Astro Blaster -> Megamania?

[Gabriel]

This has always made me wonder. Was Megamania supposed to kinda/sorta be the Atari 2600 version of Astro Blaster? Or are their similarities just coincidence?

[Vic George 2K3]

One possible thought I have about Megamania is that it could be miniature parody of Astro Blaster, given that the objects you shoot in the game aren't aliens in various weird configurations and shapes but rather hamburgers, dice, Oreos, bugs, steam irons, bow ties, and the like.

[NovaXpress]

It's a generic shooter. There's nothing particularly Astro Blaster about Megamania as opposed to Threshold or Sneakers or whatever.

 

Spider Fighter did bite the gimmick from Sirius' Bandits on the 8-bits, however.

[Vic George 2K3]

It's a generic shooter. There's nothing particularly Astro Blaster about Megamania as opposed to Threshold or Sneakers or whatever.

 

There's nothing particularly "generic" about Megamania.

 

Spider Fighter did bite the gimmick from Sirius' Bandits on the 8-bits, however.

 

And Sirius' Bandits game for the Atari computers seems derived from Taito's arcade Stratovox game.

[NovaXpress]

What's non-generic about Megamania? Slide and shoot. Watch your fuel. The graphics are cute, but that doesn't change the fact that the action isn't innovative at all.

[Foxsolo2000]

Megamania is a virtual copy of Astro Blaster save that it is missing the docking part, in my humble opinion at least

[Gabriel]

It's similar to Astro Blaster in that:

 

1. The ship looks passably similar.

2. Enemies attack in very similar patterns.

3. If you didn't know the enemies in the Megamania 2600 version were supposed to be burgers/fries/dice, they'd bear a passing resemblance to the strange targets of Astro Blaster.

4. You have a fuel gauge. Which is rather strange for a shooter of this type. In fact, I can't offhand think of any Space Invaders style games that have a fuel gauge other than Astro Blaster and Megamania.

 

Now, none of these elements alone really does it, but all together they really make Megamania seem like Astro Blaster with the serial numbers filed off. In fact, if it were possible to tack on a docking sequence every few waves, the game would be a arcade conversion worthy of the time.

[Foxsolo2000]

Been a while since I played this game so forgive the question but does Magamania possess a slow down feature as in Astro Blaster?

[ZylonBane]

Ditto everyone except NovaXpress.

 

People forget that Astro Blaster was the first arcade game where you faced successive waves of aliens with vastly different characteristics. The fuel gauge and weapon overheating were also unusual features which were rarely used in this genre.

[Lord Helmet]

Ditto everyone except NovaXpress.

 

People forget that Astro Blaster was the first arcade game where you faced successive waves of aliens with vastly different characteristics. The fuel gauge and weapon overheating were also unusual features which were rarely used in this genre.

1031274[/snapback]

 

Wow, I agree with ZB :!:

 

I wonder if any of the features in Astro Blaster could be hacked into Megamania. It's been along time since I have played either one, so I don't remember exactly what the differences are. I remember them being similar though.

[NovaXpress]

4. You have a fuel gauge. Which is rather strange for a shooter of this type. In fact, I can't offhand think of any Space Invaders style games that have a fuel gauge other than Astro Blaster and Megamania.

Really? KLOV can show you dozens of these games which use a fuel gauge.

 

People forget that Astro Blaster was the first arcade game where you faced successive waves of aliens with vastly different characteristics. The fuel gauge and weapon overheating were also unusual features which were rarely used in this genre.

Astro Blaster didn't introduce any of these elements. Just sort through 1979 (a year before Astro Blaster) and you'll see more than one shooter which features multiple waves of enemies, fuel, weapon heat, even docking. The most innovative thing about Astro Blaster was the secret bonuses.

 

So then, Megamania is just like Astro Blaster! Except it looks different. And your weapons don't heat up. And there's no docking. Or special bonuses. Or ANYTHING whatsoever that indicates Astro Blaster as opposed to Ozma Wars or any other slide-n-shoot.

 

I have no doubt that Steve cartwright played Astro Blaster. Megamania does "feel" a lot more like AB than it feels like Moon Cresta or Space Firebird. But really, there were more games like this developed for all formats by 1982 than any of us could count. It's all just Space Invaders with frills added.

Edited March 10, 2006 by NovaXpress

[Tempest]

I always thought it was 'inspired by' Astro Blaster. There are just too many similarities to be coincidence. That's not to say that Megamania is a clone or rip off of Astro Blaster, just a game based off the original.

 

Tempest

[NovaXpress]

I can buy that it's a 4K Astro Blaster with clever graphics, but once you remove all the gimmicks how Astro blaster is it really?

 

It's like Atlantis. There's no doubt that Dennis Koble played a few games of Colony 7, but by the time the play mechanic was optimized for the 2600, there was pretty much nothing of Colony 7 to be found.