ASTEROIDS

2 versions of the game program exist (with each having 2 minor revisions).  The original version had a glitch (described below) that was corrected in the later version. According to Ed Logg, the latest version also addressed the lurking strategy.

2 in-house versions were made, as practical jokes. One was nicknamed “Turtleroids” where the UFOs were replaced by turtles.  According to Ed Logg, it was placed in the gold Asteroids in the lobby of 1272 Borregas to make fun of Frank Ballouz who once said "no more turtle games".  The other was a modification to the high score table to replace Owen Rubin’s initials (“ORR”) with Ed Logg’s.

3 upright cabinet variations were produced, besides the standard cabinet.  The earliest Asteroids games produced actually used Lunar Lander cabinets (with the graphics intact). Another has a white border around the edges (picture #1). These are thought to have all been produced in Atari’s Ireland plant. A third variant has “ASTEROIDS” in large red letters on the sides (picture #2). These were made by Sega, S.A. SONIC. In addition, 3 different coin doors were used – the (then-standard) flat “owl eye” coin door, the more common newer style, and one with 3 coin slots.

A special gold cabinet (with different marquee and control panel art) was made to celebrate the 50,000 machine produced (pictures #3).  The gold Asteroids appeared in worse shape (but with a different marquee?) in Atari’s final days (pictures #4 and #5).

There are 2 known variations of the monitor glass. Early production machines had the text in gold (picture #6).  Later machines had all-white text.

The reserve ships can stretch across the entire top of the screen (up to 59)!  The game would continue to draw reserve ships offscreen (up to 255), which would cause the game to slow down.

When too many asteroids are on the screen (there’s a limit), and a larger one is shot, it will disappear completely!  According to Ed Logg, “This is not a bug because I had like 128 bytes of RAM and I was limited to the number of asteroids I could draw, so if I have no more room, the asteroid would disappear.”

BUG: Rev. 1 – the hyperspace button for player 2 won’t make a tone when pressed in test mode.

BUG: Rev. 2a - every time you start a game, the last letter (initial) in the 10th score is erased.  This was fixed with Rev 2b.

BUG: If the reserve ships reach 256, the counter may reset, or the game may crash (no one has yet verified what happens).  According to Ed Logg, “This is a result of 8 bit counter for the number of extra lives. I wish I had set a limit.”

RUMOR: The original software version (says “Asteroids by Atari” at bottom of screen, instead of “1979 Atari”) had an invulnerability glitch, where you could hide in the upper corners (in the score) and nothing would hit you.  Ed Logg confirmed he’s not aware of this problem.

RUMOR: You can get your ship to fly backwards- thrust in one direction until reaching full speed, and then quickly turn around 180 degrees and continue thrusting.  Ed Logg confirmed he’s not aware of this problem.
 

 

 

 


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