Accepted [+] [X] Berzerk Update submitted by Brian Deuel
- TRIVIA -
A Berzerk unit appears in the 1982 movie 'Tron' and in the 1983 movie 'Joysticks'.
A Berzerk unit appears in the ZZ Top music video 'Legs'.
A Berzerk unit appears in April Wine's concert video 'Live in London (1981)'
Accepted [+] [X] Galaxian Update submitted by Brian Deuel
- TRIVIA -
A Namco Galaxian until appears in April Wine's concert video 'Live in London (1981)'.
Accepted [+] [X] Pro Monaco GP Update submitted by Brian Deuel
- TRIVIA -
Released during March 1980.
A Pro Monaco GP unit appears in April Wine's concert video 'Live in London (1981)'.
Accepted [+] [X] Asteroids [Upright model] Update submitted by Brian Deuel
An Asteroids unit appears in the 1982 movie 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', in the 1983 movie 'WarGames', in the 1983 movie 'Terms of Endearment', in the 1983 movie 'Joysticks', in the 1984 movie 'Night of the Comet', in the 1984 movie 'The Iceman', in the 1985 movie 'Remo Williams - The Adventure Begins', in the 1985 movie 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure', and in the 1983 movie 'The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie - Strange Brew'.
An upright Asteroids unit appears in the 38 Special music video 'Caught Up In You', and in April Wine's concert video 'Live In London (1981)'.
Known licensed releases:
Asteroids (Taito Corp.)
Asteroids (Sega)
Meteor (Hoei)
Super Meteor (Hoei)
Known unlicensed releases:
Asterock (Sidam)
Asteroide (Maxenti)
Meteor (Omni)
Meteorites (VGG)
Planet (Alca)
Hyperspace (unknown)
- UPDATES -
Revision 1 has an invulnerability glitch, which allows players to hide the ship in the upper corners of the screen (in the score) and be invulnerable to collisions.
Revision 1 also has a bug which affects thrusting. If the ship reaches full velocity moving down or left, and continues thrusting while rotating to the opposite direction, the ship will not slow down from the full velocity that has been reached in the original direction.
Revision 2 says '1979 Atari' at the bottom of the title screen, instead of the 'Asteroids by Atari' that was displayed in Revision 1. Also, the invulnerability glitch of Revision 1 is corrected.
Revision 4 :
1) allows small saucer to use wrap-around feature,
2) allows small saucer to fire immediately when entering the playing area, and
3) prevents the intermittent loss of 3rd initial on 10th highest score.
- SCORING -
Large Asteroids : 20 points.
Medium Asteroids : 50 points.
Small Asteroids : 100 points.
Large Flying Saucer : 200 points.
Small Flying Saucer : 1,000 points.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
When you start the game, your spaceship will be in the middle of the screen with four large asteroids heading toward your ship. After all the rocks are destroyed, the next round begins. The number of initial large asteroids depends on the round number:
Round 1: 4
Round 2: 6
Round 3: 8
Round 4: 10
Round 5 and up: 11
Your job is to blast those rocks. However, when you blast them, they break up into two medium rocks. Blasting a medium rock gives you two small rocks. Note : There is an exception to this rule. The game program only allows 26 asteroids on the screen at any one time. If the screen already contains 26 asteroids of any size, then when you shoot a large asteroid it breaks up into only one medium asteroid, and when you shoot a medium asteroid it breaks up into only one small asteroid. You can completely destroy a large asteroid with only three shots instead of seven when the screen is filled up like this.
Destroy the fastest-moving asteroids first. The slower asteroids are easier to avoid and you can deal with them later.
In addition, you have to contend with large and small flying saucers. Remember that you get most of your points by shooting these. On the first few screens, you can sit in the middle and blast rocks to your hearts content. There isn't that much danger since the large saucer doesn't track and only fires random shots. Keep in mind of a few things when shooting :
1) You can have four shots on the screen at any one time. This is useful for when you are blasting rocks at close range. You can pretty much drill them to dust.
2) Your shots 'wrap around' the screen. This means any shot that goes past the edge of the screen will reappear on the opposite side traveling the same direction. The saucers also have 'wrap around' shots.
* Try to keep a few defensive shots in reserve. Sometimes, it isn't wise to fire all four shots at once. Without a shot or two in reserve, you are vulnerable if you need to protect yourself from an unexpected asteroid or flying saucer.
