Shooter
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

  • Orientation: Vertical
  • Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
  • CRT: Color
Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:
  • Joystick: 8-way stick with trigger [Fire]

Sound: Unamplified Mono (requires one-channel amp)

Gorf


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Gorf Bezel Image


Gorf Description

The player controls a spaceship that must blast its way through five missions, each a different challenge. The game features a pistol grip joystick and robotic speech synthesis that heckles the player during gameplay.

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Cabinet Information

In addition to the standard sideart and marquee, IGorfI also has a lit, bottom decorative header, much like a marquee. This is located below the control panel. Unfortunately, the control panel was metal with screened on paint which tends to wear off.PTo the right of the screen, the players Space Rank is displayed by a bulb that lights up the appropriate box. As well, the area directly above the screen in backlit. Gorf has a total of five light bulbs for the marquee, and six for the rank display.PThe instructions and graphics on the control panel are not your typical control panel overlay. Instead, they are printed directly onto the metal of the panel. The result is that the graphics will erode and wear with use.

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs

On the Astro Battles screen, the last two invaders can be slowed down to a crawl if you fire like crazy. On the Laser Attack screen, if you shoot all the enemy ships except for the laser shooters, you can sit forever on the far left hand side of the screen.

Game Introduction

The player's goal is to defeat the Gorfian Empire in five separate missions. The first mission is like Space Invaders. The second mission pits the player against two squads of diving ships, each squad has a special ship that fires long laser beams. The third mission is like Galaxian. The fourth mission has the player fight a number of enemies that spiral toward the player shooting fireballs. The fifth mission has the player fight the Gorfian Flagship. The Flagship's shields must first be battered down, then the player must hit the Flagship in a tiny exhaust port in order to destroy it. The game then continues by sending the player through the missions again, which are harder than before. Each time the player destroys the Flagship, the player advances in rank. Starting out as a Space Cadet, the player moves on to Space Captain, Space Colonel, Space General, Space Warrior, and finally Space Avenger. The player's spaceship is equipped with a Quark Laser. This allows the player to cancel a poorly aimed shot and fire another shot. Game allowed player to start with double the amount of normal ships with the deposit of two credits instead of one.

Game Play

Gameplay is pseudo-alternating. Gameplay alternates when a player has successfully completed a mission. Play is then transferred to other player. If player does not complete mission, player continues playing until mission is completed or out of ships.

Miscellaneous

This game was designed by Jay Fenton.

CAPS/VAPS Arcade Census

There are 6,488 members of the Classic Arcade Preservation Society / Video Arcade Preservation Society, 3,729 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 61,165 machines (3,629 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 170 known instances of this machine owned by Gorf collectors. Of these, 160 of them are original dedicated machines, and 10 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

This game ranks a 80 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

Wanted - Popular - There are 16 VAPS members currently looking for Gorf. There is one VAPS member looking for a Gorf circuit board set.

This game ranks a 45 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

For Sale - There are 6 VAPS members with Gorf machines for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them even though arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses, while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up.

Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector.

In particular, since VAPS started out focusing on videogames, statistics for other types of machines should not (yet) be an indication of scarcity.

For a clue to value, look at absolute numbers of owners and potential owners above, compare a ratio of how many people want this game vs. how many people have this game (9%) and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

Only the game logic and RAMROM boards are specific to IGorfI. The pattern board, cpu board, and RAM boards can be swapped out with other similar games, such as IWizard Of WorI.P As bulbs burn out, only replace them with low wattage replacements. A wise move may be to replace them with flourescent lights that have standard bulb sockets. Flourescent lights will last longer which makes bulb changes less frequent, produce less heat which causes less damage to the marquees, and consumes less electricity which lowers you energy bill.

Trivia

Gorf was such a popular game that it was ported to most of the home console systems and personal computers of the time. One note about these ports was that the third Galaxian mission was removed due to licensing difficulties. Rather than being Frog backwards, GORF is actually an acronym for Galactic Orbiting Robot Force according to an early flyer.

Manuals

  1. Parts and Operating Manual  70 Pages, 5238 KB File.
  2. Parts and Operating Manual  42 Pages, 3492 KB File.
  3. Schematic  59 Pages, 4926 KB File.

Foto-Finder™

  1. The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 100; Color photo;

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Gorf Videogame machines and related items.

Click to search eBay for machines and parts made by Midway Manufacturing Co. .

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Gorf

1. GORF Upright Arcade Machine BY MIDWAY-SPACE MISSIONS!!

Auction ends in: 8 hours, 18 minutes

 eBay Stores (Fixed Price):
 
$1,095.00
 
2. Gorf CPU/MPU boardset from Bally Midway nice shape.

Auction ends in: 1 day, 12 hours

 5 bids
 
$40.00
 
3. Bally Midway Gorf 1980 Original Arcade Plastic Header

Auction ends in: 1 day, 20 hours

 0 bids
 
$14.90
 
4. GORF Video game marquee

Auction ends in: 3 days, 14 hours

 0 bids
 
$25.00
 
5. Original 1981 Gorf Arcade

Auction ends in: 3 days, 17 hours

 0 bids
 
$600.00
 
6. Gorf Harness and Transformers

Auction ends in: 5 days, 18 hours

 1 bid
 
$5.00
 
7. GORF VIDEO GAME MANUAL~by MIDWAY MFG.~ 1981

Auction ends in: 1 week, 2 days

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$25.00
 
8. Gorf joystick & harness for video arcade game Midway

Auction ends in: 1 week, 3 days

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$50.00
 
9. Gorf PC board set for video arcade game Midway

Auction ends in: 1 week, 3 days

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$50.00
 
10. Gorf PC board set for video arcade game Midway

Auction ends in: 1 week, 3 days

 BuyItNow:
 
$10.00
 
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Gorf - Cabinet Image
Photo contributed by: Joshua Glover


Gorf - Title screen image


Gorf - Title screen image

Gorf - Title screen image

Gorf - Title screen image

Gorf - Title screen image


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