![Star Destroyer Bosconian [Upright model] Star Destroyer Bosconian [Upright model] screenshot](images/game/320_1.png)
Star Destroyer Bosconian © 1981 Namco.
Bosconian is a multi-directional shoot-em-up set in space, in which the player pilots a small craft called the 'Star Fighter' and must destroy waves of green space stations that form part of a huge enemy fleet. Each station consists of six cannons arranged in a hexagon, surrounding a central core. To destroy a station, the player must either destroy all six cannons or shoot the core. The core can only be reached by precisely firing through a single, narrow channel that leads directly to it. In later rounds, the core is more heavily defended, with both a rotating shield and missiles. All enemy stations must be destroyed to progress to the next round.
Players must also avoid or destroy asteroids, mines, enemy missiles and fighter ships. The space stations will also occasionally launch squadrons of ships that attack in formation. Destroying the leader of a formation causes all remaining enemies to disperse but destroying all enemies in a formation scores extra bonus points.
A spy ship will often appear and if this is not destroyed quickly, the enemy alert level will change to red, and the alien ships will attack the player with much greater aggression and speed. The spy ships can be identified by their yellow and green coloring.
The game's three alert levels are:
* GREEN: No enemies are within view.
* YELLOW: A small number of enemies are present.
* RED: The enemy are aware of the player and will attack aggressively and at speed.
Although there is no in-game power-up available, the player's ship fires from both the front and rear simultaneously. A radar map to the right of the play area shows the position of the player ship relative to any remaining enemy space stations. Active enemy squadrons are also shown.
[Upright model]
Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (x3), MB88xx
Sound Chips : Namco 3-channel WSG, custom DAC (for speech), discrete circuitry (for the shot and explosions sounds)
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (FIRE)

Bosconian was released in November 1981 in Japan.
The game's complete title is Star Destroyer Bosconian. The "Star Destroyer" part of the title appears exclusively on the game's title screen.
The 'Spy Ship' in this game also makes a cameo appearance in Galaga as one of the three "transform" ships.
The radar map to the right of the screen is identical in appearance to the radar map in both Rally-X and New Rally-X.
In the game Ridge Racer, a car has this game as a sponsor. It is a white and red car named 'RT Bosconian'. Its sister car, from another Namco game is a white and blue car named 'RT Nebulasray'. They were used in Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2, "Ridge Racer 64", and "Ridge Racer DS".
The origin of the keywords in Bosconian (as in the 'Zwilniks of Boskone') is the Lensman space-opera saga, which in Japan always enjoyed high popularity.
Bosconian : Boskonian
I-Type missile : Eich
P-Type missile : Ploor
E-Type misslle : Eddore
Ken McLeod holds the official record for this game with 2,913,150 points on February 24, 1983.
Other releases:
Star Destroyer Bosconian [Cocktail Table model] (Namco)
Export releases:
Star Destroyer Bosconian [Model 550] (Midway, Upright model)
Star Destroyer Bosconian [Model 555] (Midway, Mini-Myte Model)
Star Destroyer Bosconian [Model 557] (Midway, Cocktail Table model)
| Asteroid | 10 points |
| Cosmo Mine | 20 points |
| I-Type Missile (Looks like fighter) | 50 points |
| P-Type Missile (Looks like boomerang) | 60 points |
| E-Type Missile (Looks like Enemy Base Missile) | 70 points |
| Spy Ship | 200 or 400 points |
| Enemy Station Cannon | 200 points |
| Enemy Station | 1,500 points |
| Enemy Formation | 500, 1,000 or 1,500 points depending on missile type |
| Control Fighter in Formation (The off-colored fighter) | 100, 120 or 140 points (twice the normal missile value) |
| Bonus for no-miss clear (completing a round without dying) - this bonus is given only when the game is set to auto difficulty | multiplier x number of bases, the multiplier starts at 100 points and increases by 100 points each time you get the bonus up to 1,000 points. |
Sony PSP (nov.8, 2007) Namco Museum Vol.2