Hooked on Asteroids???

[StanJr]

Is this even possible? I mean Asteroids, the arcade classic, yada-yada, I get it, but I never even played Asteroids that much as a kid, and yet lately, I have that itch. I'll sit down sometimes and just shoot those pastel-ish blobs for an hour or so? I'll even opt to play Asteroids over HIGHLY superior games! Maybe something is wrong with me. Can you really get addicted to Asteroids??????

 

Oh and BEFORE you ask, NE146, YES I am playing with the UFO's and stuff.

 

Stansteroid

[NE146]

Oh and BEFORE you ask, NE146, YES I am playing with the UFO's and stuff.    

 

 

[theaveng]

That score! It just sits there and taunts you. You KNOW you can do better than 20,000. You just need to be faster, more observant, more determined. Yeah that's the ticket!

 

(click) goes the Reset Switch.

 

19,500? Ahhh c'mon man! What's the matter you? I can do better than that! I was soooo close! I'll just try one more time!

 

(click) goes the Reset Switch.

 

Ahhhh, success. 22,000 points! Yes now I can relax. But wait... 22,000 is not really that good. I can do better!!! I know I can! I bet I can hit 30,000!!!

 

(click) goes the Reset Switch.

 

Dang it! I died at 15,000! grrr...

 

(click) goes the Reset Switch.

 

Grrr, died again.

 

(click) goes the Reset Switch.

 

Ahhh, c'mon honey. Don't interrupt me now, I've almost beat my high score!!! Take out the trash? No it can wait. Man! You distracted me honey! I died again.

 

(click) goes the Power. Your wife turned it off.

 

What'd you do that for? No you can't cut me off! I need it man! I need the pretty colors! The beep-bloop-beep sounds! I need it man! Give me the good stuff!!!! I need it.... I need it...

 

(drool) as you wriggle on the floor in Asteroids withdrawal.

[Xot]

Is this even possible?  I mean Asteroids, the arcade classic, yada-yada, I get it, but I never even played Asteroids that much as a kid, and yet lately, I have that itch.  I'll sit down sometimes and just shoot those pastel-ish blobs for an hour or so?  I'll even opt to play Asteroids over HIGHLY superior games!  Maybe something is wrong with me.  Can you really get addicted to Asteroids??????  

 

Oh and BEFORE you ask, NE146, YES I am playing with the UFO's and stuff.      

 

Stansteroid

 

Okay, time for you to lose any respect for me.

 

Asteroids is my favorite 2600 game.

Period.

I love it. I can't get enough of it. It's the one game I keep coming back to over and over.. that and Space Invaders.

 

So yes, it's possible to get addicted to Asteroids. It may have something to do with the fact that Asteroids was the first cart I got when I "rediscovered" the 2600 in 1994.

 

Also, when I got my first 2600 in 1980 or '81, it was SUPPOSED to come with Asteroids and it didn't. We bought it used and they said someone had borrowed the Asteroids cart and never returned it. So I got stuck with Combat. But I always WANTED Asteroids.

 

In fact, Asteroids is one of my favorite video games EVER.

[Rob Mitchell]

Asteroids (and Space Invaders) are timeless games that have timeless appeal .. One thousand years from now there will be people playing Asteroids and Space Invaders and loving it!

 

I spent my youth playing Asteroids on the Atari 800 .. sometimes with 2 or three friends simultaneously. Interesting thing about control: When your ship is at a diagonal angle, you can change angle fire by just changing the angle of the ship's nose. Does 2600 Asteroids work this way too?

 

In the modern era, I prefer Vectrex Minestorm or John Dondzila's Rockaroids for an "Asteroids" fix.

 

And for all the above games I use the Starplex 5 button "asteroids" controller of course.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Godzilla]

i still -LOVE- 2600 asteroids to this day. And i actually prefer it unhacked. There is something more satisfying to me about destroying something solid, versus some little lines. My Sansei arcade controller has arcade perfect asteroids button layout and makes me a happy asteroids player :-) I love the shields, it's the only option I'll play. I love figuring out JUST how long you can hold the shields and always pushing the limit (shielding through a full size asteroid... hehehee...)

Though vic-20 omega race & 2600 space master x-7 eventually superceeded my asteroids addiction when I started loosing track of how many times i rolled the score.

[Jayson]

I spent my youth playing Asteroids on the Atari 800 .. sometimes with 2 or three friends simultaneously.  

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

It may be a blasphamy against Warlords, but 4-player Asteroids on the 400/800 was my favorite early-Atari multiplayer game.

