Blue Max

Blue Max is a video game developed and published by Synapse Software, originally released in 1983 for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers. In 1984, it was ported to the ZX Spectrum by U.S. Gold. In 1987, Atari Corp. released it in cartridge form for the then-new Atari XEGS. The player controls a Sopwith Camel biplane in World War I, trying to shoot down enemy planes and bomb targets on the diagonally scrolling terrain. It has strong similarities with the arcade game Zaxxon. The game is named after the Pour le Mérite medal, informally known as Blue Max. The theme song is "Rule, Britannia!". In 1984, Synapse released a sequel called Blue Max 2001, which has a futuristic sci-fi setting but is otherwise similar to the original game.