Tempest 3000

Tempest 3000
Developer(s)Llamasoft
Publisher(s)Hasbro Interactive
Producer(s)Joe Sousa
Programmer(s)Jeff Minter
Composer(s)André Meyer
Ian Goddard
James Grunke
SeriesTempest
Platform(s)Nuon
Release
  • NA: December 13, 2000
  • EU: March 2001
Genre(s)Tube shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Tempest 3000 is a tube shooter video game developed by Llamasoft for the Nuon. It was published by Hasbro Interactive in North America on December 13, 2000, and Europe in March 2001. It is a follow-up to Tempest 2000, an updated remake of Dave Theurer's arcade game Tempest (1981). The player controls a claw-shaped blaster, shooting at enemies and obstacles, scoring points, and surviving multiple levels. The game modifies and builds upon the gameplay from Tempest 2000, introducing new enemies and mechanics.

Tempest 3000 was one of the first games unveiled for Nuon and was programmed by Jeff Minter, who previously worked on Tempest 2000. In the late 1990s, Minter left Atari Corporation after completing Defender 2000 to work for VM Labs. After Minter designed an audio visualizer for the Nuon, VM Labs asked him to refocus his efforts on Tempest, which was challenging due to the limited power of the console's hardware.

Tempest 3000 received generally favorable reception from critics; the soundtrack, frenetic action, game mechanics, and difficulty were praised, but the blurry visual effects as well as the lack of versus and cooperative multiplayer modes were criticized. By 2003, it had sold over 20,000 copies. In 2024, a limited re-release of the game was made by publisher Songbird Productions.