Thexder

Thexder (テグザー) is a run and gun video game from Game Arts, originally released for the NEC PC-8801 in 1985. It was ported to many systems, including the Famicom.

Gameplay
In Thexder, the player controls a fighter robot that is able to transform into a jet and shoot lasers.

Release
The game was originally released in 1985 for the NEC PC-8801 platform in Japan. Game Arts licensed Thexder to Square in order to develop a conversion for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game console. In 1987, Game Arts also developed a Thexder conversion for the MSX platform. The game was licensed to Sierra Entertainment for release in the United States. Sierra ported the game to multiple platforms, including the IBM PC, Tandy Color Computer 3, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Apple Macintosh, and Tandy 1000. In 1988, Activision released the game in Europe on the Commodore Amiga. D4 Enterprise was re-released for the Nintendo Switch on October 26, 2023 in Japan as part of the EGG Console.

Reception
Thexder quickly became a best-selling hit, selling over 500,000 copies in Japan by 1987. The PC-8801 platform was only popular in Japan and, despite home market success, Thexder garnered little attention abroad initially. With the conversion for the MSX (the best-selling platform in Brazil and many Eastern European countries), it became an international hit. It became the company's best-selling title of 1987. By 1990, the game had sold over one million copies worldwide.

Compute! praised the Apple IIGS version of Thexder as the computer's "first true arcade game" with "excellent play value for your dollar". In 1988, The Games Machine gave the Amiga version a 74% score. In 1991, Dragon gave the Macintosh and PC/MS-DOS versions of the game each 4 out of 5 stars. The game went on to sell over one million copies worldwide, becoming Game Arts' biggest-selling title of 1987. Thexder is considered an important breakthrough title for the run-and-gun shooter game genre, paving the way for titles such as Contra and Metal Slug.