Asteroids Deluxe

Atari console exclusiveRemake

Like in the original Asteroids the objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying asteroids and flying saucers. The asteroids come in three different sizes. If the player fires at and hits a large asteroid, it breaks into medium size asteroids. If the player fires at and hits a medium asteroid, it breaks into small asteroids.

Released: 1 March 1981
Platforms: Arcade Atari 2600 Atari 7800 Atari ST Atari ST/STE BBC Micro BBC Microcomputer System Windows
Genres: Arcade Shooter
Developers: Atari, Inc.
Publishers: Atari, Inc.
Series: Asteroids
Perspective: Third person Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Science fiction
Country: United States

About

Asteroids Deluxe is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game with monochrome vector graphics, released in April 1981 by Atari, Inc. It is the sequel to Asteroids (1979) and was designed to combat the saucer-hunting strategy of the original, allowing experts to play for extended periods; however, these modifications made it significantly more difficult and less accessible to players.

Ports of Asteroids Deluxe were released for the BBC Micro in 1984, the Atari ST in 1987, and the Atari 7800 in 2024. The game was followed by Space Duel in 1982 and the more direct sequel Blasteroids in 1988.

Keywords

shoot 'em up
death
robots
spaceship
artificial intelligence
sequel
high score
secret achievements

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Like in the original Asteroids, the objective is to score points by destroying asteroids and flying saucers. The player controls a ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. When shot, larger asteroids break apart into smaller pieces and fly in random directions, while the smallest asteroids are destroyed when hit. Deluxe replaces the hyperspace feature with shields which deplete with use.

This game also introduces the "Killer Satellite", a cluster of ships that break apart and chase the player's ship when hit. g. from the right edge to the left, or the top edge to the bottom), as in the original.

Development

The Asteroids Deluxe arcade machine is a vector game, with graphics consisting entirely of lines drawn on a vector monitor, which Atari described as "QuadraScan". The key hardware consists of a 1.5 MHz MOS 6502A CPU, which executes the game program, and the Digital Vector Generator (DVG), the first vector processing circuitry developed by Atari. The DVG used for Asteroids Deluxe was designed by Wendi Allen (then known as Howard Delman), and used earlier in Lunar Lander and Asteroids. Most of the sound effects are implemented by custom circuitry, but some are generated via the POKEY sound chip.