Asteroids

Name:	Asteroids
Company:	Atari
Model #:	CX-2649
Programmer:	Brad Stewart
Year:	1981
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Two versions exist.  One version has a title screen, while the other does not.

Asteroids was Atari's first big arcade hit, so it was only natural that Atari would want to bring it to the 2600.  But there was a problem; Asteroids was a vector game.  Since it was thought that the 2600 couldn't do vectors Atari had to do some serious reprogramming to produce a version that the 2600 could handle.  Luckily for 2600 fans programmer Brad Stewart was more than up to the job.  While it may not look like its arcade counterpart, the gameplay remains true.

Asteroids comes in two versions which are not distinguishable from the outside of the cart.  One version doesn't have the copyright screen at power up, while the other version had a copyright screen added along some minor bug fixes.  According to Brad Stewart he didn't do the title screen, so it must have been added later on by another programmer.  Why Atari felt it was necessary to add a copyright is unknown, but it may have had something to do with the rash of unauthorized clone games that were appearing during this time.

It was later proven that a vector port of Asteroids could be done on the 2600.  The original design of Starpath's Suicide Mission was an almost perfect copy of Asteroids, but they were forced to change it for fear of a lawsuit by Atari.  Still, fans were not disappointed by Atari's raster version.  It's a rock blasting good time.

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