Gorf is the arcade game Bally Midway released in 1981, designed by Jamie Fenton: instead of a single mechanic, it offers five distinctly different shooting phases — an open homage to Space Invaders, Galaxian, and other reference points of the time — tied together by the synthesized voice of a narrator robot that mocks the player between screens, one of the earliest memorable uses of speech synthesis in an arcade game.
That "anthology within a single cartridge" structure made it a more varied experience than its contemporaries, and its cabinet, with a curved control panel, is today a coveted piece among collectors. Gorf is a good reminder that even in the most generic-looking space shooter, there was always room for original design ideas.
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