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Space Invaders (Atari 2600 video game)

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For the original arcade game, see Space Invaders.
Space Invaders
Portrait-oriented artwork featuring three alien flying saucers against a mountainous landscape. At the top are the words: "Space Invaders Video Computer System Game Program. 112 video games: moving shields, zigzagging, laser bombs, fast laser bombs, invisible invaders"
Cover art, credited to "Norman"[1]
Developer(s)Atari[2]
Publisher(s)Atari[2]
Designer(s)Rick Maurer
SeriesSpace Invaders
Platform(s)Atari 2600
ReleaseMarch 10, 1980
Genre(s)Fixed shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Space Invaders is a 1980 video game based on Taito's 1978 arcade game by the same name.[a] It was developed and released by Atari, Inc. for its Atari 2600 home console, with design and development handled by Rick Maurer. Similar to the arcade game, the player operates a laser cannon to shoot incoming enemies from outer space. Maurer's version has unique graphics and offers gameplay variations. These include a two-player mode and options that allow for invisible enemies, moving shields, and for enemies shots to zig zag.

Prior to working at Atari, Maurer developed games at Fairchild Semiconductor. Impressed with the Space Invaders arcade game, he began developing an Atari 2600 version in his own time at Atari. The company staff showed little interest in the game until Ray Kassar saw how well Space Invaders was doing in arcades. Kassar obtained the rights to the game for the Atari 2600 and had Maurer complete his code.

Space Invaders was one of Atari's biggest hits in 1980, with Electronic Games magazine referring to it as a console seller for the system.[4] It became one of the best-selling games for the Atari 2600 and has been described as the video game industry's first killer app. When Maurer was only compensated with an $11,000 bonus for the success of the game, he left the company and never developed another Atari 2600 game. The success of Space Invaders led to Atari seeking out games from other arcade companies such as Namco and Centuri.

Gameplay

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A horizontal rectangular video game screenshot that is a digital representation of a battle between aliens and a laser cannon. The brown aliens hover above three red blocks. Below the blocks is a small green triangular shaped cannon.
The player-controlled laser cannon (bottom left) shoots the aliens as they descend. Game scores are tracked at the top. Maurer's creature designs differ from the original arcade game's.

Space Invaders has the player at war with enemies from outer space. The player uses the joystick to move left and right and presses the red button to fire a laser cannon. The goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying the enemies with a laser cannon and to eliminate them before they reach the bottom of the screen. While descending, the aliens will shoot lasers at the player's cannon; three hits will end the game. The further rows of aliens give the player more points when hit. Upon destroying all 36 aliens, a new set will appear. In a single-player game, a Command Alien ship worth 100 bonus points will periodically move across the top of the screen.[5]

The Atari 2600 version of Space Invaders alters the gameplay of the arcade original. It has 36 invaders instead of 55 and only three defence bunkers instead of four. There are game variations with moving bunkers, shots that zig-zag, and invisible invaders that are briefly shown after being shot.[6] The home version of Space Invaders added two types of co-operative play:[7] a partnered mode where each player can only move left or right respectively and both can fire the cannon, and another where one player shoots and the other moves the ship.[5]

Development

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The original arcade version of Space Invaders was programmed by Toshihiro Nishikado for Taito in 1978. Midway arranged to distribute the game in the United States following its success in Japan.[8] The Atari version of Space Invaders was developed by Rick Maurer.[6] Prior to working for Atari, Inc., Maurer worked at Fairchild Semiconductor developing games, such as Pinball Challenge and Hangman for the Fairchild Channel F.[9] Atari had released the Atari Video Computer System home console towards the end of 1977. It launched with nine games, four of which—Air-Sea Battle, Combat, Star Ship, and Video Olympics—were based on existing Atari arcade properties: Anti-Aircraft (1975), Tank (1974), Starship 1 (1977), and Pong (1972), respectively.[10]

Maurer came up with the idea of developing a version of Space Invaders for the Atari 2600.[11] At the time in the company, games were not assigned to developers, leading him to scout local arcades for ideas. Maurer was impressed by Tatio's Space Invaders arcade game, specifically the sound of the game, and began developing the game on his own in 1978.[9][11] He described the process of coding for the Atari 2600 as "having to unlearn every good programming practice you've learned."[11] After a few months of development, he had playable prototype. However, the consumer division of Atari instructed Mauer to cease further work on the game. He then focused on coding Maze Craze (1980), which he thought would help him hone his coding skills for the Atari 2600.[11]

