Have you ever beaten "Space Attack" (M Network) without losing a man?

[MaximRecoil]

Space Attack was one of the original 5 games I bought new when I bought my Atari 2600 in 1985 (I was 10). Everything was at post-crash prices, so the Atari itself ("Vader" model) was only $35, and the games were $1 each in a bin next to the checkout aisles (Kmart I think).

 

Of course, I couldn't figure out what to do in the game (the initial green RADAR screen is not exactly intuitive), but eventually my older brother decided to read the instruction manual. It didn't take long before I could beat the game perfectly (without losing a man). So with both difficulty switches set to "B", this is an extremely easy game; so much so that a 10-year-old with essentially no video game experience could learn to beat it perfectly in about a half hour.

 

My older brother wanted a greater challenge however, and he set both difficulty switches to "A". Well that's a whole different game. He never beat it that way, but I did once or twice after countless tries.

 

I just tried it on StellaX (first time playing since I was a kid) and after about 5 tries, I beat it with both difficulty switches to "A". I lost 5 men total (4 remaining when I won):

 

 

My goal as a kid was to beat it perfectly, but I never did. Has anyone here done it?

[shadow460]

I think I've done it. I'm not sure, though, so I might need to revisit the game for a while. It's not terribly hard, IMO.

[MaximRecoil]

It's not terribly hard, IMO.

 

I beg to differ. I'd like to see a video of someone beating it without losing a man. I know it can be done (I've come close before when I was a kid, only losing one or two men), but I'd say it falls into the "terribly hard" category. Compared to the double-B difficulty setting, the ships move far faster, randomly change direction far more often, fire far more often, and their fire goes about twice as fast. You have to be more or less constantly moving to avoid being hit, and at the same time try to hit ships that are moving fast and erratically.

[StanJr]

I'm not sure I've ever tried it on difficulty A. I know I can cream it on B. I'll have to give it a try!

[MaximRecoil]

I'm not sure I've ever tried it on difficulty A. I know I can cream it on B. I'll have to give it a try!

 

Make sure to set both difficulty switches to "A". You can just set the left switch to "A" and that makes it a lot harder (during the fights), but the right difficulty switch when set to "A" allows offscreen battles to occur, so you have to have a better strategy than simply sending all three of your squadrons out at once like you can do on "B".

 

According to the manual, both switches should be set the same (i.e., both on "A" or both on "B").

[atari181]

Definately have beaten it with both difficulty switches on A, but not without losing any lives.

[Lord Thag]

I've come close as a kid. This was the last cart my brother and I got before our Atari got phased out into the garage in favor of a NES (only to be claimed by me a couple of years later). I played it a bit with both switches set on A, which is a fairly tough challenge. Think I beat it once with on or two men lost total. It would be a fun goal to see if anyone can actually pull it off here. It's a quick play, so it wouldn't really be all that hard to get a few games in. Might just play it this evening

[eegad]

I know I beat the original intellivision version, "Space Battle", on hard difficulty perfectly.....way back in '82 or so when I was in high school. On the Atari version, which I never played until a year or so ago.....nope. I can win it, but I always lose a couple fighters along the way.

[MaximRecoil]

I got a Space Attack cartridge in the mail today (the one I had as a kid is long gone), and after quite a few tries, I finally did it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9khm_sUVic&feature=youtu.be

 

Both difficulty switches set to "A", no loss of lives.

[RosenbumThe3rd]

This was one of my favorites as a kid too. I don't really remember how far I ever got as I haven't played it in I don't know how long but, I do remember playing it frequently and insisting to my friends and nephews that it was a great game.

[ls650]

Some trivia: the original name for this on Intellivision was Battlestar Galactica, but at the last minute Mattel lost their licence rights. The game was already finished so they just changed the title to the rather bland Space Battle.

[MaximRecoil]

This was one of my favorites as a kid too. I don't really remember how far I ever got as I haven't played it in I don't know how long but, I do remember playing it frequently and insisting to my friends and nephews that it was a great game.

 

Yes, it is an underrated game in my opinion. I watched a

where the reviewer complained about how easy it was; no challenge or replay value. After making the video, he added the following annotation:

 

 

So maybe a lot of people never tried it on the harder difficulty settings.

 

Some trivia: the original name for this on Intellivision was Battlestar Galactica, but at the last minute Mattel lost their licence rights. The game was already finished so they just changed the title to the rather bland Space Battle.

 

That's interesting. I wonder how that would have affected its (and the Atari 2600 version's) popularity had they used the Battlestar Galactica title.