Atari–Week 14
For our fourteenth week, our returning champion Breakout is taking on four other games: Pelé’s Soccer, Steeplechase, Video Checkers, and Asteroids. Which do you think is best?
Breakout
Released in 1978.
“In Breakout, there is a wall of bricks along the top of the screen and your goal is to destroy the entire wall one brick at a time! To do this, you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen which is used to reflect a bouncing ball into the bricks. When the ball hits a brick, it will destroy it. You start with five balls, and the game ends when all five fall off the bottom of the screen. Also included are several game variations, including breakthru (the ball will go straight through bricks instead of bouncing back), timed breakout (you have a time limit to gain as many points as you can), and invisible breakout (the bricks are only visible for a short while after one of them is hit). Other variations allow you to catch the ball or control the direction of the ball.”
Pelé‘s Soccer
Released in 1980.
“In this soccer game, each team has one forward, two backs and a goalie. The forward and backs always run in formation. You only control the goalie when he has the ball, otherwise he is computer controlled.
The game is played in 2 halves with the object to score as many goals as you can in the time allowed. The allowed time varies by game setting.”
Steeplechase
Released in 1980.
“This is a hurdles horse race.
The horse’s names, from bottom to top, are: Lucky Devil, Absent Mind, Just Missed and Little Dictator. You play as one of the jockeys and must reach the right side of the screen first. The horse runs and hurdles come at you from the right. To jump these hurdles, you turn the paddle to set the height of the jump, as indicated by the marker on the right. You press the button to jump. The better you jump, the faster your horse goes. After 3 minutes, if no one has gotten all the way to the right, the race ends and whoever was in the lead wins.“
Video Checkers
Released in 1980.
“In this classic game of checkers you can play with your friend or many different levels of computer AI. Mastering all of them will take skill and strategy, as well as a bit of luck. Video Checkers follows the standard checkers rules with the following rules: if there is a jump available, you must take it and if you get to king’s row and are promoted, you cannot move again that turn but must wait for your next turn.”
Asteroids
Released in 1981.
“Asteroids is a conversion of the arcade game of the same name.
Play the role of a spaceship pilot trapped in a gigantic asteroid cloud and pulverize incoming asteroids with the ship’s photon cannon. When all asteroids are destroyed, the play can them move to the next round. In addition to asteroid, the player will also face an Alien Robot Saucer which shoots randomly across the screen.
The player using the controller may rotate the ship (left or right) to any direction or move the ship forward. Shots will be fired according to the ship direction. The player has three reserved ships available to replace a destroyed spaceship. The spaceship is destroyed if an asteroid collides with the spaceship or is shot by an Alien Robot Saucer. Additionally, the player may opt to use the hyperspace warp to avoid collision. The warp however, may also destroy the spaceship in the process.
Asteroids when shot will break-up into smaller pieces or be destroyed.. There are three types of asteroids: large asteroids, medium asteroids, and small asteroids. Large asteroids and medium asteroids when shot, will break-up into two smaller sized asteroids. Small asteroids when shot will be destroyed.
Alien Robot Saucers come in two sizes: small and large. Both use photon lasers to shoot and will explode when destroyed. Alien Robot Saucers will not appear at the Novice Level.”
Vote in poll! Voting ends Saturday, June 16 at 11:00 AM.
ausretrogamer
Boots
Chris
WhaleyMAX
FamiComplex
gamingbeaver
Peisinoe
McFly
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