| Astro Battle | |
|---|---|
 Astro Battle 2 logo art |
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| Developer(s) | Lava Lord Games[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Self Published |
| Designer(s) | Scott Williams[2] |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Sun Java, Linux |
| Release date(s) | INT December 31,
2004 [3] |
| Genre(s) | Multi-directional shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Media | download |
| Input methods | Keyboard and mouse |
Astro Battle is a science fiction Multi-directional shooter developed and published by Lava Lord Games for Microsoft Windows and Linux. The gameplay focuses on players designing star fighters to fight against other players' ships in an overhead melee.
Development is continuous; New ships and weapons are continuously added, and a sequel to Astro Battle is available for beta testing [4]. The basic gameplay in the sequel remains the same, and adds in-game tutorials, new design tools, a new 3d graphics engine, and support for Linux.
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The objective of Astro Battle is to destroy other player’s ships in multi-player online matches. The game features standard Multi-directional shooter gameplay with several innovations.
Astro Battle's gameplay deviates from that of traditional Shoot 'em ups in that, rather than provide pre-designed space ships which are then customised by a limited selection of weapons on pre-selected hardpoints, players must design a star fighter in the included ship editor. Astro Battle gives you a large number of parts, including cockpits, trusses, thrusters, guns, batteries and fusion reactors, each with their own attributes, and the attributes of spacecraft are determined entirely by the modules used in construction and the arrangement of these modules. Each module has a cost and weight associated with it. Weight affects ship speed and manoeuvrability, and no ship may exceed a certain cost.
Players must take these parts and connect them together via set ‘mount points’ on each module to create viable combat craft.
Many modules require player input to be useful. For example, guns and thrusters are useless unless the player can control them, and some parts have special uses: Reserve energy tanks, for example, can be activated by the player. For these to function, the player must 'wire' these modules to control keys so that, for example, a thruster on the left wing will fire when the right key is pressed, or a machine gun will fire when a fire button is pressed.[5]
In battle, the aim is to defeat other players in online matches, flying ships around one of a number of battle arenas. Gameplay in this part of the game is reminiscent of Star Control 2 melee mode. One feature of the game is the ability to destroy individual components of a ship. It's possible, for example, to cause specific thrusters to stop functioning, hindering movement of an enemy ship, or to destroy specific weapons, preventing their use in combat, or to destroy a specific structural element, causing whole parts of the ship to fall off, rendering them inoperable. To score a point as a kill, players must destroy the cockpit or bridge of the opposing ship.
There are many guilds in Astro Battle, each of which is only a loose collection of players interested in playing together. In general, they have little effect on game play for most members. But as more people begin to join of opposing guilds the game play can become quite intense at times.[6]
Astro Battle has a consistent artistic theme, with heavy use of stylized icons. Beyond this consistency, details of the setting or a detailed plot are never established in-game.
Astro Battle was released in 2004 by Lava Lord Games and was inspired by Star Control.[7] Initially, the game was released for free trial with an expansion pack allowing for much more powerful ships. Initially, Astro Battle was released as a stand-alone application. In 2007, the game had 18,000 subscribers[7] and work on a sequel began. In 2009, the original was re-released as a web application, accessible from the website. Today, both the original game and the sequel are available for free from the website.
An expansion pack was once available which increased the number of points that may be used to buy modules, and added a large number of new modules. Users of the non-expanded game played in the same servers as those with the expansion pack, so the paid users were at a distinct advantage. The online version of Astro Battle 1.08 available on-line comes with the expansion pack included for free. The Astro Battle 2 expansion pack has been withdrawn due to lack of support.
A sequel to Astro Battle is in public beta testing. In the sequel, the basic gameplay remains the same. The changes are more refinements: new in-game tutorials, new design tools, a new a 3d graphics engine, the ship designer will be separated from the game, and a new focus on stability.
PC World considered Astro Battle in their overview of "15 Great Free Game Sites", noting its use of a top-down 2D view.[8]
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Developed by Atari in 1980. The very first official commercial port of one company's game to another company's console. As the first conversion, the emphasis was not on capturing the original look of the arcade, but simply the game play. To that end, Atari did a good job, and the game proceeded to sell the system to homes that didn't yet possess one just so people could play Space Invaders at home. Multiple variations of game plays exist, including different ways for two players to play cooperatively or competitively. A cheat enables one player to fire two bullets at once, instead of just one, by holding the reset button down while powering the system on.
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 American box |
 Japanese Atari 2800 box |
Developed by Atari in 1982. In an unusual move for Atari, the 5200 version of the game is different from the 8-bit home computer version of the game. In many ways, it's an improvement. Though the graphics do not come any closer to the arcade, the gameplay does. Shields are present, and even though the invaders march on to the screen from the left, there is no "mother" invader present on the screen.
Developed by Atari in 1980. Generally speaking, the Atari 8-bit line of home computers were considered homes to many accurate arcade conversions, but this version of Space Invaders diverges the most from the arcade version compared to any other Atari conversion. No shields are present, and there is a kind of mothership present on the side of the screen that the aliens appear from.
