{"id":23594,"date":"2024-03-13T10:25:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T14:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?post_type=games&#038;p=23594"},"modified":"2025-04-03T09:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T13:35:21","slug":"asteroids","status":"publish","type":"games","link":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/asteroids\/","title":{"rendered":"Asteroids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Asteroids Background\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/417c8ffLzLo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Inducted: 2024<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1978, Taito\/Midway\u2019s <em>Space Invaders<\/em> filled Japanese and North American arcades, knocking Atari off its throne as the king of coin-operated video games. Atari could have capitalized on the <em>Space Invaders<\/em> craze by producing yet another clone, but when Atari executive Lyle Rains discussed with designer Ed Logg his idea for a new and different space-themed video game, they planted the seeds for one of the most popular video games of all time, <em>Asteroids<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Released in November of 1979, <em>Asteroids <\/em>took its inspiration from the pioneering mainframe computer game <em>Spacewar<\/em> (1962) and the first arcade video game, Nutting Associates\u2019 <em>Computer Space <\/em>(1971). In these earlier games players controlled spaceships engaged in missile combat. In <em>Asteroids<\/em>, players controlled a triangular ship floating in the middle of a moving minefield of space rocks. Using five buttons to rotate left and right, thrust, fire missiles, or \u201chyperspace\u201d to a random place on the screen, players dodged and blasted the roaming rocks and the occasional enemy flying saucer. Each time a player\u2019s missile hit an asteroid, the boulders broke up like shrapnel into smaller, faster rocks that were even more difficult to destroy. The game\u2019s vector graphic display, which used electronic beams to project vivid glowing lines on the monitor, also made gameplay electrifying by creating the illusion of a darting ship\u2019s vapor trail.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Asteroids artifacts\" class=\"wp-image-24186\" style=\"width:602px;height:602px\" width=\"602\" height=\"602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_Asteroids-042024-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>Asteroids<\/em>\u2019 unique combination of challenging gameplay; glowing graphics; intensifying, heartbeat-like sound effects; and the drive to add one\u2019s initials to the high score list made the game a massive hit. Atari sold more than 70,000 units of the game, earning the company an estimated $150 million and making it their best-selling arcade game of all time. Soon, <em>Asteroids<\/em> supplanted <em>Space Invaders<\/em> at many arcades and street locations while game operators collected an estimated $500 million in quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an era when ports of popular arcade games helped introduce millions of people to home video games, <em>Asteroids <\/em>stood out. Atari\u2019s home version of the game sold 3.8 million copies, helping the company sell 30 million home consoles, and making <em>Asteroids<\/em> the third best-selling (behind <em>Pac-Man <\/em>and <em>Pitfall!<\/em>) Atari 2600 game of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not surprisingly, the hit game spawned several sequels such as <em>Asteroids Deluxe <\/em>(1980), <em>Space Duel <\/em>(1982), and <em>Blasteroids <\/em>(1987), as well as dozens of arcade and home video game clones and variants, including <em>Space Fury <\/em>(1981), <em>Zektor <\/em>(1982), <em>Planetoids<\/em> (ZX Spectrum, 1982), <em>Asteroids in Space <\/em>(Apple II, 1982), <em>Mine Storm<\/em> (Vectrex, 1982), and <em>Transplant <\/em>(Amiga, 1992). In 2021, Atari released <em>Asteroids: Recharged<\/em>, a reimagined version of the game that allowed players to compete online against players from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game also influenced a generation of players and developers, including vector game pioneer Tim Skelly, who later praised <em>Asteroids<\/em>\u2019 flexible gameplay, explaining \u201cIts strength was that it allowed you to work out your own ways to win the game. Every player was free to break rocks and shoot saucers any way they pleased. It was an inspiration to me and to decades of game designers.\u201d Indeed, one of the first games that future <em>Prince of Persia <\/em>designer Jordan Mechner programmed was an ill-fated <em>Asteroids <\/em>clone entitled <em>Asteroid Blaster<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through endless variants and remakes across dozens of arcade, home, handheld, and mobile platforms, <em>Asteroids<\/em>\u2019 made a simple, yet challenging game about blasting rocks into one of the most widely played and influential video games of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did You Know?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Asteroids<\/em> was one of the first coin-operated video games to allow players to add their three letter initials to a list of high scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/icheg-preserves-atari-coin-op-divisions-collection\/\">ICHEG Preserves Atari Coin-op Divisions Collection<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/video-game-focus-groups-as-history\/\">Video Game Focus Groups as History<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archives.museumofplay.org\/repositories\/3\/resources\/107\">Atari Coin-op Division Corporate Records<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Inducted: 2024<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1978, Taito\/Midway\u2019s Space Invaders filled Japanese and North American arcades, knocking Atari off its throne as the king of coin-operated video games. Atari could have capitalized on the Space Invaders craze by producing yet another clone, but when Atari executive Lyle Rains discussed with designer Ed Logg his idea for a new and different space-themed video game, they planted the seeds for one of the most popular video games of all time, Asteroids.<br \/>\nReleased in November of 1979, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":23581,"template":"","year_inducted":[512],"class_list":["post-23594","games","type-games","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","year_inducted-512","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Asteroids - The Strong National Museum of Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/asteroids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asteroids - The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inducted: 2024 In 1978, Taito\/Midway\u2019s Space Invaders filled Japanese and North American arcades, knocking Atari off its throne as the king of coin-operated video games. Atari could have capitalized on the Space Invaders craze by producing yet another clone, but when Atari executive Lyle Rains discussed with designer Ed Logg his idea for a new and different space-themed video game, they planted the seeds for one of the most popular video games of all time, Asteroids. 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