Empire City - 1931

Empire City: 1931 is a shooting gallery game set in 1931 New York City during Prohibition. You control a federal agent out to avenge his family, killed in a gang shootout. The gameplay involves moving a crosshair around the screen using a joystick to aim and shoot mobsters. Enemies lurk in various locations, including on the street and in windows, with an arrow directing you to the next target. You have limited time to find and shoot each enemy; if time runs out, a speech bubble counts down before the enemy shoots you. A defend button is available as a last resort. Players can replenish ammo by shooting hidden boxes and earn bonus points by shooting gold bars. Levels are cleared after a set number of mobsters are eliminated, culminating in a final level where you must assassinate the mafia boss as he walks past windows. The game supports two players in alternating turns.

Arcade

Released by Taito in December 1986, Empire City: 1931 was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. In some regions, it was published under the title Street Fight. It runs on hardware powered by a Zilog Z80 main CPU at 3 MHz, with a separate Z80 sound CPU and two Yamaha YM2203 sound chips. The game displays horizontal raster graphics at 256x224 pixels with a palette of 257 colors. It features an 8-way joystick and two buttons. In Japan, it was a commercial success, listed as the fourth most-popular table arcade unit in Game Machine magazine on August 1, 1986. Empire City: 1931 is an early example of a first-person shooter, offering a more cerebral, crosshair-based shooting experience compared to contemporary light gun games.