Astrosmash
Encyclopedia
Astrosmash is a video game for the Intellivision
videogame console
written by John Sohl and published by Mattel
in 1981. In this game, the player takes control of a laser cannon that is protecting the earth from falling asteroids and other threats. The game sold over a million copies and replaced Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack as the pack-in game
title for the Intellivision console.
The Intellivision games catalog gives the following description of Astrosmash: "Spin. Blast. And drop into hyperspace to avoid a killer asteroid shower. Power on. Attack computer engaged. Fire a quick burst at the alien antagonists. Got 'em!" http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/space.html#astrosmash
Astrosmash is like many space-shooter games of its era and involves shooting bombs, asteroid
s, missile
s and flying saucer
s. Astrosmash is somewhat similar to the game Asteroids in that most of the target objects are rocks that break apart into smaller pieces when shot, and the player can enter "hyperspace" as an evasive maneuver and be transported to a random position on the screen; however, the player's cannon is more akin to that in Space Invaders
as it is situated on a planetary surface and thus can only move from side to side.
The object of the game is straightforward. Objects fall from the sky at increasingly fast speeds and the player must shoot them before they hit their cannon.
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
videogame console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
written by John Sohl and published by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
in 1981. In this game, the player takes control of a laser cannon that is protecting the earth from falling asteroids and other threats. The game sold over a million copies and replaced Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack as the pack-in game
Pack-in game
- Characteristics :Pack-in games are intended to be system-selling games that make good use of the positive features of a given system. Sometimes a pack-in game will be changed to a more popular game, or another game will be added, along with the original pack-in, if it is perceived that a newer...
title for the Intellivision console.
The Intellivision games catalog gives the following description of Astrosmash: "Spin. Blast. And drop into hyperspace to avoid a killer asteroid shower. Power on. Attack computer engaged. Fire a quick burst at the alien antagonists. Got 'em!" http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/space.html#astrosmash
Astrosmash is like many space-shooter games of its era and involves shooting bombs, asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s, missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s and flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s. Astrosmash is somewhat similar to the game Asteroids in that most of the target objects are rocks that break apart into smaller pieces when shot, and the player can enter "hyperspace" as an evasive maneuver and be transported to a random position on the screen; however, the player's cannon is more akin to that in Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
as it is situated on a planetary surface and thus can only move from side to side.
The object of the game is straightforward. Objects fall from the sky at increasingly fast speeds and the player must shoot them before they hit their cannon.
Types of threats
Note: The objects below will cause the player to lose a life when hitting the player.- Asteroids: The most numerous object in the game, asteroids come in many different colors and at differing speeds (starting off at slow speeds, then progressively falling faster). They come in two sizes. Shooting a smaller asteroid completely destroys it while shooting a larger asteroid causes it to split into two small ones. If an asteroid hits the ground, the player loses 10 points.
- Spinners: White spinning objects that make a whistling sound as they fall. They come in two sizes and can cause the player to lose a life by both hitting the player and the ground.
- Homing Missiles: Homing missiles fly down from the sky and move towards the player. They only come in one size and appear as a light, similar to a falling star. When they appear, they make a beeping noise. Only one can appear on the screen at any given time but they may appear in rapid succession. They have a tendency to follow the player even if he warps away, sometimes even hovering in a horizontal line over the ground, which makes them impossible to hit (though at other times they will continue falling to the ground). If they hit the ground, the player loses 10 points.
- UFO: Appears after the player has accumulated 20,000 points. They float across the screen rapidly firing missiles at the player. A missile hit causes the player to be killed.
Trivia
- The sky changes color when the player reaches certain point levels: Black (starting); Blue (1,000-4,999); Purple (5,000-19,999); Turquoise (20,000-49,999); Gray (50,000-99,999); Black (100,000+)
- A cut-down version of Astrosmash was released for the Atari 2600Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
console under MattelMattelMattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
's "M Network" label as Astroblast. TelegamesTelegamesTelegames, Inc. is a North American video game company based in Gun Barrel City, Texas, with a sister operation based in England.Telegames was well known for supporting not just modern game systems but also classic game systems, after they've been abandoned by its manufacturer. Effective September...
later re-published the game under the Telegames brand.
- Astrosmash was originally conceived when a game called Meteor!, an Asteroids clone, didn't fill up an entire cartridge. The extra room was used to create a variation of the game called Avalanche!. At the last minute, Mattel's lawyers had Meteor! cancelled because it was too similar to Asteroids and they didn't want a lawsuit. Programmer John Sohl simply put a branch around the opening-screen menu straight into the Avalanche! variation (to prevent introducing bugs, since Meteor! and Avalanche! shared the same graphics and sounds), and the game was released under the name Astrosmash. In very rare instances, if the console's reset button is pressed rapidly, the program will glitch, starting the game in the blocked-off Meteor! mode instead.
- Astrosmash was made available on Microsoft'sMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Game RoomGame RoomGame Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
service for its Xbox 360Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console and for Windows-basedMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PCPersonal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s on March 24, 2010.
External links
- Blue Sky Rangers - Space Action Network page
- The Dot Eaters article on Astrosmash, Sohl and the Intellivision
- A modern game inspired by Astrosmash