While the 8-bit version of Asteroids looks a lot like the VCS version it sure has less flicker and it can be played by up to 4 players simultaneously with either all 4 chasing asteroids and saucers or with the possibility to shoot other players. Should make for a great retro party game. What's even more astonishing is that a couple of years ago emulation and translation guru Norbert Kehrer programmed an emulator that runs the original Arcade code on an 800XL. Atari probably never considered that option and it probably would not have worked on a 16K Atari 400 but I find it mind boggling that we could have had near-arcade-quality even back then. The vector graphics are of course emulated by raster graphics. https://norbertkehrer.github.io/ast800xl.html
I think you need to grab the game roms somewhere else but it's possible to play the Asteroids emulator in an emulated Atari 800XL as well ;-) Don't miss a look at Norbert's other projects.
I loved to play Asteroids on a friend's VCS and had Asteroids-inspired "UFO" on my Odyssey2. I played it now and then on the Atari 800 but there were better games. The 7800 version is nice as well and I still manage to survive a couple of rounds.
Great post! A classic arcade game across most of its iterations, and one that seemed like a natural evolution of the foundational 1962 pre-arcade title Spacewar!
While the 8-bit version of Asteroids looks a lot like the VCS version it sure has less flicker and it can be played by up to 4 players simultaneously with either all 4 chasing asteroids and saucers or with the possibility to shoot other players. Should make for a great retro party game. What's even more astonishing is that a couple of years ago emulation and translation guru Norbert Kehrer programmed an emulator that runs the original Arcade code on an 800XL. Atari probably never considered that option and it probably would not have worked on a 16K Atari 400 but I find it mind boggling that we could have had near-arcade-quality even back then. The vector graphics are of course emulated by raster graphics. https://norbertkehrer.github.io/ast800xl.html
Thanks for the great info. I’ll have to check it out.
I think you need to grab the game roms somewhere else but it's possible to play the Asteroids emulator in an emulated Atari 800XL as well ;-) Don't miss a look at Norbert's other projects.
100,000 Asteroids cabinets plus another 20,000 for Asteroids Deluxe
I loved to play Asteroids on a friend's VCS and had Asteroids-inspired "UFO" on my Odyssey2. I played it now and then on the Atari 800 but there were better games. The 7800 version is nice as well and I still manage to survive a couple of rounds.
Great post! A classic arcade game across most of its iterations, and one that seemed like a natural evolution of the foundational 1962 pre-arcade title Spacewar!