Gyruss was written in Japan by Konami and licensed for manufacture and sale in the United States by Centuri. Centuri was located in Hialeah, Florida. I don't think the company still exists.
Gameplay on Gyruss reminds me of a combination of Galaga and Tempest. You control a ship with an eight way joystick. You can move in a circle all the way around the screen. It's shots are always aimed at the center of the screen. The enemies roll in Galaga style and make a formation in the center of the screen. On the third and every fourth wave you play a chance stage in which fourty bad guys roll by in nice patterns while you try to shoot them. If you hit 39 or less, you get 100 bonus points for each one you hit. If you get all fourty, you recieve 10,000 bonus points. Each chance stage is a planet. First Neptune then Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Finally on level 23 you arrive at earth, play the chance stage and start all over again, only this time it's much harder.
Gyruss featured fabulous full stereo sound effects and music, unfortunatly the cabinet only has a pair of four inch speakers. A pair of six by nines would be much better. But even through the wimpy speakers it has, the wonderfull music adds a great deal to the feeling of a Gyruss gaming session.
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