Have to agree Patman, this game needs to been seen in the wild to fully appreciate it. The way the vectors pop on the original screen is still amazing.
Also can still say thanks though sorry about the messages but really can't find any on Missile Command and Defender as it's own videos of the arcades really think you mixed it up with Centipede or this other one that seems like it's sequel Stargate. Anyway may want to have a look into that or as they say now Google and UA-cam it.
I'll never forget what a hero my brother (17 years older) was to me when he brought the 2600 home with this and other classic games. Those were good days.
@@herbcraven7146 I forgot to mention Gravitar , that one was special in the way that, once you've decided where you're going to go next, the screen zooms in on that area. Venture used raster graphics, but the same style of gameplay where, as an adventurer, you would approach which area you want next, and the screen zooms in. The one I simply couldn't resist playing? - BATTLEZONE!
The 7-11 down the hill from my childhood home had a vector game called Star Castle for a year or so. It was a pretty simple game but since I was only 10 at the time I thought it was pretty awesome.
@@christhompson2006 I remember Star Castle vividly; I saw it in Arcades here and there around town. Solid game, good challenge, and those damned mosquitos!
I was in junior high when Space Invaders, Asteroids, Centipede, Defender and Pac Man came out. I loved all of these, but Asteroids was my favorite. It was my roller rink/ pizza place/ arcade standby, and remains a great game today, requiring speed and skill. When I play on MAME or my Arcade1up Tempest machine, , I play for real; I never "farm for saucers", but rather keep shooting the rocks. I can reliably get 50K+, but only play a game or two every month or so. Thanks for the retrospective.
The very first video game that I ever played, at 7 years old, was Asteroids for the Atari 2600. I was already a sci fi geek at that point, and was blown away by the cover art. I was beyond amazed that I was interacting with the objects on my lil' tiny black and white 📺 screen. It's the game that kickstarted my passion for video games forty three years ago. Asteroids will always have a very, very special place in my heart.
I grew up playing this on the 2600. The controls were so precise that I could pretty much play indefinitely. My personal best was turning over the score 4 times before I finally stopped. It's very humbling to play the arcade version now with its button controls and only last a couple minutes.
My dad bought an Asteroids arcade cabinet from a pizza place that was closing back in 1984 or 85. I was 7 and my older brother was 10. Dad kept it in the garage and we loved it. We were kings of the neighborhood. As kids who grew up in the arcade, we felt it was prestige to have an arcade game at home. Even if it was Asteroids. I remember my brother and his friends playing for high score all day. My dad sold it after some teenage kids broke in to play it while we were not home. I still remember pulling in and seeing the looks on their faces when they knew my dad was home. We only had it for about a year.
At the age of seventeen I became so addicted Asteroids that I bought my very own Cocktail Table. I wasn't rich, I wasn't pampered, I just worked long and hard over the school holidays, stacking shelves and on a building site. My economics teacher at school had got in at the very beginning of the video game boom and had dozens of machines sited around southeast London. He was a nice guy and in 1981 he sold me a 6 month old machine for £500. I recently bought another one for £565 off of eBay, it was an auction lot but I don't know why it was so cheap, I've seen real basket cases going for a lot more. Good working examples have gone for £1500 to £2000 and this one works perfectly. In fact, it's virtually new looking, there's no rust or paint chips on the coin box, the circuit boards look pristine and the inside and outside are mint. There's not even any screen burn. Like my Mr and Mrs Pac-Man pinball I will be keeping this until the day I die. I've been very lucky.
I'm in my 50's and this is my absolute favorite game ever, when I was a kid, every time I went to the arcade or saw it at a store or pizza place I played it and made sure I had top score, I also had it as one of my first games when I got my 2600 in the late 70s , and in 1985 I sat for 5 hours in one sitting and flipped the score 57 times on the hardest level, a memory I'll never forget. I also went to a vintage shop this past year and rebought a very nice original copy complete in box as a memento since I let go of my original system and games many years ago but have the Atari flashback 10 and go back once in a long while and play it even now. awesome video, thank you for your hard work on this.
I loved Asteroids, but Blasteroids was my jam. I really liked the way that game used a knob to turn the ship instead of buttons and you could combine your ship with another player. It almost deserves its own episode. I played it at the local pool instead of swimming.
Gotta agree. LOVED Blasteroids! It got a pretty decent Amiga port as well, but the arcade original was a true quarter-sucker for me. It was everything I loved about Asteroids plus everything I wished had been added to it. Perfect sequel imo.
One version of Asteroids I'd like to play again, but doubt I ever will, is 'Asteroids Online'. It was a version of Asteroids that was only playable online in your web browser via Facebook. I think it was a decent version of the game, but given that it was only around back in 2010/2011 after which the service ended I doubt I'll ever be able to really confirm that for myself, and because of the age of it there are only two or three videos of any gameplay footage up on UA-cam. It did get an 80% in the one online review I found of it.
How could ANYONE not enjoy the history of one of the true legends of the industry?? This game gives me one of my strongest memories of 1981 as our local shopping mall participated in a nation (Canada) wide Atari sponsored VCS Asteroids challenge, and after your attempt you were given a nice waxed certificate of participation with the Asteroids artwork and your score written in place. I collected a literal sheaf of these as I re-entered again and again all day long, going to the back of the huge lineup of others doing the same as you compete against 7 other people on the podium. Only a few times did I win my tourney and advance to the second round, and never made it to the 3rd. I believe the winners of the 3rd round went to a regional tournament then a final national one but I was just happy with my sheaf of papers, the best score of which hung on my wall for a couple of years. ;-) Great memories! Thanks for this one, Pat!