* After 10,000 points, the small saucer becomes a permanent part of the game. You can no longer sit in one place since the small saucer is able to track your ship and take you out with the first or second shot.
* Use hyperspace only in very desperate situations. Something like having four asteroids coming at you at once with nowhere to escape would be a good reason. Eight times out of ten, hyperspace will either put your ship in danger (from a saucer, a plummeting asteroid, or saucer fire) or when you appear somewhere else, your ship will blow up.
* Although there is danger from the rocks and saucers, you can also be a danger to yourself. Use the thrust carefully or you will find yourself careening out of control on the screen. Some players get really good, however, moving around and shooting.
* For those desired high scores, you can use the hunting trick. It goes something like this :
1) After 10,000 points, the small saucers appear. They are worth 1,000 points apiece. First, blast every rock until you have one small rock left.
2) Go sit in the upper left or right corner of the game screen.
3) If the small saucer appears from the side you are on, you can blast it before it gets off a shot. If it appears on the opposite side, use the shot 'wrap around' to take care of it. Some people have done this for hours on end and racked up scores in the millions. Of course, it takes a long time at 1,000 points a pop.
4) Also keep in mind that the small saucer can wrap shots so you may have to move out of danger.
- SERIES -
1. Asteroids (1979)
2. Asteroids Deluxe (1981)
3. Space Duel (1982)
4. Blasteroids (1988)
5. Asteroids (1998, PC, PS; 1999, GBC; 2000, Mac)
6. Asteroids Hyper 64 (1999, N64)
7. Asteroids Gunner (2011, App Store)
- STAFF -
Designed by : Lyle Rains
Programmed by : Ed Logg
Sound & Vector generator display system : Howard Delman
- PORTS -
* CONSOLES:
[US] Atari 2600 (1981) "Asteroids [Model CX2649]"
[US] Atari 2600 (1981) "Asteroids [Model 49-75163]"
[EU] Atari 2600 (1988) "Asteroids [Model CX2649P]"
[US] Atari 5200 (1982) "Asteroids [Model CX5201]"
[US] Atari 7800 (1986) "Asteroids [Model CX7802]"
[US] Sony PlayStation (dec.31, 1996) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model SLUS-00339]"
[EU] Sega Saturn (1997) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model T-25413H-50]"
[US] Sega Saturn (june.30, 1997) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model T-9706H]"
[US] Nintendo SNES (aug.1997) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model SNS-AW7E-USA]"
[EU] Sony PlayStation (dec.1997) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model SLES-00466]"
[EU] Nintendo SNES (feb.26, 1998) "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 [Model SNSP-AW7P-EUR]"
[US] Sony PlayStation (2001) "Atari Anniversary Edition Redux [Model SLUS-01427]"
[US] Sega Dreamcast (jul.2, 2001) "Atari Anniversary Edition [Model T-15130N]"
[EU] Sony PlayStation (mar.1, 2002) "Atari Anniversary Edition Redux [Model SLES-03808]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (nov.16, 2004) "Atari Anthology [Model 26084]"
[US] Sony PS2 (nov.22, 2004) "Atari Anthology [Model SLUS-21076]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (nov.26, 2004) "Atari Anthology"
[EU] Sony PS2 (feb.18, 2005) "Atari Anthology [Model SLES-53061]"
[JP] Microsoft XBOX (aug.4, 2005) "Atari Anthology [Model B7X-00001]"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [US] [EU] (nov.28, 2007)
Microsoft XBOX 360 [US] (jan.3, 2009) "Jordan's Asteroids [XBOX Indie Games]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX One (nov.1,2016) "Atari Flashback Classics Vol.2"
[US] Sony PlayStation 4 (nov.1,2016) "Atari Flashback Classics Vol.2"
* HANDHELDS:
[EU] Nintendo Game Boy (1992) "Asteroids [Model DMG-AN-GPS]"
