Sea Dragon (video game)

Sea Dragon
Atari 8-bit title screen
Developer(s)	Wayne Westmoreland Terry Gilman
Publisher(s)	Adventure International
Platform(s)	TRS-80 (original) Apple II, Atari 8-bit, C64, TRS-80 CoCo, IBM PC
Release date(s)	1982
Genre(s)	Horizontally scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Sea Dragon is a side-scrolling game for the TRS-80 computer, written by Wayne Westmoreland and Terry Gilman, and released in 1982 by Adventure International. It was one of the most popular games for the TRS-80. Its success on the TRS-80 led to ports to the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and the TRS-80 Color Computer.

The gameplay is similar to the Scramble arcade game, although the ending is more reminiscent of Phoenix.

In 1995, Wayne Westmoreland released the game into the public domain.

The player controls a submarine that can shoot torpedoes both forwards and upwards. The gameplay involves navigating "past underwater mountains and through labyrinthine passages while avoiding webs of explosive mines that rise from the sea bottom. Additional dangers include mine-dropping ships, enemy attack stations, falling stalactites, and deadly lasers—any of which could keep you from your ultimate goal: destruction of the incredibly powerful nuclear reactor at the end of the undersea course." (Adventure International catalog, 1982)

The Apple II version uses digitized voice that says "Sea Dragon!" When the user starts the game, he or she is told, "Captain! Your ship's computer is now ready. Please wait while I initialize systems!", and during the game will be informed, "Air level critical!", "Checkpoint!", and "Approaching maximum damage!" The use of speech was a novelty, as the Apple II speaker is only able to emit a one-bit click. Programming Sea Dragon to play back an audio sample is a technical achievement shared with Castle Wolfenstein (1981), Dung Beetles (1982), Creepy Corridors (1982), and Plasmania (1982).

The Color Computer version is the only other version that features speech; it says "Welcome aboard, Captain!" on the title screen.