Atari

Asteroids

Asteroids is an arcade space shooter released in November 1979. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The objective of the game is to destroy both, asteroids and saucers. The triangular ship can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.

Released: 17 November 1979
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Adventure International
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Platforms: Arcade · Apple II
Genres: Shooter · Arcade
Also known as: Asteroids (1979) · Fasteroids · Planetoids