Asteroids

Asteroids is a multidirectional shooter video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It was designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers while not colliding with them or being hit by the saucers’ counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.

Asteroids were conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Wendi Allen (then known as Howard Delman) previously used for Lunar Lander. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled Cosmos; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from Spacewar!, Computer Space, and Space Invaders and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes.

Asteroids was one of the first major hits of the golden age of arcade games; the game sold 47,840 upright cabinets and 8,725 cocktail cabinets and proved both popular with players and influential with developers. In the 1980s, it was ported to Atari’s home systems, and the Atari VCS version sold over three million copies. The game was widely imitated, and it directly influenced Defender, Gravitar, and many other video games.

The objective of Asteroids is to destroy asteroids and saucers. The player controls a triangular ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.

Each level starts with multiple large asteroids drifting across the screen. Objects wrap around screen edges; an asteroid that drifts off the top edge of the screen reappears at the bottom and continues moving in the same direction. As the player shoots asteroids, they break into smaller asteroids that move faster and are more difficult to hit. Smaller asteroids are also worth more points. Two flying saucers appear periodically on the screen; the “big saucer” shoots randomly and poorly, while the “small saucer” fires frequently at the ship. After reaching a score of 40,000, only the small saucer appears. As the player’s score increases, the angle range of the shots from the small saucer diminishes until the saucer fires extremely accurately. Once the screen has been cleared of all asteroids and flying saucers, a new set of large asteroids appears, thus starting the next level. The game gets harder as the number of asteroids increases until the score reaches a range between 40,000 and 60,000. The player starts with 3–5 lives upon game start and gains an extra life per 10,000 points. Play continues to the last ship is lost, which ends the game. The machine “turns over” at 99,990 points, which is the maximum high score that can be achieved.

Lurking exploit

In the original game design, saucers were supposed to begin shooting as soon as they appeared, but this was changed. Additionally, saucers can only aim at the player’s ship on-screen; they are not capable of aiming across a screen boundary. These behaviors allow a “lurking” strategy, in which the player stays near the edge of the screen opposite the saucer. By keeping just one or two rocks in play, a player can shoot across the boundary and destroy saucers to accumulate points indefinitely with little risk of being destroyed. Arcade operators began to complain about losing revenue due to this exploit. In response, Atari issued a patched EPROM and, due to the impact of this exploit, Atari (and other companies) changed their development and testing policies to try to prevent future games from having such exploits.

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Playing the classic Asteroids game is both fun and challenging! Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to play:

Objective

The main goal of Asteroids is to survive as long as possible while destroying as many asteroids and flying saucers as you can to earn points.

Controls

• Thrust: Use the thrust button (often the up arrow key) to propel your spaceship forward.
• Rotate: Use the left and right arrow keys to rotate your spaceship.
• Fire: Press the fire button (usually the spacebar) to shoot at asteroids and enemies.
• Hyperspace: Some versions of the game have a hyperspace button (often the down arrow key) that makes your spaceship disappear and reappear at a random location on the screen.

Gameplay Tips

1. Move Cautiously: Only use thrusts when necessary. It’s easy to lose control and crash into asteroids.
2. Aim carefully: Focus on hitting the larger asteroids first. When destroyed, they break into smaller, faster-moving pieces.
3. Stay Alert: Watch out for flying saucers that appear periodically and shoot back at you.
4. Use Hyperspace Sparingly: If available, use hyperspace as a last resort to avoid collision. It’s unpredictable and might place you in a worse position.
5. Stay Near the Center: Avoid the edges of the screen, as new asteroids can appear unexpectedly.

Scoring

• Large Asteroids: 20 points each
• Medium Asteroids: 50 points each
• Small Asteroids: 100 points each
• Small Saucer: 1,000 points each
• Large Saucer: 200 points each