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries It was such a cool place to grow up in the 80s. (Silicon Valley before it was Silicon Valley.) We had the first Chuck E Cheese's, another arcade/pizza place called Bullwinkle's, and down the street from the Golfland was the "haunted" Toys R Us. Lots of good games at the Golfland. I don't know if it ever got widespread release, but "Rampart" was a game me and my friends had a lot of fun with. And I remember some shoot 'em up with bunny characters. A lot of the classics, too, of course. (The mini-golf was great fun as well.) I wonder what it's like there today. It's been decades since I've gone, but I just looked it up and it looks like it's still around. Hope you get a chance to visit.
2 years later in '81 it wasn't unusual to see a few quarters lined up on the bezel for players waiting their turn to play Asteroids. Definitely one of the arcade golden era original gangsters. Thanks for another awesome review!
first video game i ever played was pong... that was either 1977,78 and it was the radio shack set my cousin had. from there, it was space invaders and asteroids. discovery of the local golfland in castro valley, ca. i found a variety of wonderful games i was able to spend 8 tokens per visit unless i found some on the floor, which happened a lot. i wasn't able to get my grandmother to buy me the 2600 until 1982 and i still have it along with my first zenith color tv. these histories bring back a lot of good memories!
In the 80s I pumped hundreds of quarts into Space Duel. In the late 80s I saved up and bought the actual game for my home... Awesome game! Thanks for the memories!
Great video Pat. I knew this game was a legend and loved playing it but $10 million a WEEK in quarters? Circa 1980?! That's just insane. I loved these vector games like Asteroids, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Ed Logg is a genius, having made so many great games. Speaking of other Ed Logg games, Xybots would be a cool one to do a video on. It wasn't very popular because of its controls but was so much fun. You already covered his other big hits: Gauntlet and Centipede so what's one more!
I remember my parents got me the Atari 2600 cartridge as a way to motivate me to do better in school. To this day it's still a solid port, plus the variety of game variations add massive replay value. The Atari 7800 version was great too. The Atari 8-bit version was planned for conversion to the Atari 5200 but it was scrapped. It's rumored this was done due to the non-centering joysticks.
23:45 - Some added history here if you are going to include Asteroids Recharged. That game was developed by Adamvision Studios, formerly Nickervision. One of the reasons that Adamvision was hired by Atari for the Recharged series was because of a game he made called Super Bit Blaster which was his homage to the original Asteroids. While Recharged has many more features that Bit Blaster, Recharged is arguably an updated version of the latter title.
Your videos are a true highlight on this platform! Your comprehensive coverage, humor, and the way you organize the information is just perfect! Asteroids is such an amazing game, and I was so happy to see you cover it!
I will fire this and Asteroids Deluxe up on the ole Arcade1up Atari Deluxe cab today in your honor Patman! Thanks as always for an entertaining and awesome stroll down memory lane brother, be blessed.
There was a restaurant we’d go to when I was a kid that had the cabaret style cabinet. Loved playing it! I had no idea how important this game would come to be in my life until forty years later. My fiancée had been hospitalized fighting a nasty infection after a routine surgery. She had been in the hospital since June and here it was August. I found someone selling an Asteroids Arcade1Up cab on Facebook and made plans to buy it. As I was leaving work to get the cab I got the phone call saying my fiancée had had a massive stroke and was declared brain dead. We decided to pull the plug the next day. When leaving the hospital I wasn’t ready to go home to an empty house (apartment actually), so I stopped by and picked up the cab. Working on that and getting it all out together and playing the games really got me through that first night! I don’t know what I would have done without those distractions!
Oh my God, I'm so sorry to hear that. To be honest, I find my kids and making videos a healthy distraction from other issues in my life so I understand totally. Thank you for watching
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries it definitely helped. I became a regular at our local barcade called Pixels. Though I don’t go there very much anymore. Main,y because I have more games than they do! I’ve got the Arcade1Up Star Wars, Asteroids, Mortal Kombat II, Pacman 40th Anniversary, and Tron. On top of that I have New Wave Toys’ Missile Command, Q*Bert, 1942 and Dragon’s Lair. And the cherry on top, At Games’ Addams Family 4K virtual pinball with Star Trek TNG, Twilight Zone, Attack From Mars and a slew of others. It’s a wonder I have any sort of life at all 🤣
Fantastic video! Thank you for taking the time to do this one. There were lots of things I've never heard about Asteroids before and the extra clips were great. I was 10 when this hit the arcades and I remember how cool and different it was.
Seeing the early ports of a lot of these games...seeing how "bad" they look by today's standards, but yet we thought they were the greatest thing ever back then. Another great video down memory lane.
I'm always all for any classic arcade game review. These games are still, and always will be, my favorites. I remember clearly being very excited being able to get Asteroids for the VCS and bought it at the earliest available opportunity. I was not very good at the Arcade original so was overjoyed that I could play the hell out of it endlessly at home.
I was a hair too young to really appreciate this era, DK Jr was more my time, so videos of these games are very interesting to me. You do for arcade games with Jeremy Parrish does for video you do for arcade games what Jeremy Parrish does for console games.
As a kid in the 80s and early 90s, I absolutely loved the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids. The multi-colored asteroids really felt cutting-edge in 1985 or so, and it really made the cartridge stand out on the console. In the late-90s, I had a lot of fun with the PS1 version of Asteroids. I played it again recently, and I still find it to be a ton of fun and a great update on the original. Thanks for the video! Asteroids is a huge and important piece of retro gaming history.
I have a cousin I do not see for years and years at a time. But when we do, we always talk about running over to the local market with an Asteroids machine. Blasteroids was a total mind blow.
The original coin slots for Asteroids were called "Owl Eyes." These coin slots were completely circular, and you would place your quarter/token flat in the slot. These would get jammed a lot, so arcade owners would swap out the coin doors for those with traditional coin slots.
