Panther

Panther is a Commodore 64 game designed and implemented by Peter Adams and published by Mastertronic in 1986. An Atari 8-bit family version followed in 1987, then a ZX Spectrum port in 1989. The player pilots a strange-looking aircraft, fighting off hordes of invading flying saucers and rescuing people by landing the craft and waiting for them to board. The game uses a diagonally scrolling isometric view, much like Zaxxon and Blue Max, using shadows to show the height of flying objects. Adams previously worked ports of both of those games. The Commodore 64 disk packaged Panther with L.A. SWAT, another Mastertronic game. The A-side of the disk contained the two programs for the C64/128, while the B-side contained Atari 8-bit family versions. Gameplay In Panther the player needs to pilot their craft across the landscape, shoot up the invaders and rescue survivors. To do this, the player has to land close to the bunkers as they appear on the screen and stay there until all the refugees reach the player's ship. At the end of each run, a capsule awaits to take refugees to safety. The aliens attack in waves, and the player's onboard computer indicates at the bottom of the screen the position of incoming units relative to the player's ship, as well as the number of shields remaining. The goal of the game is to achieve the highest possible score by rescuing as many people as possible.