Blasteroids
Blasteroids is the third official sequel to the 1979 multidirectional shooter video game Asteroids. It was developed by Atari Games and released in arcades in 1987.
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Blasteroids is the third official sequel to the 1979 multidirectional shooter video game Asteroids. It was developed by Atari Games and released in arcades in 1987.
The gameplay is basically the same as the original. The player controls a spaceship viewed from "above" in a 2D representation of space, by rotating the ship, and using thrust to give the ship momentum. To slow down or completely stop moving, the player has to rotate the ship to face the direction it came from, and generate the right amount of thrust to nullify its momentum. The ship has a limited amount of fuel to generate thrust with. This fuel comes in the form of "Energy" that is also used for the ship's Shields which protect it against collisions and enemy fire. Once all Energy is gone, the player's ship is destroyed. The ship can shoot to destroy asteroids and enemy ships. The ship can also be transformed at will into 3 different versions: the Speeder with greatest speed, the Fighter with the most firepower, and the Warrior with extra armor.
Each of the Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert difficulty settings has several galaxies, each with 9 or 16 sectors. Once a sector is completed by destroying all the asteroids, an exit portal appears to lead the player to the galactic map screen. Each sector consists of only the visible screen with wraparound.
The objective is to destroy all the asteroids which have a set speed at which they fly through the sector. Asteroids come in varying sizes, and when shot, larger asteroids break into multiple smaller ones. Only shooting the smallest ones will actually remove them from the sector. Asteroids also come in different types. Normal asteroids don't contain anything, but red asteroids can contain power-ups in the form of Power Crystals that are released by completely destroying asteroids. Crystals decay over time. Popcorn Asteroids require several hits, which expands their size, and eventually makes them stop spinning. They can't be destroyed, but stopping them is enough to finish each sector. Egg asteroids contain leeches which home in on the user's ship and suck out its energy. They can be shot and destroyed. Finally there are Seeker asteroids which home in on the player's ship after being shot.
Blasteroids is abandonware and no longer sold or supported by its publishers. Files are archived here for these platforms:
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