Asteroids (video game)

Asteroids
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Arcade NA/EU: Atari, Inc. JP: Taito/Sega[3] Atari 7800 Atari Corporation
Designer(s)	Lyle Rains Ed Logg
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, Game Boy
Release	Arcade NA: November 1979 EU: 1979[1] JP: January 1980[2] Atari 2600 NA: July 1981 Atari 8-bit NA: 1981 Atari 7800 NA: 1986 Game Boy NA: 1992
Genre(s)	Multidirectional shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc.^[4] The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.

Asteroids was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Wendi Allen (then known as Howard Delman) previously used for Lunar Lander. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled Cosmos; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from Spacewar!, Computer Space, and Space Invaders and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes.

Asteroids was one of the first major hits of the golden age of arcade games; the game sold 47,840 upright cabinets and 8,725 cocktail cabinets and proved both popular with players and influential with developers. In the 1980s it was ported to Atari's home systems, and the Atari VCS version sold over three million copies.^[5] The game was widely imitated, and it directly influenced Defender,^[6] Gravitar, and many other video games.