Asteroids scores 7/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Asteroids, a symbol of a generation and the essence of arcades!
by Simon Larocca·August 31, 2025
Da bambino, the world in which I lived was a huge playground: still free from the menacing looming of responsibilities on the horizon, more or less between the end of elementary school and that whirling vortex of new challenges and emotions that middle school would be, the only thing that really mattered was owning the coolest console, the one that the other little friends could only dream of as they pressed their Crystal Ball-stained hands against the windows of specialty shops.
The Asteroids cartridge matched with the slot of my splendid and unforgettable Atari when I was already quite grown up, my knees were scraping less and less, the NES was claiming the ovations of the world’s crowd, and the world of arcades was about to enter a new era in its history.
Ma Asteroids is not just any old “arcade.” Asteroids is the quintessence of arcade games in their most essential, free form, and for that reason, unique.
The first version of the game took off way back in 1979, but to enjoy the title’s conversion on the Atari 2600 you have to wait until 1981. A golden year for Atari, even if it will be remembered above all because that spring I was born: jokes aside, Asteroids had already revolutionized the world with its immediate gameplay, free of gimmicks and graphical evolutions, by choice and above all due to limited possibilities (we’re talking about more than forty years ago, folks!) and the arcade cabinets’ coin slots were perpetually clogged with pennies.
The plot is straightforward, simple enough to immerse yourself in the game’s atmosphere without wasting time on endless briefing screens, which, in fact, you won’t find here: we will be in command of a spaceship orbiting around the Earth, with the desperate goal of destroying the rain of asteroids threatening to crash into the planet and put an end to life as we know it.
As soon as we insert the cartridge and turn on the console, the vector space in all its stark magnificence welcomes us with the words ‘1 Coin 1 Play’, just to make the most important thing clear: you will have only one chance, ranger of space.
Potremo move the spaceship by pressing the button on the joypad used for propulsion, but then it will be up to us to steer it and make it follow one route rather than another: the allowed movements essentially involve the two dimensions, and the game screen is fixed, with the possibility of “exiting” the screen at any cardinal point and re-entering from the diametrically opposite one; if you have ever played Pac Man you know what I’m talking about, but if you like technical terms it is called toroidal space.
Flat-earthers love it.
The gameplay mechanics are based on the systematic destruction of the asteroids that drift around us following patterns; each time we hit one, it will split into smaller fragments until we have cleared them all.
It goes without saying that the difficulty increases as the game time passes, as does the screen, which will fill with an ever-growing number of asteroids, putting your space piloting skills to the toughest test, as you dodge, shoot, and reverse course in defiance of the laws of physics, but who cares, it’s Asteroids! As if that weren’t enough, at alternating intervals you will see UFOs streaking past you! And flying saucers can also crash into asteroids, shooting at the wandering rocky bodies at specific points so that the fragments will end up hitting the enemies themselves.
Science fiction? No, it's Asteroids (quote)!
Perhaps this is the secret of a title that has never sought graphic flourishes or intricate plots, namely that crystalline and immediate ability to connect with the most innocent part of a gamer.
Come that bespectacled child with a gaze full of wonder on an afternoon in the late Eighties, who with a few pixels, a lot of imagination, and champion hand-eye coordination dreamed of traveling through space hunting asteroids to be a hero.
7
Pro
A title that made history, literally, a masterpiece of immediacy and gameplay, the definitive shooter despite being in fact the progenitor of them all, no more and no less
Essential and engaging vector graphics, sound effects kept to a minimum, and yet everything works coherently: when the Idea of a concept surpasses any barrier and limit
If you love high scores, this is the game for you: manual skills and strategic abilities for a sensational game
Contro
It’s Asteroids. However subjective tastes may be, there are no flaws in a game that is certainly a product of its time but, at the same time, also a truly timeless classic
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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