Asteroids
Category:Arcade games
- ''This page is about the computer game. For the planet-like space object, see asteroid.
Asteroids is a popular
vector-based video
arcade game released in
1979 by
Atari. The object of the game is for the player to shoot and destroy
asteroids without being hit by the fragments.
The game was conceived by
Lyle Rains and programmed by
Ed Logg.
Asteroids was a hit in the
United States and became one of Atari's best selling games of all time. It was so popular that
video arcade owners usually had to install new larger coin boxes to hold all the tokens this machine raked in.
One of the innovative features of the game was the ability for players to record their initials with their high scores, an innovation which is standard feature for arcade games to this day.
Legacy
\nThe gameplay is Asteroids was innovative and many games that followed, while not cloning the game, incorporated some of it's ideas into their own gameplay. For example, one of the objects of Sinistar is to shoot asteroids in order to get them to release resources which the player needs to collect.
Due to its success, Asteroids was followed by three sequels:\n* Asteroids Deluxe (1980)\n* Space Duel (1982)\n* Blasteroids (1987)
However, the original game was by far the most popular of the series.
The Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) credits this game as one of the "Top 100 Videogames." Readers of the KLOV credit is the seventh most popular game.
Record breaking gameplay
\nIn March 2004, Portland, Oregon resident Bill Carlton attempted to break the world record for playng an arcade version of Asteroids, playing over 27 hours before his machine malfuntioned, ending his record run. He scored 12.7 million points, putting him in 5th place in the all-time Asteroids rankings. In November 1982 Scott Safran set the still unbroken record of 41 million-points.
External links
\n* The Killer List of Video Games entry on Asteroids\n*Atari Times: All About Asteroids\n*Asteroids clone written in Java\n*Asteroids clone written in Flash\n*Asteroids-based 3D wireframe written in Flash\n*Asteroids-based computer game written in Flash
