About Me
This is the official MySpace for fans of the Asteroids series. This includes (and is not limited to) The original arcade version, the two sequels Asteroids Deluxe and Space Duel, The Atari 2600 home version, and Blasteroids!
The Asteroids games stand the test of time as being one of the most successful gaming franchises. Its simple gameplay continues to be played throughout the world. Asteroids is more than just a triangle shooting dots at big rocks. To some, it's a lifestyle!
Hyperspace Deluxe crew
"Baron" Julius von Brunk - Starfleet Commander
Shaq McCrazion - Helping hand
Jimmy Hoffa jr. - Hand-eye key grip coordinator
Billy Mitchell - Ace of Aces
Mel Gibson - Chaplain
The history of Asteroids, compiled by Julius von Brunk:
Asteroids was a ground-breaking game, in the sense that it was the first video game to use vector graphics (which means instead of using polygons and sprites, the objects in the game never change pixel quality when enlarged or shrunken). To protect the ship, there's a feature known as hyperspace, which makes the player disappear then reappear in a random location, to evade floating debris and flying saucers. Asteroids was also the very first video game to allow people to save their initials when receiving a high score. Extra lives are given upon reaching 10,000 points.
The game starts out with four large rocks on the screen, as the game progresses, two more large rocks are gradually added, until a maximum of 12 giant rocks fill the screen. Upon being fired on, each large rock disperses into two medium rocks. The medium asteroids do likewise, except they break into a tiny chunk. The smallest rocks eventually become destroyed completely when shot. Aside from shooting asteroids, two sizes of alien flying saucers attack the player. The larger (easy) ship is slow and innacurate, however the little (hard) ship is fast, accurate, and shoots more often than the large vessel. Flying saucers tend to appear towards the end of each stage, when the player has cleared the majority of rocks and debris.
Its sequel, Asteroids Deluxe was one the of the first video games to feature a boss at the end of each level. Upon destroying each asteroid chunk, an unusual spaceship would appear, then dismantle itself into several smaller enemy scouts which chase after the player. Instead of the hyperspace feature, Asteroids Deluxe introduced the shield system, which provided a temporary barrier around the player. Also, the graphics in the game were shade of glowing blue, as opposed to plain white. The overall gameplay was much smoother than its predacesor, with the innovation of the fading screen and fading characters.
Next came Space Duel, which fans label "Asteroids on Steroids". Apart from the colorful video display, Space Duel was one of the very first two player co-op games. Two players could simultaneously pilot two separate starfighters, which are mounted together on an axis. All in all, Space Duel offered four total modes of play, from one player & one ship to two players commanding dual ships. The game featured a larger lineup of enemy ships, as opposed to a large or small flying saucer, and the cosmic debris came in all sorts of bizarre shapes and colors. Space Duel had the same basic shoot-and-dodge gameplay as its prequels, except the unusually shaped objects gave it a new twist.
Atari released a home version of Asteroids in 1981 for the Atari 2600 game console. Although it sacrificed its breathtaking vector graphics, it compensated for its graphical flaws with modifiable game options. For instance, the player could decide whether to use hyperspace, shields, flip-action (the ship makes an instant 180 degree turn), or no special feature. In addition, the game also allowed the players to alter the speed of flying asteroid chunks, as well as enable/disable alien flying saucers. The Atari 2600 version was also the largest size game for the time, using eight whole kilobytes (8k)! Most Atari games at the time could only handle 4k, so this minor increasement meant a great deal to early techies and programmers.
To this day, Asteroids remains one of the most popular and world-famous quintessential games of all time. Many subsequent space-shooters were made from the Asteroids engine and design, but none have matched the magnificent gameplay.
- Baron von Brunk, Asteroids ace player
