Word Zapper is an Atari 2600 game written by Henry Will IV and published under the Vidtec label of U.S. Games in 1982. Word Zapper is a mixture of spelling and arcade gaming, in which a word appears at the bottom of the screen and then letters scroll across the top which can be shot to spell words.
The player controls a spaceship-like 'Zapper' which can move about the screen and shoot up, left, and right. The objective is to shoot the letters that spell the current word, in order, while shooting or avoiding asteroids in the lower portion of the screen. There are four types of asteroids, and each has a different effect if it comes into contact with the Zapper. The 'Doomsday' asteroid ends the game. The 'Scroller' asteroid mixes up the scrolling letters for five seconds. The 'Zonker' and 'Bonker' asteroids knock the Zapper to the side.
The game ends after being hit by a doomsday asteroid, after the 99 second timer runs down, or the ultimate goal of completing three words.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Word Zapper was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the
Atari 2600 can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB joystick that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a joystick, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
5 different online emulators are available for Word Zapper. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Word Zapper are summarized in the following table:
If you like Word Zapper you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
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This version of Word Zapper was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the
Atari 2600 can be found 