Maybe it's just nostalgia talking here, but I love the cover illustration used on the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids. One of the best pieces of videogame art ever. EDIT: Great documentary! The thumbnail was a bit dark and empty feeling, but I hope this video does well!
The thumbnails are typically something I put a lot of thought into. I struggled with this one because I wanted to make sure people knew exactly what asteroids was. I could have used some of the production art but then that may have confused people. It's not doing great but will see. Thanks
The 2600 box & cartridge art was always really detailed and professional looking. They always fooled young me into thinking the game graphics would look even remotely close to them which they never did, not even remotely😅
So glad that you gave some love to Blasteroids. I never saw it in the arcades, but played the heck out of the excellent home version on the Commodore Amiga.
This was awesome. Nothing beats the original coin op. I was surprised you mentioned Geometry Wars. That was a cool connection I hadn't made in my head yet, but you're absolutely correct. Thanks!
Never played it at the arcade, but my first time was on a 'Fountain' console which had all of the original classics including Pong and Space Invaders. This was around 1983. Shortly afterwards we got an Atari 2600 which also had (a more colourful version of) Asteroids, as well as Pac-man and other seminal titles. My favourite was Solaris. After that, we diverged from the console crowd and switched up to home computing, starting wih the notorious Sinclair ZX81 (Ours was second-hand, and came with a bunch of magazines which contained game code you can type in and play), and then the legendary Amiga 500. We were tempted by the Atari Lynx, and later got a Gameboy (the only Nintendo we ever owned). In 1995 we got a PS1, and it's been Playstation all the way for me ever since (though I do have a couple of Xboxes, mainly to play Forza Motorsport, but I haven't used them for years). I'm definitely gonna check the PS Store for Asteroids Recharged, as I've been itching to retry the core Asteroids experience.
All love and 2nd channel sub but no new upload for long time fan. I asked about Heavy Barrel upload. Asking because joystick controller was niche and your in depth uploads are to me proof of your passion and for me kinder spirits on subject matter makes those who know understand. Ty Pat ! Sorry if it sounds aggressive. I ask because your channel are the few that for me keeps the golden arcade era history alive!
I’m surprised that cinematronics didn’t sue Atari because I remember playing space wars by cinematronics a year or 2 before asteroids came out and the asteroids ship is almost identical to the space wars ship and it even had a small indestructible asteroid floating around the screen and was kinda hoping that you would show the similarities between the two games but hey still a great and informative video
Greetings from Australia Pat. Another exemplary Doco. I have never been any good at this game but I always enjoyed it. I am glad that Atari 50:is on modern consoles and will be getting an upgrade this October too. This was a truly special time in gaming.
Awesome! Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this. I actually linked to this video on my website, hope you like it. Looking forward to more of your video's!
I always appreciate your hard work on these videos! You bring back great memories of Arcades. If possible sometime do a review of arcade technology over the years from 1970's on.
From my years as an IBM OS/2 Warp enthusiast in the late 1990s, I recall an unofficial Asteroids-like game, I think named Roids, which had pretty solid graphics and a few enhancements over the arcade classic.
There is one more title I would like to mention. It was definitely inspired by Asteroids and was played in a similar manner. That game was Operation: Inner Space (1994).
Asteroids is definitely fun. But I ALSO loved Geometry Wars which I'm glad you mentioned. I never knew an Asteroids game existed on the Nintendo 64. I might have to check that out.
From what I heard of Asteroids here of the "music," if you ever played the Space Invaders pinball machine, it makes the same beat. Now I used to think that beat came from the Space Invaders arcade game itself, but from this clip here I can tell Asteroids was using that same music, to which gets me to wondering how many Atari machines were using that music which gets faster the longer it plays. The Space Invaders/Alien pinball game was excellent BTW. (12:00 hear the music?)
I've always found the best strategy was to stay directly in the middle of the screen rotating around shooting things and only moving when you had to avoid getting hit. Also when I was a kid playing the 2600 version I found it incredibly amusing to accelerate straight up or down or left to right so your ship kept warping from the edges of the screen faster and faster until you hit something😅
Great video, thank you. Only additional thing I would have hoped for was MineStorm, as an unofficial port, but being built in the Vectrex console, which made it kind of important to vector gaming.
I love the glowing vector graphics of games like Asteroids, Battlezone and Tempest. Emulated without a shader to try and recreate that look and it's just not the same!
Asteroids with Combat were the pack in titles with my Atari 2600, back in 1982. I only had these 2 titles for about 6 months and since combat required 2 players, I mostly played Asteroids.
Asteroids created its own genre of coin op games, such as Star Castle, Sinistar, Omega Race, Space Fury, and Space Duel. I think there was also a 3D variant called Star Raiders that I remember fondly.
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries Good for you... When I moved on to the C64, my parents gave the Atari away 🙄 Of course, I have Stella on my PC, but it's not the same.
For those interested, the control panel overlay shown in the video at 6:22 is not an original overlay, that is a Willis overlay (3rd Party Aftermarket). Also the Cabaret pictured is not the American version. That cabinet might not even be an official Atari one.
I was never super good but just good enough that I felt like I was getting my money's worth! My friend and I spent hours putting quarters into Asteroids back when it was new! 😃
Had no idea about Mr Bill and Sluggo, cool to see some Classic Game Room footage, huge fan of Marks work and hope to meet him soon! That asteroids costume may haunt my dreams 😬 I had that Lynx version! Great vid my friend, always nice to watch these in the morning with some coffee ❤️🎮
I had this game on the 2600 and I could play the hell out of it! I could stay in the middle and just rotate left and right while shooting at the asteroids and play for a very long time! lol I also have a PC version from 1998 that looks a LOT like the N64 version you mentioned in the video.
