Asteroids..What a game. Asteroids was or is an arcade game originally released in 1979 by Atari Inc. It was a very popular and influential game from the Golden Age of Arcade Games. The Asteroids arcade game uses vector graphics and a 2d view that wraps around in both screen axes, so if you fly off the edge of the screen you appear on the opposite side. You control a spaceship in an asteroid field which is occasionally visited by flying saucers. The aim of the game is to shoot and destroy the pesky asteroids and flying saucers whilst not colliding with either or being shot by the saucers gun.
Asteroids was inspired, in a roundabout way, by the arcade game Spacewar, the very first computer based arcade video game. In 1977 a stand up arcade game version was produced as Space Wars, which included a number of optional versions and added a floating asteroid as a visual device. So Asteroids is essentially a one player version of Spacewar, It features the wedge ship from the original and making the asteroids the main opponent.
The game was conceived by Lyle Rains and programmed and designed by Ed Logg. Asteroids was a hit in the United States and became Ataris best selling game of all time.Atari had been in the process of releasing another vector game, Lunar Lander, but demand for Asteroids was so high they stopped any further production of Lunar Lander so they could build more Asteroids machines! The first 200 Asteroids machines were sent out in Lunar Lander cabinets. Asteroids was so popular that video arcade owners usually had to install extra large boxes to hold all the coins this machine raked in.
Asteroids is also the first game to use Atari's 'QuadraScan' vector refresh system. A full color version known as 'Color-QuadraScan' was later developed for games such as Space Duel and Tempest.
The objective of Asteroids is to score as many points as possible by destroying asteroids and flying saucers. The player controls a ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. As the ship moves, momentum is not conserved, the ship eventually comes to a stop again when not thrusting. The player can also send their ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen (a risky business if you happen to reappear on top of an asteroid).
Each stage starts with a few asteroids drifting in random directions on the screen. Objects wrap around screen edges — for instance, 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 frequently move faster and are more difficult to hit. Smaller asteroids also score higher points. Periodically, a flying saucer appears on one side of the screen and moves across to the other before disappearing again. The saucers are of two kinds: Large saucers fire in random directions, while small saucers aim at the player's ship.
The original soundtrack featured a memorable deeptoned electronic 'heartbeat' sound, which quickens as the asteroid density is reduced by the players fire.
Once the screen has been cleared of all asteroids and flying saucers, a new set of large asteroids appears. The number of asteroids increases each round up to a maximum of twelve. The game is over when the player has lost all of his/her lives.
Like many games of the time, Asteroids contains several bugs that were mostly the result of the original programmers underestimating the games popularity or the skill of its players. The maximum possible score in this game is 99,990 points, after which it rolls back to zero. Also, an oversight in the small saucers programming gave rise to a popular strategy known as 'lurking' because the saucer could only shoot directly at the players position on the screen, the player could 'hide' at the opposite end of the screen and shoot across the screen boundary, whilst remaining relatively safe. This led to experienced players being able to play indefinitely on a single credit. This oversight was addressed in the games sequel, Asteroids Deluxe, and it also led to significant changes in the way game developers designed and tested their games in the future.
On some early versions of the game, it was also possible to hide the ship in the score area indefinitely without being hit by asteroids.
Asteroids [1979] Arcade Video Games Videojuegos видео- игры
http://www.AccessROMs.com Presents - Asteroids [1979] Arcade Video Games Jeux Juegos Videogiochi shooter видео- игры Videojuegos Videospiele classic retro Arcada Video Games MAME ROMs.Yet another legendary, genre defining game - in an era replete with genre defining classics - in which a single player takes control of a ship trapped in the middle of an asteroid field. A number of large, slow-moving asteroids drift randomly around the play area and must be shot by the player. When shot, the asteroids will break into a number of smaller pieces which must also be shot until eventually, all of the asteroids and fragments will be destroyed and the next wave begins. Asteroids introduced real-world physics to video-games for the first time, with speed and inertia all adding to the player's problems. As well as the inertia of the player's ship - forcing the player to allow for the ship slowing down and speeding up whenever the Thrust button was utilized - shot asteroids would often send fragments flying in seemingly random directions, and at varying and unpredictable speeds. As well as the ever-present asteroids, alien saucers also make a regular appearance. These move diagonally around the screen firing at the player's ship and must be quickly destroyed. classic retro arcada Coin-op jeux juegos giochi videospiele Videojuegos.
