Scramble (1981)

Scramble (スクランブル, Sukuranburu) is a 1981 side-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game. It was developed by Konami, and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels. The Konami Scramble arcade system board hardware uses two Zilog Z80 microprocessors for the central processing unit, two AY-3-8910 sound chips for the sound, and Namco Galaxian video hardware for the graphics.

The game was a success, selling 15,136 video game arcade cabinets in the United States within five months, by August 4, 1981, becoming Stern's second best-selling game after Berzerk. Its sequel, the more difficult Super Cobra, sold 12,337 cabinets in the U.S. in four months that same year, adding up to 27,473 U.S. cabinet sales for both, by October 1981.

Scramble was not ported to any major contemporary consoles or computers, but there were versions for the Tomy Tutor and Vectrex. Several unauthorized clones for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 used the same name as the original.