That Halloween Mask i saw it before but the kid didn't have the rest of the costume just dressed in all Black & the mask! it gave me nightmares! Did not know until this video that it was an Asteroids Costume! i would have never guessed, thought it was some kind of made up mask you buy from some crazy underground costume place. i literally had to stop watching & come back to finish off your video because of that little flash back! This video will BE the Video i remember you by for the rest of my life! Asteroid Costume who'd have thunk it?
Just goes to show that photorealistic graphics and a fantastic soundtrack are surplus to requirements when the fundamental gameplay is so solid. I was lucky enough to own the VCS version as a child but I was so young I don't have a particularly strong memory of it.
I'd line my quarters up on that cabinet at my local King's Department Store. I've even got it on my Switch now. even with The Witcher 3 on there we still have room for the "simplicity" of Asteroids.
great video as always! there is a cool port called maelstrom originally for the mac. still available as freeware. had a lot of great improvements in features and sounds
On the Atari 2600 / VCS, many games had variations which could be selected when you inserted the cartridge. Asteroids thus included both hyperspace and shield modes, as well as (I believe) with and without momentum.
Nice video! With all the alternate versions, I was surprised you didn't mention the Atari 2600 Home Brew game "Space Rocks" an excellent upgrade from the original Asteroids.
I find it convenient that this video came one month after the game's induction into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Either way, that was a nice video. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Fabulous review with great history, I think Space Dual was the last of the Asteroids trilogy. Blasteroids....bleh. All those modern raster graphic versions.... ugh. Just play the original, you'll never get better.
I thought I played Asteroids on a friend's Vectrex, but it must have been Mine Storm. On a side note, someone donated that system to them when their family moved to Montana in the early 90s. It's crazy to think about how the Vectrex didn't appear to have much value back then and compare that to how much it goes for now.
Have to agree Patman, this game needs to been seen in the wild to fully appreciate it. The way the vectors pop on the original screen is still amazing.
It is a sight to behold :-)
Just what the doctor ordered. A Patman QC documentary. Thanks Patman
Thanks buddy
Also can still say thanks though sorry about the messages but really can't find any on Missile Command and Defender as it's own videos of the arcades really think you mixed it up with Centipede or this other one that seems like it's sequel Stargate. Anyway may want to have a look into that or as they say now Google and UA-cam it.
I'll never forget what a hero my brother (17 years older) was to me when he brought the 2600 home with this and other classic games. Those were good days.
That is awesome
I'm a big fan of the Vector games.
That special glow they gave off lured my quarters out of my pocket rather easily.
Vectors were the best. Space War, Asteroids, Tempest and Tail Gunner rocked the early eighties!
@@herbcraven7146 I forgot to mention Gravitar , that one was special in the way that, once you've decided where you're going to go next, the screen zooms in on that area.
Venture used raster graphics, but the same style of gameplay where, as an adventurer, you would approach which area you want next, and the screen zooms in.
The one I simply couldn't resist playing? - BATTLEZONE!
The 7-11 down the hill from my childhood home had a vector game called Star Castle for a year or so. It was a pretty simple game but since I was only 10 at the time I thought it was pretty awesome.
@@christhompson2006 I remember Star Castle vividly; I saw it in Arcades here and there around town.
Solid game, good challenge, and those damned mosquitos!
Yes, I love the glowing phosphors :-)
I was in junior high when Space Invaders, Asteroids, Centipede, Defender and Pac Man came out. I loved all of these, but Asteroids was my favorite. It was my roller rink/ pizza place/ arcade standby, and remains a great game today, requiring speed and skill. When I play on MAME or my Arcade1up Tempest machine, , I play for real; I never "farm for saucers", but rather keep shooting the rocks. I can reliably get 50K+, but only play a game or two every month or so. Thanks for the retrospective.
I fell in love the look of old Atari Vector games from a very early age. Asteroids and Battlezone still look great today
Absolutely :-)
The very first video game that I ever played, at 7 years old, was Asteroids for the Atari 2600. I was already a sci fi geek at that point, and was blown away by the cover art. I was beyond amazed that I was interacting with the objects on my lil' tiny black and white 📺 screen. It's the game that kickstarted my passion for video games forty three years ago. Asteroids will always have a very, very special place in my heart.
When you bought video games based on box art.....
That is pretty sweet, thanks for sharing
I grew up playing this on the 2600. The controls were so precise that I could pretty much play indefinitely. My personal best was turning over the score 4 times before I finally stopped. It's very humbling to play the arcade version now with its button controls and only last a couple minutes.
That's pretty awesome
My dad bought an Asteroids arcade cabinet from a pizza place that was closing back in 1984 or 85. I was 7 and my older brother was 10. Dad kept it in the garage and we loved it. We were kings of the neighborhood. As kids who grew up in the arcade, we felt it was prestige to have an arcade game at home. Even if it was Asteroids. I remember my brother and his friends playing for high score all day. My dad sold it after some teenage kids broke in to play it while we were not home. I still remember pulling in and seeing the looks on their faces when they knew my dad was home. We only had it for about a year.
That is pretty sweet having an actual arcade game. I have never owned one that always wanted to, that sucks he had to sell it
Asteroids was my game!! The motion dynamics always amazed me!! Shout out to Patman QC!!✌🙏🇹🇹
Thanks buddy
At the age of seventeen I became so addicted Asteroids that I bought my very own Cocktail Table. I wasn't rich, I wasn't pampered, I just worked long and hard over the school holidays, stacking shelves and on a building site.
My economics teacher at school had got in at the very beginning of the video game boom and had dozens of machines sited around southeast London. He was a nice guy and in 1981 he sold me a 6 month old machine for £500.
