louisg Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 A buddy introduced me to this one, and I am blown away. I'd never even heard of it before, but it looks like the kind of thing I might have fired up for 2 seconds while flipping through ROMs. But spend some time with it, and it's pretty rad: It's a Star Castle-like game, similar to Yars' Revenge, but plays quite differently. The goal of course is to shoot the core in the middle until it explodes, at which point you're confronted with another similar base, and so on. And like Yars' and Star Castle, it occasionally throws out defenses that hunt your ship down (and SpaceMaster has a good variety of these, unlike Yars'). But SpaceMaster X-7 differs in a few important ways: First of all, the shields surrounding the base continually expand and contract. And while you can't destroy the shields, they do have a notch that your ship or shots can pass through. In some levels, it's wise to get through the shield and point-blank the core. In others, patience pays off and it's better to sit on the outside and fire in when you have an opportunity. But that's not where the twists end! Each base has a power meter. When the meter is high enough, the base will start building additional defenses to get through. Get the meter low enough and the base will absorbing those defenses it built in order to build its power meter back up. But if you hit the base's shield with a shot, that also recharges it! So, you have to aim well and can't just sit there spamming it with shots until you hit the core. While I think Yars' might have more to it (especially Ultimate Yars' mode which has you running back and forth like it's a half-court basketball game), SpaceMaster is a worthy play IMO. It often gets overlooked, probably because it seems so abstract on first impression (like the similarly awesome Reactor), but I think if you give it a chance you'll be pleasantly surprised. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 It's one of my top 20 favorites, the sounds are done very well. Especially how each type of enemy drone has an unique sound. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I like it. So what do we do in this thread? Post more Shatner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisg Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 I like it. So what do we do in this thread? Post more Shatner? That, or memories and strategies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Spacemaster X-7 is a great, underrated game! (The Atari has dozens and dozens of great, underrated games, which really goes against the "Atari shovelware crashed the industry" narrative, but that's a separate topic. ) I don't think I can contribute much in the way of playing strategies--generally I try to get through the shield and blow the thing away point-blank, until the game gets too fast for that--but I remember how happy my wife was when she found our copy at a Goodwill or someplace about 15 years ago. It was one of the rarest titles in our collection at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 My copy, with 'fixed' endlabel- Why didn't Fox do this in the first place? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Definitely a hidden gem. If you like, try the Track Ball version too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisg Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 Definitely a hidden gem. If you like, try the Track Ball version too! Oh wow, that's super cool. I wish I had one; I've just got Amiga and ST mice unfortunately (and god knows where I put the ST stuff). Spacemaster X-7 is a great, underrated game! (The Atari has dozens and dozens of great, underrated games, which really goes against the "Atari shovelware crashed the industry" narrative, but that's a separate topic. ) I don't think I can contribute much in the way of playing strategies--generally I try to get through the shield and blow the thing away point-blank, until the game gets too fast for that--but I remember how happy my wife was when she found our copy at a Goodwill or someplace about 15 years ago. It was one of the rarest titles in our collection at the time. I fully agree on Atari hidden gems! Many games I play today I didn't even know about back when we first had our Atari. I'm especially impressed with the 20th Century Fox games. The first ones I discovered were both Turmoil and Fantastic Voyage, at my aunt's house. Years later, a friend showed me Towering Inferno. Then I find this. And Attack of the Beefsteak Tomatoes seems quite good too, though I haven't sunk much time into it. Quite a list of hits for a publisher that people don't seem to rank highly enough. IMO it should be listed in the same sentence with Imagic at least. I think part of discovering what's awesome on Atari is a matter of knowing which labels put out good games so you're not sitting there trying to squeeze any fun you can find out of Bugs Part of the Atari's rep among younger players also I think has to do with changing standards when it comes to what you expect from an arcade port. Back then, if you could get the gameplay anywhere in the ballpark, it was a good enough port! Yeah, I wonder if anyone tries to point blank past the first 9 bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Oh wow, that's super cool. I wish I had one; I've just got Amiga and ST mice unfortunately (and god knows where I put the ST stuff). There are also Amiga and ST versions included in the zip file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisg Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 There are also Amiga and ST versions included in the zip file. I totally need to grab that! Also: Check this high score out. I got completely lost in the zone tonight, like I haven't done since Mars Matrix or something. Just totally locked in. And I hit this score: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 (edited) I remember discovering it in the age of the internet and posting about it here. Since then I've pretty reliably touted it as an all time classic on the VCS <edit> found it.. 2002 Edited June 27, 2018 by NE146 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisg Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 I've come up with some tips on this game: - The bases start absorbing their own shields once you get the energy low enough. For the later levels, the strategy is to hang out in one of the corners, and then move to the closest side of the screen as the perimeter shrinks and blast away. After the base absorbs its shields, you can more easily move inside to point-blank the core. - The fact that you don't move while shooting is an advantage: Rapidly press the button to inch towards the core once inside the perimeter so that you can get as close as possible - The homing enemies are easier to shoot if you let them pass you, then nail them while they're changing direction - Since the base can only launch one defense at a time, if an enemy isn't bugging you (e.g., one of the snake-like ships that's bouncing mostly vertically), let it hang out as long as possible. - On later levels, try slipping inside the perimeter on the left or right side while the perimeter is small but expanding. I remember discovering it in the age of the internet and posting about it here. Since then I've pretty reliably touted it as an all time classic on the VCS <edit> found it.. 2002 Oh nice That's one of the greatest things about emulation and roms: We can discover so many new games from eras that we like which were just below the radar back in the day (if I may fit so many cliches into one sentence). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necron99 Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 I liked playing this one. but I found the sounds excruciating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YANDMAN Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 This game is absolutely fantastic and it surprises me that it isn't actually based off of an original arc ade machine as it certainly feels like that. The frantic blasting puts me in the mind of Robotron. It's fluid cool graphics and sounds just draw me in. I am tempted to actually build a cabinet for this game as though it were an 81' arcade game. Love love love it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Yeah this is a good one. I like the Atari 8-bit version as well. It's got that frantic quality that a lot of great arcade games like Defender and Tempest had. It totally feels like an arcade port. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Intellivision Master Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 I know this is an older thread, but wanted to say that I like Spacemaster X-7. It's a good game. An interesting shooter. I've played it digitally and never owned a copy until now. I recently bought a loose cart. It's nice to have the game in my collection. Spacemaster X-7 is one of my favorite 2600 games. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Alas! I sold my only copy of this game years ago, without having ever played it. ~sniffle~ -Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 You guys make me want to play this game RIGHT NOW! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 (edited) On 7/10/2018 at 6:13 AM, YANDMAN said: This game is absolutely fantastic and it surprises me that it isn't actually based off of an original arc ade machine as it certainly feels like that. The frantic blasting puts me in the mind of Robotron. It's fluid cool graphics and sounds just draw me in. I am tempted to actually build a cabinet for this game as though it were an 81' arcade game. Love love love it. @YANDMAN Are you still around? Did you ever build that cabinet? I let Microsoft Copilot take a crack at it. Enjoy! Edited March 18 by Living Room Arcade 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinity Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 You can see it being played for a few moments in "The Revenge Of The Nerds" movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 FYI I think SpaceMaster X-7 should be on the list of Atari 2600 Hidden Gems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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