Asteroids (video game)



One of the most popular games of The Golden Age of Video Games. Debuting in 1979, it first appeared in the arcade. But was quickly ported to the Atari 2600, and has made its way onto most platforms since.

You control a Space War-style ship in the middle of an asteroid field. All around you, asteroids are floating around. You get points for shooting them; the smaller the asteroid, the more points you get. But each time you shoot any but the smallest, they split in two, and the trajectory is different for both. Oh, and you have to avoid getting hit by an asteroid. Or shot by an enemy ship that wanders by. In a pinch, you can press the panic button and travel through Hyperspace to a random location... which may not be any better (in the sequel Asteroids Deluxe, you get deflector shields instead).

If you were looking for a page about actual asteroids, see Asteroid Thicket.


 * Asteroids Monster: Trope Namer. The asteroids will split in two twice, before breaking into fragments small enough to be destroyed with one shot. Moreover, Asteroids Deluxe added killer satellites, slow-drifting hexagonal ships that split into three diamonds that made a beeline for your ship, which each split into two wedges that made an even faster beeline for your ship.
 * Asteroid Thicket
 * Atari 2600
 * Endless Game
 * Every Ten Thousand Points: the player is awarded an extra life.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: Even your own technology (see Random Teleportation below). In the 2600 version, you can choose to play with Deflector Shields instead of hyperspace (similar to Asteroids Deluxe), but using the shields for more than two seconds blows up your ship.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: You want a game with asteroids? Then Asteroids is the game for you.
 * Nintendo Hard
 * Random Teleportation: Used as an emergency escape, sometimes dropping you in front of a path of another asteroid.
 * Shoot'Em Up
 * Songs in the Key of Panic: An early example, the "heartbeat" sound gets faster as each wave goes on.
 * Vector Game
 * Wrap Around: 4-directional.