Asteroids

Asteroids for the Atari 2600 is Atari’s home version of the asteroid-field shooter. A lone spacecraft enters a bordered playfield filled with drifting boulders, and the aim is to destroy as many as possible while keeping the ship alive. Clearing the immediate danger does not end the game; it leads to another wave, leaving survival and score-building as the central goals.

The ship is directed with an Atari joystick. Moving left or right rotates it, pushing forward applies thrust in the direction it faces, and the fire button launches photon torpedoes. The controls require attention to orientation: a ship pointing the wrong way will thrust or fire the wrong way, so turning before committing to a movement matters as much as shooting.

A hit does not always remove an asteroid at once. Large and medium boulders can break into smaller pieces, while the smallest asteroids are destroyed outright. Small targets are quicker and harder to hit, but they are also more valuable, making the growing debris field both a threat and an opportunity. Asteroids that leave one side of the playfield return from the opposite side, so danger can reappear from any direction.

The cartridge uses the console’s difficulty switches as part of its design. B is the normal setting, while A adds satellites and UFOs, which may fire torpedoes back at the player. The manual notes that UFO attacks begin only after the score passes 15,000 points, with attacks also able to start after 7,500 points. Satellites and UFOs have distinct engine sounds, giving an alert before they enter the action.

There are 66 game variations for one or two players. They combine fast or slow asteroids with several extra-ship schedules, including awards at 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 points and options with no extra ships. The selected variation also determines the special action performed by pulling the joystick back: hyperspace moves the ship to another location, shields provide brief protection but destroy the ship if held too long, flip turns the ship 180 degrees, and some variations offer no special feature. The final group provides slower, more forgiving play with hyperspace and frequent extra ships.

Each game or turn begins with four spaceships. Scores reflect target size: large asteroids are worth 20 points, medium asteroids 50, and small asteroids 100. Satellites award 200 points and UFOs 1,000. Because smaller boulders bring higher rewards, the scoring system rewards precise shooting even as the screen becomes more crowded.

Although it follows the premise of Atari’s arcade Asteroids, this is specifically the Atari 2600 version rather than the later Atari 7800 release or the coin-operated game. Its television playfield is smaller and bordered, and its identity rests on the 2600 joystick controls, console switches, and unusually broad set of cartridge variations. It is a compact arcade-style challenge built around turning, thrusting, firing, and deciding when a defensive option is worth the risk.