Pangea Arcade (apple.com)

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A spaceship zips through the lonely cosmos, blasting all manner of space debris in its path. Rocket launchers defend power stations against attack by incoming warheads. A ship destroys worms that wiggle through a field of obstacles.

That may sound like another day at the arcade, circa 1982, but it’s really a few minutes taking a break on your Mac, where the thrills of yesteryear have been updated with spectacular effects and sound. Nucleus, Warheads, and Firefall emulate some well-known arcade classics as they take action-packed, white-knuckle gameplay to a new level.

Take a Trip Through the Periodic Table With Nucleus

Rather than simply destroy asteroids and UFOs, Nucleus tasks you with gathering the electrons sometimes left behind by the asteroids, crystals, blobs, and other objects floating through space. Take the electrons to the nucleus and form an atom, which collapses into a black hole that pulls in everything near it, including you.

Get out of the way and start gathering electrons for the next nucleus. Collect power-ups by destroying debris or by firing on power-up pods that unload a pile of them. They offer a variety of boosts, from score bonuses to better weapons to temporary shields to a free life.

A Missile Defense Shield That Actually Works

Warheads places you on another planet, where you must defend the power stations in four sectors from enemy attack. Each sector features three rocket launchers that you use to destroy incoming missiles. Don’t fire indiscriminately, however, because each launcher has a limited number of rockets.

Occasionally, power-ups float from the sky on parachutes. Shoot them down to get better rockets, stock up on ammo, or earn extra points. Don’t let the power-ups reach the ground, though, because they’ll turn into bombs that could take out a power station or a rocket launcher.

Zap the Bugs

In Firefall, you move around the bottom portion of the screen, destroying the ever-faster worms that wiggle through a field full of barriers. You can destroy the barriers, but it takes several shots to knock out each one. Some of them are reinforced and thus impossible to destroy — more of that type enter the field continuously during each level, but you can shoot them while they’re moving.

Other enemies also appear at random times: Streamers, which drop from the top of the field and leave barriers in their wake; Screws, which enter from the sides of the field; and Buzz Saws, which chase you around the screen. Luckily, a wide array of power-ups fall randomly from destroyed barriers, giving you better weapons, invincibility, shields, and other bonuses for short periods of time.