Nintendo Game Boy [UK] (1992) "Asteroids [Model DMG-AN-UKV]"
[US] Nintendo Game Boy (feb.1992) "Asteroids [Model DMG-AN-USA]"
Atari Lynx [US] (1994) "Super Asteroids & Missile Command [Model PA2093]"
[EU] Nintendo Game Boy (1995) "Arcade Classic No. 1 - Asteroids & Missile Command [Model DMG-AMCP-NOE]"
[US] Nintendo Game Boy (jul.1995) "Arcade Classic No. 1 - Asteroids & Missile Command [Model DMG-AMCE-USA]"
Nintendo Game Boy [UK] (1995) "Arcade Classic No. 1 - Asteroids & Missile Command [Model DMG-AMCP-UKV]"
[US] Nintendo GBA (mar.25, 2002) "Atari Anniversary Advance [Model AGB-AAVE-USA]"
[EU] Nintendo GBA (feb.14, 2003) "Atari Anniversary Advance [Model AGB-AAVP-EUR]"
[UK] Nintendo DS (mar.11, 2005) "Retro Atari Classics [Model NTR-ATAE-UKV]"
[EU] Nintendo DS (mar.11, 2005) "Retro Atari Classics [Model NTR-ATAE-EUR]"
[US] Nintendo DS (mar.16, 2005) "Retro Atari Classics [Model NTR-ATAE-USA]"
[JP] Nintendo DS (june.30, 2005) "Atarimix Happy 10 Games [Model NTR-ATAJ-JPN]"
[US] Nintendo GBA (aug.21, 2005) "3 Games in One! Yars' Revenge - Asteroids - Pong [Model AGB-B64E-USA]"
[EU] Nintendo GBA (sept.23, 2005) "3 Games in One! Yars' Revenge - Asteroids - Pong [Model AGB-B64P]"
[AU] Nintendo DS (nov.2007) "Retro Atari Classics [Model NTR-ATAE-AUS]"
[US] Sony PSP (dec.19, 2007) "Atari Classics Evolved [Model ULUS-10325]"
[AU] Sony PSP (mar.7, 2008) "Atari Classics Evolved"
[US] Nintendo DS (nov.2, 2010) "Atari Greatest Hits Vol.1 [Model NTR-BR6E-USA]"
[EU] Nintendo DS (feb.24, 2011) "Atari Greatest Hits Vol.1 [Model NTR-BR6E-USA]"
* COMPUTERS:
[US] Apple II (1980)
[US] Atari 800 (1981) "Asteroids [Model CXL-4013]"
Tandy Color Computer [US] (1981) "Star Blaster"
Tandy Color Computer [US] (1981) "(Color) Meteoroids"
BBC B [EU] (1982) "Meteors" - Acornsoft
[EU] Acorn Electron (1983) "Meteors - Acornsoft
Tandy Color Computer [EU] (1983) "Microbes"
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1985) "Asteroid Attack" - Your Computer (UK Magazine) Type-in issue Nov '85, page 82
[US] Commodore C64 [EU] (1987) "Arcade Classics"
PC [MS Windows 3.1x, 3.5"] [US] (1993) "Microsoft Arcade"
PC [MS Windows 95, CD-ROM] [US] (1995) "HemiRoids", part of "Windows Arcade Pack"
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (1999) "Atari Arcade Hits 1"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (jul.13, 1999) "Atari Arcade Hits 1"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (jul.9, 2001) "Atari Anniversary Edition"
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (dec.14, 2001) "Atari Anniversary Edition"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2003) "Asteroids & Super Breakout"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (nov.11, 2003) "Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! [Model 25069J]"
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (june.10, 2005) "Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! [Replay]"
[US] Steam (mar.24,2016) "Atari Vault [Model 400020]"
* OTHERS:
Mobile phones [US] [Motorola T720] (2002)
Mobile phones [US] (june.13, 2003)
[US] Nokia N-Gage (2005) "Atari Masterpieces Vol. I"
Mobile Phones [US] (jan.1, 2005) "Atari Legends Vol. 1"
[EU] Nokia N-Gage (oct.13, 2005) "Atari Masterpieces Vol. I"
Apple iPhone/iPod [US] (jan.12, 2009) [Model 30288996]
Apple iPhone/iPod [US] (nov.14, 2009) [Model 338486176]
Apple iPhone/iPod [US] (mar.9, 2011) "Asteroids Classic [Model 423360672]"
Apple iPhone/iPod [US] (jul.18, 2011) "Asteroids Classic HD [Model 450542089]"
Apple Store [US] (2012) "Atari Greatest Hits"
Google Play [US] (2012) "Atari Greatest Hits"
Apple iPhone/iPod [US] (feb.11, 2012) "Asteroids - Classic Arcade Game [Model 498899103]"
- SOURCES -
Game's ROM.
Game's picture.
Game's F.A.Q. by Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc
Asteroids Help file from Microsoft Arcade
Command.dat by Procyon Lotor