Space Invaders (Atari 8-bit video game)
Space Invaders is a 1980 video game based on Taito's 1978 arcade game by the same name. It was developed at Atari, Inc. initially for the Atari 400 and 800 line of home computers, with design and development handled by Rob Fulop. Similar to the arcade game, the player operates a laser cannon to shoot incoming enemies from outer space. Fulop had just created a video game port of Night Driver for the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) and wanted to make a more unique game, which led to various gameplay and graphic changes to this version of Space Invaders. The game received a positive review in the Electronic Games 1983 Software Encyclopedia, complimenting its gameplay. Fulop received critiques from within Atari for deviating from the arcade game too much, which led him to make his next port, an Atari VCS version of Missile Command closer to the original arcade game. Gameplay The game is set on the moon, where the player must protect themselves from the alien invaders and prevent them from landing on the moon's surface. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible by moving left and right across the planet's surface while shooting beams from the laser cannon. Each round features 48 aliens who must be shot. Once shot, their rocket ship lowers, allowing the aliens to get closer to the moon's surface.[1] Once the player has lost all their lives, the game continues until the invaders reach the bottom of the playfield.[2] Among the changes from the original game, after shooting each invader in a wave, the rocket ship on the left side of the screen descends slightly lower each round, with columns of invaders emerging from different levels within the craft.[3][2] The invader's ship on the left side of the screen lowers every subsequent round.[3] When it reaches the bottom of the playing field, the game displays a scene with a flashing red Mystery Ship arriving and carrying off the laser base. The game removes the defence bunkers from the original game, giving the player the ability to auto-fire at enemies. Variations in play adjust the speed of enemy fire, the number of lives the player starts with, and the ability for the enemies to shoot bombs diagonally or straight.[2] DevelopmentRob Fulop designed Space Invaders for Atari, Inc.. Fulop joined Atari in 1978.[4] At this time in the development at Atari, the programmers did not have anyone approving their plans, leading developers Fulop to develop whatever kind of game they wanted. Fulop chose to develop a version of Space Invaders.[4] 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.[5] Atari had licensed Space Invaders from Taito to develop home versions of the game by January 1979.[6] Brenda Laurel was a producer for the game, as the lead of the team of strategists who worked with the programmers for games on the Atari 400/800 for this and other ports including Pac-Man (1982) and Ms. Pac-Man (1983).[7] The game featured different gameplay and graphics from the original arcade game. Reflecting on the changes he made, Fulop called his reasoning "very simple and somewhat embarrassing."[4] After developing a video game port of Night Driver (1980) for the Atari 2600, Fulop said he felt at the age of 23, he was "far too cool to do another straight port of an existing coin-op game."[8][4] Changes to the original game included a spaceship on the left side of the playfield, new character designs for the invaders, and a new scoring system.[9] At the time of development, Atari developers had their own Computer terminal to write their code. For the graphics, Fulop created them himself on graph paper and then converted each line of into corresponding hexadecimal data that he coded into the program.[9] During this period in Atari's history, the company did not credit their game designers. Fulop hid his initials within the game. When the spaceship on the left side of the screen reaches the bottom of the playfield, two of the very lowest aliens turn into letters R.F.[10] Release and receptionRetrospective reviews
Space Invaders was released for Atari 400/800 computers in 1980.[4][7] While sources such as Electronic Games have described Atari's later Atari 5200 release of Space Invaders as very similar to the Atari 400/800 version of the game, it features further deviations in gameplay to other earlier official releases of the game.[11][2] In the Electronic Games 1983 Software Encyclopedia, the publication complimented the game for excelling gameplay while finding its graphics and sound and enjoyment as a one-player game to be merely "good".[3] In Personal Computers & Games (1983), a review found this version of Space Invaders as not very true to the original game, recommending Roklan's Deluxe Invaders for an experience more attuned to the Taito's arcade game.[12] Fulop said that after completing the game, a member of the Atari marketing staff and other people who played it questioned him on why it was not more like the arcade version of the game.[13] Fulop felt his inexperience as a young designer led him to create his version of the game, as well as saying that Atari's management should have some peer reviews, as he was still a young game designer.[14] He opted to make his next game, the Atari 2600 version of Missile Command as faithful to the original arcade game as he could.[4][15] See alsoReferencesFootnotes
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