Management at Atari later noticed the financial success of Taito's Space Invaders in late 1978.[9][12] Ray Kassar went to Japan in 1979 to get the rights to the game. This allowed Maurer to continue development of his version. He initially sought a cover art designer at Atari to create the illustrations of the invaders on graph paper to use in the game. Unable to find a designer, Maurer crated his own designs for the characters. Maurer's Space Invaders was initially seven kilobytes (KB) and had to be reduced. He spent three months editing his code to be able to fit on the four KB ROM cartridge.[11]

Reception

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Space Invaders was released for the Atari 2600 on March 10, 1980.[17] It became a high seller in 1980, earning Atari over $100,000,000. The console version of Space Invaders, along with popular arcade games Asteroids (1979), Missile Command (1980) and Battlezone (1980) would move Atari to a growth of $512.7 million for the year.[11]

Bill Kunkel and Frank Laney in Video magazine found the variants on the arcade game interesting but suggested that purists will probably focus on the original version of the game included in the release.[18] Ken Uston in his book Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games declared the version of the game as "one of Atari's best cartridges".[9] In How to Win at Video Games (1982), an anonymous reviewer wrote that "Of all the available bottom-shooting games that pit you against colorful rows of descending monsters, none can compare with the one and only home version of classic arcade game".[19] In the 1983 Software Encyclopedia from Electronic Games, the writers gave the game a perfect ten overall rating, noting high rankings for single-player gameplay, while only finding the game's graphics and sound to be merely good.[15]

From retrospective reviews, Computer and Video Games staff reviewed the game in 1989, calling the graphics low-quality by contemporary standards. While the reviewer noted it was an "enjoyable diversion for a while", they suggested that several other newer games offer more variety and excitement.[14] In a 2007 overview of the game in Retro Gamer, Stuart Campbell commented that the game did not resemble the Space Invaders that players knew; however, he stated the port had so many qualities that it was still a challenging and exciting game.[6] In the magazine's list of the top 25 Atari 2600 games, Stuart Hunt and Darran Jones listed Space Invaders in at their 14th spot, writing that it "may not have been able to successfully emulate its arcade peer, but its vast amount of options arguable made it just as good a game."[20] Weiss awarded the game a perfect five star rating for online game database AllGame.[13] He later included the game in his 2014 book The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987 describing that the changes made from the original made it an even better game, such as the simultaneous two-player mode and various alternative gameplay modes that allowed for zig-zagging objects and invisible enemies.[2][21]

Legacy

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Photograph of a black flat rectangular plastic video game console with brown trims. The top rear portion of the device is raised with a receptacle slot for game cartridges flanked by two sets of two silver switches. A black cable connects to the back of the console and wraps around the left side to black flat square plastic game controller with a red button and a moveable stick protruding upwards.
Electronic Games magazine said the release of Space Invaders led to Atari's dominance in the home video game market in 1980 with the Atari 2600 (pictured).[4]

Prior to the release of Space Invaders, the sales of the Atari Video Computer System were described as "respectable, if not spectacular". The release of the game led to what Edward B. Driscoll, Jr. of Poptronics described as making not just Atari, but "the whole home videogame industry", have its killer app."[22] The game went on to becomes one of the best-selling games for the Atari 2600, with Atari video game designer Larry Kaplan saying that the console "was not doing that well – there were only a few million in the field, and it looked like it was dying – then Space Invaders came out, and bam! It exploded."[11][23] The Winter 1981 issue of Electronic Games reported that this console release of Space Invaders led to Atari's dominance in the home video game market and that it was the one title that "sold the entire [Atari 2600] system in many cases."[4] Atari 2600 sales quadrupled following the game's release.[24]

The success of the game led to Atari rescheduling its entire Atari 2600 line-up from being released during the holiday season to being released throughout the year. The company also began to focus on translating many arcade hits to the Atari 2600, starting with Missile Command in 1981.[11] Following the financial success of Space Invaders, Maurer himself was compensated with a $11,000 bonus.[11] He was working in Atari's coin-op division developing a game with vector graphics that was to be a color version of Asteroids (1979), but he stopped working on the game and left Atari. Maurer's code was picked up later by Owen Rubin and developed into the 1982 arcade game Space Duel.[25]

Along with bringing its own arcade hits to the Atari 2600, Atari focused on licensing other popular arcade games to its console as it had with Space Invaders.[26] In addition to its own arcade games like Asteroids and Super Breakout (1978), Atari would enter an agreement to license several of Namco's arcade titles in the United States in 1981. The next year, Atari received a four-year contract to distribute all current and future Centuri arcade games outside the arcade systems.[11][27]