Original Game Boy version developed by Taito in 1990. Reprogrammed for the Super Game Boy by Taito and published in the U.S. by Nintendo in 1994. When accessed through the Super Game Boy, two modes are available. There is the Super Game Boy enhanced mode of the original Game Boy version, but the game also contains a full Super Nintendo program that is identical to the SNES entry below.
 screen |
 American box |
 Japanese box |
Developed by Taito in 1985. A near pixel accurate conversion of the true-color version of the arcade game.
Developed by Taito in 1985. Not quite as pixel accurate as the MSX conversion. All invader sprites were forced to fit inside of the Famicom's 8x8 pixel tile size.
Published by NEC Interchannel in 1995. By all accounts, it is similar to the SNES version, including the two player competition mode.
Developed by Sega in 1985. A near pixel accurate conversion of the true-color version of the arcade game, although with a slightly different color palette for the aliens.
Developed by Taito in 1994. Republished in the US by Nintendo in 1997. This was the first conversion of Space Invaders to provide players with the option to simulate one of four different varieties of the arcade machine. Players could choose between a black & white mode, color back drop mode, color celophane overlay mode, and true color mode. Additionally, there was a two-player only competition mode. This conversion served as the model for most future releases.
 screen |
 SNES box |
 SFC box |
Developed by Taito and published by Sunsoft in 1999. Pretty much a straight pixel accurate reverse black and white conversion like the original Game Boy conversion.
The most accurate conversion of Space Invaders for the Apple II.
As one of the oldest games on the oldest home systems, Space Invaders has inspired a lot of work on the Atari 2600. The original ROM was first hacked by Rob Kudla to more accurately reflect the look of the arcade, including the sprites and the colors. That was further hacked by Nukey Shay into Space Invaders Deluxe which adds the Taito RGB colorization of Space Invaders as well as all as many of the additions found in the Deluxe version of the arcade game. Two homebrew games were built from the ground up. Space Insitgators attempts to get as close to the look of the arcade, sacrificing as little of the game play as possible. INV+ takes the opposite approach, trying to get as close to the game play of the arcade, sacrificing the look of the arcade where necessary.
 Space Invaders hack |
 Space Invaders Deluxe |
 Space Instigators |
 INV+ |
Developed by Joe Hellesen (also responsible for the Atari 8-bit conversion of Pac-Man) in 1981. Far more faithful to the arcade than Atari's official conversion. Roklan purchased the game from Joe and distributed it for the Atari computers as Deluxe Invaders.
Developed by Bally, and originally intended to be titled Space Invaders. Since Bally Midway owned the US rights to the arcade game, they thought they had the rights to distribute the title on their home system as well. The name was probably changed due to the perceived threat of a lawsuit from Atari. Interestingly, Astro Battle is the name of the very Space Invaders like stage in the Bally Midway produced multi-stage vertical shooter Gorf.
The Space Invaders Collection was developed by Eduardo Mello under his Opcode Games label and released in September 2003. Contains pixel accurate conversions of both the original arcade game as well as Taito's Space Invaders Part 2 (also known as Space Invaders Deluxe). Before this, John Dondzila developed Space Invasion in 1998, which is also a very accurate conversion of both games, although it is not pixel accurate.
Avenger is the most accurate conversion of Space Invaders for the Commodore 64. Invaders 64 is another very close clone with small graphical changes.
Avenger is also the most accurate conversion of Space Invaders for the Commodore VIC-20
Released by Mattel in 1981 as Intellivision owners' answer to Space Invaders.
Released by Magnavox in 1980 as Odyssey² owners' answer to Space Invaders.
In 1996, John Dendzila published the first new game for the Vectrex since 1984. A tribute to Space Invaders, Vector Vaders attempted to capture the multi alien mayhem found in all conversions. However, limitations on how many images the vector system could draw caused a shimmering slowdown effect. Dendzila remade the game in a simpler, yet more playable fashion as Vector Vaders Remix, contained in his Vecmania compilation cart, which is the first 64K Vectrex cart.
| Astro Battle | |
| Developer(s) | Astrovision |
| Publisher(s) | Astrovision |
| Release date | Bally Astrocade: 1977 (NA) |
| Genre | Fixed Shooter Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | N/A Bally Astrocade |
| Platform(s) | Bally Astrocade |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Astro Battle is a game released for the Bally Astrocade. It is an adaptation of the arcade game Space Invaders.
Earth is under attack from rows of bomb dropping aliens, and you need to defend it! The rows of aliens begin at the top of the screen, and you control a laser cannon at the bottom of the screen. Your goal is to earn points by shooting the aliens before they can land. The aliens march back and forth, and each time the end of the screen is reached they will drop one row closer to the bottom. Shoot them all, and you move on to the next (tougher) level, but if even one of them lands the game is over. From time to time a flying saucer will pass by along the top of the screen; shoot this to earn extra points. Just above your laser canon are four shields; these can be used to hide from the alien's bombs, but will also block your own shots. You begin the game with a limited number of laser canons, and if all of them are bombed the game ends.
Due to bad programming, the game ends after five waves.
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