[Big Player]

I spent my youth playing Asteroids on the Atari 800 .. sometimes with 2 or three friends simultaneously.  

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

It may be a blasphamy against Warlords, but 4-player Asteroids on the 400/800 was my favorite early-Atari multiplayer game.

 

Four player Asteroids?

 

Damn my 800XL! Why only two ports?

 

Er, well it's dead anyway, passed away in 1992.

[Godzilla]

Because it seems that there always must be something to make you collect many variants of atari hardware (2/4 port 5200, etc) whether you want to or not!

[Davidius]

Asteroids is stilll the game.

 

I still enjoy playing it on Chris Pile's Asteroids Emulator from 1998. It can still be found at: http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/emus/single/...asteroids.shtml

I even assisted in debugging the program for Chris.

 

And just to show the long lasting interest in Asteroids, a new Asteroids Emulator was released last week at: http://webpages.charter.net/astgl/

 

The game had (and still has) amazing playability and simplicity but required expert hand-eye coordination. Sometimes I'll feel like some 'skeet-shooting' and just sit on the right/left side of the screen with a couple of slow rocks moving about and pick off the little space-ships. Or sometimes I'll want to make things as difficult as possible and blast away so that the optimal amount of rocks are flying about at all speeds and see how many screens I can eliminate under that frantic pressure.

 

At some point in the mid-80s I gravited to Gravitar for an even greater challenge, but nothing beats playing the game that was there in your early teens. The game that could prompt you to blow much of your pocket-money at arcade by the pool in Orlando Florida as young bikin-clad teenagers watched in awe. You tried your best to use just one shot.

 

Hooked on Asteroids... hehehe.... Ain't it fun surfing e-bay and putting in a low-bid on an old cabinet and wondering what to tell the wife if you ever won!!!

[Markimus of K.]

All Hail and Welcome Davidius!

 

All: I have seen Davidius play aforementioned Asteroids. He is God-of-Asteroids, no question.

 

Markimus of K.

[MegaManFan]

I love Asteroids, but it's really only worth playing on the 5200 or 7800. I may be mistaken, but on the 2600 the rocks all fly in one single diagonal right line, which drifts +slowly over+ to the right. That's a random pattern of ship splitting insanity? Hardly. Berzerk offers more "holy sh!t" surprise thrills than 2600 Asteroids did. Even if the awful look and barely passable sound didn't ruin it, the lack of challenge definitely does.

[NE146]

I may be mistaken, but on the 2600 the rocks all fly in one single diagonal right line, which drifts +slowly over+ to the right.  That's a random pattern of ship splitting insanity?  Hardly.  

 

To combat that you either:

 

1) have to play the even numbered game variations (i.e. the oddly named "fast asteroids" variation). Or even better;

 

2) Pick up Thomas' hack which makes the asteroids fly all over the place

[MegaManFan]

To combat that you either:

 

1) have to play the even numbered game variations (i.e. the oddly named "fast asteroids" variation). Or even better;

 

2) Pick up Thomas' hack which makes the asteroids fly all over the place

 

Hmm, I guess I didn't realize Thomas hack fixed that - I thought it was just to make it Driving Controller compatible. Now you've given me good incentive to pick one up at the PhillyClassic.

[SS]

I love Asteroids, but it's really only worth playing on the 5200 or 7800.  I may be mistaken, but on the 2600 the rocks all fly in one single diagonal right line, which drifts +slowly over+ to the right.  That's a random pattern of ship splitting insanity?  Hardly.  Berzerk offers more "holy sh!t" surprise thrills than 2600 Asteroids did.  Even if the awful look and barely passable sound didn't ruin it, the lack of challenge definitely does.

 

You need to pick up a copy of Thomas's Asteroids hack, my friend. I always had the same complaints about 2600 Asteroids until Thomas worked his magic on it. The main reason that I got is was the re-working of the Asteroids movement. I seriously love the game now.

 

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?Sys...ftwareHackID=43

 

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=103

[SS]

2) Pick up Thomas' hack which makes the asteroids fly all over the place

 

 

Missed it by [---] that much!

[MegaManFan]

You need to pick up a copy of Thomas's Asteroids hack, my friend.  I always had the same complaints about 2600 Asteroids until Thomas worked his magic on it.  The main reason that I got is was the re-working of the Asteroids movement.  I seriously love the game now.

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?Sys...ftwareHackID=43

 

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=103

 

Okay!! You guys have convinced me. I may not be able to wait until the Classic after all.. here's hoping I get paid this week!