Line #29 VideoGame/Asteroids


1	%%
2	%%
3	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
4	%%
5	%%
6	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Asteroids_arcade_360.jpg]]
7
8	One of the most popular games of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames. Debuting in 1979, it first appeared in the arcade, but was quickly ported to the Platform/Atari2600, and has made its way onto most platforms since.
9
10	You control a ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}''-style ship in the middle of an [[TheAsteroidThicket asteroid field]]. You get points for shooting them; the smaller the asteroid, the more points you get. But each time you shoot any but the smallest, [[AsteroidsMonster they split in two]], and the trajectory is different for both. Oh, and you have to avoid [[EverythingTryingToKillYou getting hit by an asteroid.]] Or shot by an enemy saucer that wanders by. In a pinch, you can press the panic button and travel through {{hyperspace}} to a random location... which may not be any better.
11
12	In 1980, Atari Games, the successor to the original Atari's arcade division, released a sequel, ''VideoGame/AsteroidsDeluxe'', which replaced Hyperspace with shields, made the saucers more intelligent (deliberately aiming at the player and at the asteroids), and adding a new type of enemy ship, the Killer Satellites.
13
14	In 1987, Atari released ''Blasteroids'', a SpiritualSequel with two-player simultaneous action, transforming ships, power-ups, and a lot more enemies (including an actual FinalBoss, Mukor, who appears to be a distant descendant of VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}), but the same basic shoot-the-rocks gameplay.
15
16	If you were looking for a page about ''actual'' asteroids, see AsteroidThicket.
17	----
18	!!Tropes:
19	* AsteroidsMonster: The TropeNamer. The asteroids will split in two twice, before breaking into fragments small enough to be destroyed with one shot.
20	* AsteroidThicket: The game takes place in one.
21	* DeflectorShields: The Atari 2600 version has such shields in some game variations, though they [[{{Intangibility}} let asteroids and other enemies pass through your ship instead of deflecting them.]]
22	* Every10000Points, the player is awarded an extra life. In the Atari 2600 version, you could choose whether you were awarded an extra life every 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 points, or even not at all.
23	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Even your own technology (see RandomTransportation below). In the 2600 version, you can choose to play with DeflectorShields instead of hyperspace (similar to Asteroids Deluxe), but using the shields for more than two seconds blows up your ship.
24	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: You want a game with asteroids? Then ''Asteroids'' is the game for you.
25	* InNameOnly: ''Asteroids: Outpost'' as a first-person shooter. The only thing remotely close to the original is shooting the meteor-like objects ''VideoGame/MissileCommand''-style.
26	* NoPlotNoProblem: Here's a spaceship. Now shoot some rocks and flying saucers in space. Nothing more is needed for this game. (Some home versions add a small amount of backstory -- your ship accidentally flew into an AsteroidThicket, and now you have to blast your way out -- but it's not necessary)
27	* OneHitPointWonder: Your ship is destroyed on impact with any obstacle.
28	* PowerupLetdown: The Atari 2600 version had a third option if you didn't like Hyperspace or Shields: Flip, which simply rotated your ship 180 degrees instantly. Useful in certain situations, but not as useful as the others. Technically, there was a fourth option, which was having ''no special power at all''.
29	* RandomTransportation: Hyperspace is used as an emergency escape, sometimes dropping you right in front of another asteroid, with a chance that you'll break up on re-entry even without hitting anything.
30	* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: An early example, the "heartbeat" sound gets faster as each wave goes on, stops dead when you complete a wave, and then restarts at a slow pace when the next set of asteroids appear. In the 2600 version, the sound never stopped and slowed down again at set time intervals rather than with new screens.
31	* TooDumbToLive: Seriously, who parks their spaceship in the middle of an AsteroidThicket? In some home ports, the pilot unintentionally flew into one and has to blast their way out, [[RiddleForTheAges but how they managed to get themselves in that predicament in the first place is anybody's guess]]. Either way, [[OneHitPointWonder one touch is instant death]].
32	* UpdatedRerelease: Creator/{{Activision}} released [[http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/11/14/asteroids-3 an enhanced version]] in 1998 for the Platform/PlayStation, Platform/Nintendo64, Platform/GameBoyColor and Platform/MicrosoftWindows in 1998, featuring massively updated gameplay, graphics and sound.
33	* VectorGame: The most successful example.
34	* WrapAround: All-directional.

Context VideoGame / Asteroids