Zaxxon[a] is a scrolling shooter developed and released by Sega as an arcade video game in 1982.

Sega released a modified version as, Super Zaxxon the same year and the Zaxxon-like shooter Future Spy in 1984.

The objective of the game is to hit as many targets as possible without being shot down or running out of fuel—which can be replenished by blowing up fuel drums (300 points).

As this sort of control and movement was not common in video games, the arcade cabinets have illustrations around the joystick to indicate the effect of each position on the aircraft.

[23] The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) later listed it among the top six highest-grossing arcade games of 1982 in the United States.

[25] Game Machine later listed Zaxxon in their June 1, 1983 issue as the eighth top-grossing table arcade cabinet of the month.

[28] U.S. Gold's home computer version of Zaxxon was ranked number-two on the UK software sales chart in early 1985.

[31] Video magazine also praised the ColecoVision version in its "Arcade Alley" column, describing it as "one of the most thrilling games available", and noting in passing that the only "serious criticism" of the arcade original was that "many players felt they needed flying lessons to have even a ghost of a chance of performing well".

The magazine also liked the graphics of the Apple II and TRS-80 versions despite those computers' hardware limitations, and predicted that Zaxxon would be a "long-lived bestseller".

[36] At the 1983 Arcade Awards, the console cartridge conversion received a Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Videogame of the Year.

It is also an unlockable arcade game in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The arcade version was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on December 15, 2009,[41] the PAL region on March 5, 2010, and North America on April 12, 2010.

[1] It has a different color scheme, the player's ship flies faster (making the game more difficult), the space segment is replaced with a tunnel, and the enemy at the end of the second fortress is a dragon.

Super Zaxxon topped the US RePlay arcade chart for software conversion kits in July 1983.