Sure we had widescreen / cinemascope in theatres...but at home? During this time period. It was 4x3...and that's it! But Taito figured a way around that...in the most basic yet effective way possible!
oh I am not saying they did it first...just bestTaito did it a year before with (Tatsumi's) Buggy Boy, and Atari/Tatsumi did it in 1983! on TX-1