A special version of the game titled Pepsi Invaders (1983) was produced at Atari that was given to employees of the Coca-Cola Company at a sales convention in 1983.[28] Rob Fulop would translate his own version of Space Invaders to the Atari 8-bit computers.[29] Fulop's version also had unique elements to it, such as the invaders marching out of a rocket ship on the left side of the screen.[30] In 2004, a hack titled Space Invader Deluxe for the Atari 2600 was released which includes cutscenes and color schemes similar to Space Invaders Part II (1979), using an extra 4K of rom to add a title screen and higher sound quality.[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lapetino 2016, p. 115.
  2. ^ a b c Weiss 2014, p. 195.
  3. ^ Montfort 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Laney, Jr. 1981, p. 32.
  5. ^ a b Atari, Inc. 1980.
  6. ^ a b c Retro Gamer 2007, p. 25.
  7. ^ Montfort & Bogost 2009, p. 154.
  8. ^ GameSpy.
  9. ^ a b c d Weiss 2014, p. 196.
  10. ^ Montfort & Bogost 2009, p. 7.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fulton 2008.
  12. ^ Goldberg & Vendel 2012, p. 512.
  13. ^ a b Weiss.
  14. ^ a b Computer and Video Games 1989, p. 72.
  15. ^ a b Katz 1983, pp. 30–31.
  16. ^ Video Games Player 1982, pp. 62–63.
  17. ^ Kunkel & Laney 1980, p. 18.
  18. ^ How to Win at Video Games 1982, p. 57.
  19. ^ Jones & Hunt 2008, p. 28.
  20. ^ Weiss 2014, p. 197.
  21. ^ Driscoll, Jr. 2002, p. 24.
  22. ^ Buchanan 2008.
  23. ^ Goldberg 2012, p. 30.
  24. ^ Goldberg & Vendel 2012, pp. 523–524.
  25. ^ Goldberg & Vendel 2012, p. 513.
  26. ^ Corderi 1982.
  27. ^ a b Retro Gamer 2007, p. 26.
  28. ^ Goldberg & Vendel 2012, p. 276.
  29. ^ Hickey, Jr. 2021, p. 34.

Notes

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  1. ^ The console was called the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from launch until it was rebranded Atari 2600 in November 1982.[3]

Sources

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  • Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  • Corderi, Victoria (February 19, 1982). "Home Video Addicts to Get Centuri's Games". The Miami News. p. 10A.
  • Driscoll, Jr., Edward B. (August 1, 2002). "The Atari 2600: The Cartridge Family Rides Again". Poptronics. Vol. 3, no. 7. ISSN 1526-3681.
  • Fulton, Steve (August 20, 2008). "Atari: The Golden Years -- A History, 1978-1981". Game Developer. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  • Goldberg, Marty (2012). "Inside the Atari 2600". Retro Gamer. No. 103. Imagine Publishing. ISSN 1742-3155.
  • Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press. ISBN 978-0-9855974-0-5.
  • Hickey, Jr., Patrick (2021). The Minds Behind Shooter Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4766-8273-0.
  • Jones, Darran; Hunt, Stuart (2008). "Top 25 Atari 2600 Games". Retro Gamer. No. 46. Imagine Publishing. p. 28. ISSN 1742-3155.
  • Katz, Arnie, ed. (1983). "Atari 2600 (VCS)". Electronic Games 1983 Software Encyclopedia. Vol. 1, no. 1. Reese Publications.
  • Kunkel, Bill; Laney, Frank (October 1980). "Arcade Alley: A Critical Look at Video Cartridge Games & Programs". Video. Vol. 4, no. 7. ISSN 0147-8907.
  • Laney, Jr., Frank, ed. (Winter 1981). "Can Asteroids Conquer Space Invaders?". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 1. Reese Publishing.
  • Lapetino, Tim (2016). Art of Atari. Dynamite Entertainment. ISBN 978-1-5241-0103-9.
  • Montfort, Nick (December 2006). "Combat in Context". Game Studies. 6 (1). ISSN 1604-7982. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  • Montfort, Nick; Bogost, Ian (2009). Racing the Beam. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
  • Weiss, Brett Alan. "Space Invaders". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  • Weiss, Brett (2014). The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7643-4618-7.
  • Space Invaders: Atari Game Program Instructions. Atari, Inc. 1980. C016943-32 REV. 2.
  • "Atari Brings Space Invaders Home". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 24, 2004. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  • Campbell, Stuart (2007). "The Definitive Space Invaders". Retro Gamer. No. 41. Imagine Publishing. pp. 24–33. ISSN 1742-3155.
  • "Space Invaders". United States Copyright Office. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  • "Space Invaders". How to Win at Video Games. Vol. 1, no. 3. Publications International. December 1982.
  • "Software Report Card". Video Games Player. Vol. 1, no. 1. United States: Carnegie Publications. September 1982.
  • "Complete Games Guide" (PDF). Computer and Video Games. No. Complete Guide to Consoles. October 16, 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2021.
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