I recently bought another one for £565 off of eBay, it was an auction lot but I don't know why it was so cheap, I've seen real basket cases going for a lot more. Good working examples have gone for £1500 to £2000 and this one works perfectly. In fact, it's virtually new looking, there's no rust or paint chips on the coin box, the circuit boards look pristine and the inside and outside are mint. There's not even any screen burn.
Like my Mr and Mrs Pac-Man pinball I will be keeping this until the day I die. I've been very lucky.
I'm in my 50's and this is my absolute favorite game ever, when I was a kid, every time I went to the arcade or saw it at a store or pizza place I played it and made sure I had top score, I also had it as one of my first games when I got my 2600 in the late 70s , and in 1985 I sat for 5 hours in one sitting and flipped the score 57 times on the hardest level, a memory I'll never forget. I also went to a vintage shop this past year and rebought a very nice original copy complete in box as a memento since I let go of my original system and games many years ago but have the Atari flashback 10 and go back once in a long while and play it even now. awesome video, thank you for your hard work on this.
Holy cow, that is awesome. Thanks a lot
There's a reference to Asteroids in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, during Isaac Clarke's level 3 super.
I loved Asteroids, but Blasteroids was my jam. I really liked the way that game used a knob to turn the ship instead of buttons and you could combine your ship with another player. It almost deserves its own episode. I played it at the local pool instead of swimming.
Gotta agree. LOVED Blasteroids! It got a pretty decent Amiga port as well, but the arcade original was a true quarter-sucker for me. It was everything I loved about Asteroids plus everything I wished had been added to it. Perfect sequel imo.
It came and went pretty quick in my arcade but I played it a lot more on the Amiga
One version of Asteroids I'd like to play again, but doubt I ever will, is 'Asteroids Online'. It was a version of Asteroids that was only playable online in your web browser via Facebook. I think it was a decent version of the game, but given that it was only around back in 2010/2011 after which the service ended I doubt I'll ever be able to really confirm that for myself, and because of the age of it there are only two or three videos of any gameplay footage up on UA-cam. It did get an 80% in the one online review I found of it.
I never even knew that Existed so that is pretty cool. Thanks
How could ANYONE not enjoy the history of one of the true legends of the industry??
This game gives me one of my strongest memories of 1981 as our local shopping mall participated in a nation (Canada) wide Atari sponsored VCS Asteroids challenge, and after your attempt you were given a nice waxed certificate of participation with the Asteroids artwork and your score written in place. I collected a literal sheaf of these as I re-entered again and again all day long, going to the back of the huge lineup of others doing the same as you compete against 7 other people on the podium. Only a few times did I win my tourney and advance to the second round, and never made it to the 3rd. I believe the winners of the 3rd round went to a regional tournament then a final national one but I was just happy with my sheaf of papers, the best score of which hung on my wall for a couple of years. ;-) Great memories! Thanks for this one, Pat!
Hey that is really cool. Thank you for sharing
Golfland in Sunnyvale?! That was my local arcade growing up. Lots of good memories there.
I always wanted to visit there
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries It was such a cool place to grow up in the 80s. (Silicon Valley before it was Silicon Valley.) We had the first Chuck E Cheese's, another arcade/pizza place called Bullwinkle's, and down the street from the Golfland was the "haunted" Toys R Us.
Lots of good games at the Golfland. I don't know if it ever got widespread release, but "Rampart" was a game me and my friends had a lot of fun with. And I remember some shoot 'em up with bunny characters. A lot of the classics, too, of course. (The mini-golf was great fun as well.)
I wonder what it's like there today. It's been decades since I've gone, but I just looked it up and it looks like it's still around. Hope you get a chance to visit.
I recall seeing that haunted Toys "R" Us on the TV show that's incredible I believe. Very, very cool
2 years later in '81 it wasn't unusual to see a few quarters lined up on the bezel for players waiting their turn to play Asteroids. Definitely one of the arcade golden era original gangsters. Thanks for another awesome review!
first video game i ever played was pong... that was either 1977,78 and it was the radio shack set my cousin had. from there, it was space invaders and asteroids. discovery of the local golfland in castro valley, ca. i found a variety of wonderful games i was able to spend 8 tokens per visit unless i found some on the floor, which happened a lot. i wasn't able to get my grandmother to buy me the 2600 until 1982 and i still have it along with my first zenith color tv. these histories bring back a lot of good memories!
That is awesome, thanks for sharing
In the 80s I pumped hundreds of quarts into Space Duel. In the late 80s I saved up and bought the actual game for my home... Awesome game! Thanks for the memories!
When you boot up the new Atari VCS computer/console it starts up with a little animated homage to Asteroids.
Very cool, did not know that
Great video Pat. I knew this game was a legend and loved playing it but $10 million a WEEK in quarters? Circa 1980?! That's just insane. I loved these vector games like Asteroids, Star Wars, and Star Trek.
Ed Logg is a genius, having made so many great games. Speaking of other Ed Logg games, Xybots would be a cool one to do a video on. It wasn't very popular because of its controls but was so much fun. You already covered his other big hits: Gauntlet and Centipede so what's one more!
I was flabbergasted when I read that. I would assume Pong and Pac-Man did something similar back in the day.
I have seen that Halloween costume before. More frightening than a real asteroid heading to the earth.
My jaw dropped when I saw it for the first time LOL
I remember my parents got me the Atari 2600 cartridge as a way to motivate me to do better in school. To this day it's still a solid port, plus the variety of game variations add massive replay value.
The Atari 7800 version was great too. The Atari 8-bit version was planned for conversion to the Atari 5200 but it was scrapped. It's rumored this was done due to the non-centering joysticks.
I thought it was pretty good as well
This was a great video. currently having a Patman binge... AND THIS WAS GREAT :)
Thanks a bunch, how have you been?
