Clones & Ports of Atari's Asteroids 1979

This article is concerned with computer-game clones and ports of Atari's Asteroids coinop of 1979. Asteroids-likes are defined by me as shoot 'em ups that feature 360° rotation and firing of the craft, thrust with inertia, and progressively destructible objects on a fixed-screen wrap-around playfield or scrolling playfield that can be trucked.

The article is only concerned with Asteroids clones and ports that appeared on Western computer game machines. The clones and ports are presented chronologically.

Asteroids games are not the same as Gravitar games.

Asteroids Clones

Super Nova TRS-80 1980

Bill Hogue & Jeff Konyu of Big Five Software coded Super Nova in 1980 for the TRS-80. Super Nova came out one year after Atari's Asteroids coinop of 1979, from which it draws.

Starship Command BBC Micro 1983

Also coded in 1983 for the BBC Micro in Mode 4, Peter Irvin's Starship Command is a top-down trucking Asteroids-like featuring 360° rotation, firing and ramming over a scrolling starfield. Nice.

Crazy Comets Commodore 64 1985

Famous for its super-fast and super-smooth sprite-shifting on the Commodore 64, Simon Nichol's Crazy Comets is a solid clone of Gottlieb's Mad Planets coinop of 1983. Audio by Rob Hubbard.

Mega-Apocalypse Commodore 64 1987

Coded by Simon Nicol of Martech Games Ltd. in 1987, Mega-Apocalypse is a technically impressive fixed-viewport multi-directional shoot 'em up that was originally coded for the C64, but later ported to ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and BBC Micro (1988-89). An incremental evolution on Martech's own Crazy Comets of 1985, Mega-Apocalypse features 5-channel sound, sprite rotation, strafe-firing, and super-fast hostiles gliding smoothly over a swirling starfield.

Due to the sheer speed and tendency of hostiles to home-in on the player's ship, Mega-Apocalypse is by no means a cakewalk. In fact, it is going to filter most people during the first level. The best advice I can give is: learn to circle fast-moving hostiles. You could also try 2-player coop.

Soundtrack and sampled sound and speech by Rob Hubbard.

Hunter's Moon Commodore 64 1987

Martin Walker of Thalamus coded Hunter's Moon in 1987 for the C64. Hunter's Moon is multi-directional shooter perfection.

Blasteroids IBM PC 1989

Atari Games Corporation ported Tengen's Blasteroids coinop of 1987 to IBM PC in 1989. A full-featured Asteroids-like with good controls and presentation, Blasteroids displays in 4-color CGA, 16-color EGA or 256-color VGA graphics modes.

Blasteroids Amiga 1990

The 1990 Amiga Teque Software Development port of the 1987 Tengen Blasteroids coinop is king-tier across the board. You can transform between three different spacehips on the fly (Speeder, Fighter and Warrior).

As in Atari's Asteroids coinop of 1979, control in Blasteroids consists of rotate, thrust and fire (at asteroids and enemies). As one can glean from the below infographic Blasteroids is a full-featured and well-presented shoot 'em up.

Blasteroids Equipment: Shield, Blaster, Extra Shot Power, Ripstar, Extra Fuel Capacity, Booster, Crystal Magnet, Cloak.

Amnios Amiga 1991

Psygnosis and Flying Chicken Software released Amnios as an Amiga-exclusive in 1991. Amnios is a multi-directionally-scrolling shooter that employs the Amiga extra halfbrite graphics mode for 64 on-screen colors (EHB mode). Amnios features some of the best audio on the Amiga.

The object of Amnios is to destroy a certain percentage of planet organs followed by a boss. Or rescue a certain number of humanoids. There are 10 surfaces to blast across.

Amnios was programmed by Paul Frewin, drawn and animated by Pete Lyon and composed by Tim Wright and Lee Wright.

Stardust Amiga 1993-94

Bloodhouse's Stardust and Super Stardust AGA of 1993-94 are king-tier asteroids-style games with sprite-scaling tunnel segments that update smoothly without overt pixelation. The pre-rendered, light-sourced asteroid sprites rotate as they move about the viewport, which is impressive.

Stardust Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups):

Mega Bomb, Gun Power Up, Smart Bomb
Control Improvement, Shields, Points, Extra Life, Full Energy

Super Stardust Weapons System:

Mega Bomb, Gun Power Up, Flame Burst, Smart Bomb
Engine Power, Shield Energy, Points, Extra Life, Extra Energy

Blastar Amiga 1993: Sheer Exhilaration & Firepower

Core Design coded the multi-directional Blastar in 1993 for the Amiga. Blastar features smooth 8-way scrolling and sprite rotation, big bosses and an upgradeable weapons system. The player's spaceship is rotatated à la Stardust (see above), but Blastar also scrolls the playfield in the direction the spaceship is heading.

Blastar coded by Tim Swann.

Axia IBM PC 1998

Dungeon Dwellers Design released Axia for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1998. An Asteroids-like, Axia was designed and coded by Jason Pimble. Cash is accumulated and a store can be accessed per five levels completed. Weapons include Cannon, Laser, Missile, Drone and Booster. Displays in 256-color VGA 640x400. Supports keyboard control or 4-button analogue/digital joystick.

IBM PC original. IBM PC exclusive.

Asteroids origins:

Space War PDP-1 Mainframe 1962

In 1985 the Space War! PDP-1 mainframe game of 1962 was brought to i808x in glorious B&W by Bill Seiler. Spacewar displays its vectors in monochrome CGA at 640x400 resolution, but its line-draws are of 320x200 fidelity.

IBM PC version:

cf.

Lilura1 cRPG

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Asteroids Clones and Ports (Asteroids-likes)