Line #13 VideoGame/ComputerSpace


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/computer_space_flyer_5.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Not Included: LadyNotAppearingInThisGame]]
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4	''Computer Space'' is the first commercially sold UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame, created by [[Creator/{{Atari}} Nolan Bushnell]] and released in November 1971. It's a one or two player version of ''VideoGame/SpaceWar''. ''Space War'' had previously been software running on [[UsefulNotes/MainframesAndMinicomputers $20,000 general-purpose hardware]]; Bushnell's innovation was to use cheap logic chips to create a machine specifically for playing this one game.
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6	Some versions were one-player against two flying saucers, others were PlayerVersusPlayer. It's a simplified version of ''Space War'', without the planet and gravity. Your ship fires OneBulletAtATime, and you can guide it by turning your ship. In one-player versions, if you [[ScoringPoints score more points]] than the saucers at the end of [[TimedMission 90 seconds]], you get another 90 seconds of gameplay.
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8	Bushnell created ''Computer Space'' at home, and sold the game to Nutting and Associates, a maker of mechanical coin-op games. It was not a success, because drunks in a bar couldn't understand how to play a game designed for college students. Bushnell left Nutting and founded his own company, Syzygy Corp., later Creator/{{Atari}}.
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10	Notably, it has a brief cameo in ''Film/SoylentGreen'' as one of the expensive toys left behind in William Simonson's lavishly equipped apartment after his murder.
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13	!!''Computer Space'' provides examples of:
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15	* TwoDSpace: Your spaceships can only move up, down, left and right around the screen.
16	* ArbitraryWeaponRange: Missiles disappear at a certain distance.
17	* CollisionDamage: Destroys both you and the saucers, scoring a point for each of you.
18	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The two player versions of Computer Space had their cabinets painted green. The one player ones were painted red, yellow, and blue.
19	* EveryBulletIsATracer: Your missiles and the enemy's are always visible.
20	* LadyNotAppearingInThisGame: Probably the UrExample for an actual game. The [[http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1530&image=1 game's flyer]] features a woman in a low-cut white gown (which is translucent enough her panties are visible) leaning on the cabinet. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210712123327/https://xtremeretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Computer-Space-Nutting-Associates-1971-Arcade-Flyer-Xtreme-Retro-2.png An alternate flyer]] goes a step further, featuring the same woman in another pose that has her [[LegFocus showing some leg]].
21	* NoPlotNoProblem: No mention is given as to who you are, who the enemies are, why you're fighting, or where in space you are.
22	* OneBulletAtATime: Everyone has to wait until their missile reaches maximum range and disappears to fire again. Even if you hit an enemy, because that ''doesn't'' destroy your missile!
23	* OneHitPointWonder: All the spaceships explode with a single hit.
24	* PlayerVersusPlayer: Some versions pit two player-controlled spaceships against each other.
25	* ScoringPoints: Players and computer-controlled saucers all score a point each time they destroy an enemy.
26	* TimedMission: 99 seconds to score more points than the saucers in one-player versions.
27	* WrapAround: In both versions, every ship that goes off the screen reappears on the other side.

Context VideoGame / ComputerSpace