23:45 - Some added history here if you are going to include Asteroids Recharged. That game was developed by Adamvision Studios, formerly Nickervision. One of the reasons that Adamvision was hired by Atari for the Recharged series was because of a game he made called Super Bit Blaster which was his homage to the original Asteroids. While Recharged has many more features that Bit Blaster, Recharged is arguably an updated version of the latter title.
Excellent, I hope to have some Atari news here pretty quick
Your videos are a true highlight on this platform! Your comprehensive coverage, humor, and the way you organize the information is just perfect! Asteroids is such an amazing game, and I was so happy to see you cover it!
PatMan is the hero we all needed!! Another gem!! 🔥
Thanks buddy
I will fire this and Asteroids Deluxe up on the ole Arcade1up Atari Deluxe cab today in your honor Patman! Thanks as always for an entertaining and awesome stroll down memory lane brother, be blessed.
Thanks buddy, hope you have fun
I love Asteroids, it's one of my top 3 from that era of gaming along with Pac-Man and Qix. Not enough people talk about Qix. 😛
Excellent arcade game. I might have to venture into QIX territory at some point
There was a restaurant we’d go to when I was a kid that had the cabaret style cabinet. Loved playing it! I had no idea how important this game would come to be in my life until forty years later. My fiancée had been hospitalized fighting a nasty infection after a routine surgery. She had been in the hospital since June and here it was August. I found someone selling an Asteroids Arcade1Up cab on Facebook and made plans to buy it. As I was leaving work to get the cab I got the phone call saying my fiancée had had a massive stroke and was declared brain dead. We decided to pull the plug the next day. When leaving the hospital I wasn’t ready to go home to an empty house (apartment actually), so I stopped by and picked up the cab. Working on that and getting it all out together and playing the games really got me through that first night! I don’t know what I would have done without those distractions!
Oh my God, I'm so sorry to hear that. To be honest, I find my kids and making videos a healthy distraction from other issues in my life so I understand totally. Thank you for watching
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries it definitely helped. I became a regular at our local barcade called Pixels. Though I don’t go there very much anymore. Main,y because I have more games than they do! I’ve got the Arcade1Up Star Wars, Asteroids, Mortal Kombat II, Pacman 40th Anniversary, and Tron. On top of that I have New Wave Toys’ Missile Command, Q*Bert, 1942 and Dragon’s Lair. And the cherry on top, At Games’ Addams Family 4K virtual pinball with Star Trek TNG, Twilight Zone, Attack From Mars and a slew of others. It’s a wonder I have any sort of life at all 🤣
I don't have any of those arcade machines but I'm extremely jealous about the Addams family virtual pinball
This is one of my favorite classics! I didn’t even play it when I was younger, I’m just a huge fan of Golden Age arcades!
Fantastic video! Thank you for taking the time to do this one. There were lots of things I've never heard about Asteroids before and the extra clips were great. I was 10 when this hit the arcades and I remember how cool and different it was.
I was just about the same age and was blown away by the visuals. Thanks for the nice words
Time to get the 🍿 ready and enjoy another great video done by the legend himself ! Great work Patman
Thanks again!
Seeing the early ports of a lot of these games...seeing how "bad" they look by today's standards, but yet we thought they were the greatest thing ever back then. Another great video down memory lane.
I hope you do a history video on Street Fighter 3 it’s such an underrated arcade game.
At some point I will, but I have to cover the second game first
I remember playing Asteroids on the game boy when I was a kid it's still a classic today and I will play the arcade version next. 😀👍🎮
Excellent, have fun
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentariesok I will. 😀👍🎮
I'm always all for any classic arcade game review. These games are still, and always will be, my favorites. I remember clearly being very excited being able to get Asteroids for the VCS and bought it at the earliest available opportunity. I was not very good at the Arcade original so was overjoyed that I could play the hell out of it endlessly at home.
Despite not having any vectors, the 2600 version turned out pretty good
I was a hair too young to really appreciate this era, DK Jr was more my time, so videos of these games are very interesting to me. You do for arcade games with Jeremy Parrish does for video you do for arcade games what Jeremy Parrish does for console games.
Thanks a ton :-)
As a kid in the 80s and early 90s, I absolutely loved the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids. The multi-colored asteroids really felt cutting-edge in 1985 or so, and it really made the cartridge stand out on the console. In the late-90s, I had a lot of fun with the PS1 version of Asteroids. I played it again recently, and I still find it to be a ton of fun and a great update on the original.
Thanks for the video! Asteroids is a huge and important piece of retro gaming history.
Thank you for sharing. I know I plated a bunch when I had for my system as well
Wow, I love that Lunar Lander was a part of the Asteroids DNA. Great video!
I have so many fond memories of Asteroids on my 2600 as a kid! Still love firing it up every now and then!
So to wife, it's a lot of fun
I have a cousin I do not see for years and years at a time. But when we do, we always talk about running over to the local market with an Asteroids machine. Blasteroids was a total mind blow.
That is fantastic
Another great video. 10/10.
I loved Mr Bill and Asteroids when I was a kid, so the fact that the 2 properties had an encounter, it makes me so happy haha
LOL I was pleasantly surprised reading that. I loved Mr. Bill
Asteroids seem to always be at my local movie theaters. So I play after the movies or before they started.
They ended up selling 75,000 cabinets so it was pretty much everywhere
The original coin slots for Asteroids were called "Owl Eyes." These coin slots were completely circular, and you would place your quarter/token flat in the slot. These would get jammed a lot, so arcade owners would swap out the coin doors for those with traditional coin slots.
I had never heard of this, good info
Maybe it's just nostalgia talking here, but I love the cover illustration used on the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids. One of the best pieces of videogame art ever.
EDIT: Great documentary! The thumbnail was a bit dark and empty feeling, but I hope this video does well!
The thumbnails are typically something I put a lot of thought into. I struggled with this one because I wanted to make sure people knew exactly what asteroids was. I could have used some of the production art but then that may have confused people. It's not doing great but will see. Thanks
The 2600 box & cartridge art was always really detailed and professional looking. They always fooled young me into thinking the game graphics would look even remotely close to them which they never did, not even remotely😅
@@jamesnoble3502 Yeah, early official videogame artwork was genuinely amazing. Pure works of art. The game graphics themselves... abstract. 😆
So glad that you gave some love to Blasteroids. I never saw it in the arcades, but played the heck out of the excellent home version on the Commodore Amiga.
Oh yes, the Amiga version was really good
This was awesome. Nothing beats the original coin op. I was surprised you mentioned Geometry Wars. That was a cool connection I hadn't made in my head yet, but you're absolutely correct. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed! The controls are nothing like it but is the overhead space view with the visuals definitely gives me an asteroids vibe
I am sad that Super Stardust didn't get a nod here ... To me? That's Asteroids .. perfected.
As I mentioned there were so many clones there was no way I could get to all of them
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries I know I know ... I wish Arcade1Up would release a REAL vector cab...
Never played it at the arcade, but my first time was on a 'Fountain' console which had all of the original classics including Pong and Space Invaders. This was around 1983.
Shortly afterwards we got an Atari 2600 which also had (a more colourful version of) Asteroids, as well as Pac-man and other seminal titles. My favourite was Solaris.
After that, we diverged from the console crowd and switched up to home computing, starting wih the notorious Sinclair ZX81 (Ours was second-hand, and came with a bunch of magazines which contained game code you can type in and play), and then the legendary Amiga 500. We were tempted by the Atari Lynx, and later got a Gameboy (the only Nintendo we ever owned).
In 1995 we got a PS1, and it's been Playstation all the way for me ever since (though I do have a couple of Xboxes, mainly to play Forza Motorsport, but I haven't used them for years).
I'm definitely gonna check the PS Store for Asteroids Recharged, as I've been itching to retry the core Asteroids experience.
Solaris was really good as well. That jogged a few memories
Fantastic job on the history of Asteroids. As always, your videos are a joy to watch.
Many thanks!
¡Gracias!
A timeless classic !! Great video as per usual.
Thanks again!
Thanks for all your work man I love it.
Hello, thank you so much for your generous donation. I really do appreciate it! Thanks again
PatmanQC dropping another quality retrospective for us retro heads out there.Thanks PatmanQC
Thanks a ton :-)
Star-castle was the first arcade I've ever played..
Phoenix was the second..
Asteroids was the third..
All three at the same store..
How cool is that?
All love and 2nd channel sub but no new upload for long time fan. I asked about Heavy Barrel upload. Asking because joystick controller was niche and your in depth uploads are to me proof of your passion and for me kinder spirits on subject matter makes those who know understand. Ty Pat ! Sorry if it sounds aggressive. I ask because your channel are the few that for me keeps the golden arcade era history alive!
I’m surprised that cinematronics didn’t sue Atari because I remember playing space wars by cinematronics a year or 2 before asteroids came out and the asteroids ship is almost identical to the space wars ship and it even had a small indestructible asteroid floating around the screen and was kinda hoping that you would show the similarities between the two games but hey still a great and informative video
You're right I should have, thanks
Greetings from Australia Pat. Another exemplary Doco.
I have never been any good at this game but I always enjoyed it.
I am glad that Atari 50:is on modern consoles and will be getting an upgrade this October too.
This was a truly special time in gaming.
Hello, greetings from the USA. Thank you so much. I should have mentioned the Atari 50 and don't know how it slipped through
Thank you for putting this together. very nostalgic from my childhood
Thanks glad you enjoyed it
Hi Patman. Your shows are fantastic - thanks. Surely Asteroids has the be *the* quintessential arcade game.
Glad you like them! I would have to agree 100%
Awesome! Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this. I actually linked to this video on my website, hope you like it. Looking forward to more of your video's!
Excellent, I'm glad you enjoyed it
Yo PatmanQC I’m day high and stoned AF! This is your best work yet! You brought a classic back to the forefront!! You are amazing!!!!
Glad you enjoy it! Have fun, thanks
I always appreciate your hard work on these videos! You bring back great memories of Arcades. If possible sometime do a review of arcade technology over the years from 1970's on.
Great suggestion!
From my years as an IBM OS/2 Warp enthusiast in the late 1990s, I recall an unofficial Asteroids-like game, I think named Roids, which had pretty solid graphics and a few enhancements over the arcade classic.
Excellent, never heard of
There is one more title I would like to mention. It was definitely inspired by Asteroids and was played in a similar manner. That game was Operation: Inner Space (1994).
Very cool, thanks
Asteroids is definitely fun. But I ALSO loved Geometry Wars which I'm glad you mentioned.
I never knew an Asteroids game existed on the Nintendo 64. I might have to check that out.
I love geometry wars
Quite possibly your best episode, Patman!!
Thanks a lot!
From what I heard of Asteroids here of the "music," if you ever played the Space Invaders pinball machine, it makes the same beat. Now I used to think that beat came from the Space Invaders arcade game itself, but from this clip here I can tell Asteroids was using that same music, to which gets me to wondering how many Atari machines were using that music which gets faster the longer it plays. The Space Invaders/Alien pinball game was excellent BTW. (12:00 hear the music?)
Blasteroids was fun when you docked the small ship with the big one on a 2 player game.
I've always found the best strategy was to stay directly in the middle of the screen rotating around shooting things and only moving when you had to avoid getting hit.
Also when I was a kid playing the 2600 version I found it incredibly amusing to accelerate straight up or down or left to right so your ship kept warping from the edges of the screen faster and faster until you hit something😅
LOL
Great video, thank you. Only additional thing I would have hoped for was MineStorm, as an unofficial port, but being built in the Vectrex console, which made it kind of important to vector gaming.
Thanks a lot
I love the glowing vector graphics of games like Asteroids, Battlezone and Tempest. Emulated without a shader to try and recreate that look and it's just not the same!
I agree 100%. This should be viewed an actual arcade unit to get the full effect
Great video about a great game, I have a full size upright and you're totally right there's nothing like the glow of a vector game
Thanks , it definitely needs to be seen to be appreciated
Asteroids with Combat were the pack in titles with my Atari 2600, back in 1982. I only had these 2 titles for about 6 months and since combat required 2 players, I mostly played Asteroids.
That's kind of the way it was for me with the NES. I only ever had Mario
Asteroids created its own genre of coin op games, such as Star Castle, Sinistar, Omega Race, Space Fury, and Space Duel. I think there was also a 3D variant called Star Raiders that I remember fondly.
There were vector games before that but it definitelY revolutionized it
I played Asteroids first around 1984 on my Atari 2600 "heavy sixer" when I was just 5... 40 years ago...
Excellent, I still have mine
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries Good for you... When I moved on to the C64, my parents gave the Atari away 🙄 Of course, I have Stella on my PC, but it's not the same.
I agree
For those interested, the control panel overlay shown in the video at 6:22 is not an original overlay, that is a Willis overlay (3rd Party Aftermarket). Also the Cabaret pictured is not the American version. That cabinet might not even be an official Atari one.
Thank you for that
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries No problem. Love the videos, keep them coming! :)
Asteroids was always a favorite... it was the first arcade game I was actually good at 😁😆😃
Always one of my favorites as well
I was never super good but just good enough that I felt like I was getting my money's worth! My friend and I spent hours putting quarters into Asteroids back when it was new! 😃
Getting our money's worth was all we could ask for back in the day
Impressive amount of research as always! I loved seeing New Wave Toys and the Vectrex mentioned relative to this game!
Thank you very much
Had no idea about Mr Bill and Sluggo, cool to see some Classic Game Room footage, huge fan of Marks work and hope to meet him soon! That asteroids costume may haunt my dreams 😬
I had that Lynx version! Great vid my friend, always nice to watch these in the morning with some coffee ❤️🎮
I'm not surprised you had the Atari Lynx version :-) Thanks Rob
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries you’re very welcome my friend!
I had this game on the 2600 and I could play the hell out of it! I could stay in the middle and just rotate left and right while shooting at the asteroids and play for a very long time! lol
I also have a PC version from 1998 that looks a LOT like the N64 version you mentioned in the video.
Thank you for another amazing video, can't wait for the next one!!!
Thank you so much
I love all your vids but this one is my favorite thank you for covering a classic.
Hey, thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it
That Halloween Mask i saw it before but the kid didn't have the rest of the costume just dressed in all Black & the mask! it gave me nightmares! Did not know until this video that it was an Asteroids Costume! i would have never guessed, thought it was some kind of made up mask you buy from some crazy underground costume place. i literally had to stop watching & come back to finish off your video because of that little flash back! This video will BE the Video i remember you by for the rest of my life! Asteroid Costume who'd have thunk it?
LOL, that is pretty funny. Sorry I triggered that flashback LOL
😂 that's the funniest thing I've heard all month . Sorry it caused you trauma
Just goes to show that photorealistic graphics and a fantastic soundtrack are surplus to requirements when the fundamental gameplay is so solid.
I was lucky enough to own the VCS version as a child but I was so young I don't have a particularly strong memory of it.
I couldn't agree more, gameplay trumps everything else
I'd line my quarters up on that cabinet at my local King's Department Store.
I've even got it on my Switch now. even with The Witcher 3 on there we still
have room for the "simplicity" of Asteroids.
That's awesome, I did the same thing especially with Pac-Man and donkey Kong….And don't forget lining them up on the pool table
great video as always! there is a cool port called maelstrom originally for the mac. still available as freeware. had a lot of great improvements in features and sounds
I'll check it out!Thanks
Awesome arcade machine for its time - design of the game is just so simple its perfect.
Couldn't agree more!
I have played this game so much over the years. Mostly the ports and in emulation, I have not come across the cabinet very much.
It seems to be pretty popular at retro arcade bars
This isn't as strange a Gyruss from Konami but I'm still shocked asteroids doesn't have a spinner to turn your ship.
That would be pretty cool
On the Atari 2600 / VCS, many games had variations which could be selected when you inserted the cartridge. Asteroids thus included both hyperspace and shield modes, as well as (I believe) with and without momentum.
There were 60+ different variations
Nice video! With all the alternate versions, I was surprised you didn't mention the Atari 2600 Home Brew game "Space Rocks" an excellent upgrade from the original Asteroids.
With so many clones and variations I just decided to cherry pick. Thanks
I always think about the Vacation move when Russ asks if they have Asteroids & cousin Eddy’s kid says no, but my dad does 😆
Exactly
I find it convenient that this video came one month after the game's induction into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Either way, that was a nice video. Can't wait to see what comes next.
There is also the new arcade coin op asteroids recharged coming later this year
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries If it ever comes to my local Dave and Buster's, I will give it a try.
Fabulous review with great history, I think Space Dual was the last of the Asteroids trilogy. Blasteroids....bleh. All those modern raster graphic versions.... ugh. Just play the original, you'll never get better.
5/5 Star content as always! Great video!
Thank you very much
I thought I played Asteroids on a friend's Vectrex, but it must have been Mine Storm. On a side note, someone donated that system to them when their family moved to Montana in the early 90s. It's crazy to think about how the Vectrex didn't appear to have much value back then and compare that to how much it goes for now.
That's pretty wild, yes he goes for insane money