game
icon
title Blasteroids (rev 4)
set name blstroid
manufacturer Atari Games
year 1987
genre Shooter (hof)
category Shooter / Field (hof)
driver status good
driver source blstroid.c
snapshots PS: in game | title | select | scores | gameover / MW: in game / CT: in game | title / EJ: in game
zoom | shrink
rating

67.1% after 38 votes
 
clones Blasteroids (German, rev 2)
Blasteroids (rev 2)
Blasteroids (rev 3)
Blasteroids (with heads)
display
colour emulation good
palette 512
display type raster
orientation horizontal
resolution 640x240
frequency 59.922743Hz
sound
sound emulation good
channels stereo
controls
players 2
nplayers 2P sim
controls dial
buttons 4
coin slots 3
hardware
cpu 68000 @ 7.15909MHz
cpu M6502 @ 1.789772MHz
audio YM2151 @ 3.579545MHz
data
version added .035b11
last change(s) .105u4 .077
roms
name size crc set flags sha1
136057-4123.6c  65536  d14badc4  blstroid    ccba30e1eb6b3351cbc7ea18951debb7f7aa4520 
136057-4121.6b  65536  ae3e93e8  blstroid    66ccff68e9b0f7e97abf126f977775e29ce4eee5 
136057-4124.4c  65536  fd2365df  blstroid    63ed3f9a92fed985f9ddb93687f11a24c8309f56 
136057-4122.4b  65536  c364706e  blstroid    e03cd60d139000607d83240b0b48865eafb1188b 
136057-1135.2k  65536  baa8b5fe  blstroid    4af1f9bec3ffa856016a89bc20041d572305ba3a 
136057-1101.1l  65536  3c2daa5b  blstroid    2710a05e95afd8452104c4f4a9250a3b7d728a42 
136057-1102.1m  65536  f84f0b97  blstroid    00cb5f1e0f92742683ee71854085b1e4db4bd6bb 
136057-1103.3l  65536  ae5274f0  blstroid    87070e6e51d557c1b10ef32ac0ed670856d5aaf1 
136057-1104.3m  65536  4bb72060  blstroid    94cd1a6900f47a5178cec041fa6dc9cfee1f9c3f 
136057-1105.5m  65536  50e0823f  blstroid    f638becad83307ed43d138d452199e4c6725512f 
136057-1107.67m  65536  729de7a9  blstroid    526b08e6d54cd0b991c4207c23119d2940a34009 
136057-1109.8m  65536  090e42ab  blstroid    903aa99e6e39407319f6e90102b24604884ee047 
136057-1111.10m  65536  1ff79e67  blstroid    12d408184f814bab411f567e8b29914a289e3fb8 
136057-1113.11m  65536  4be1d504  blstroid    f41ff2d31e2e0e5b6d89fbbf014ba767c7b9f299 
136057-1115.13m  65536  e4409310  blstroid    09180f1ab2ac8465b6641e94271c72bf566b2597 
136057-1117.14m  65536  7aaca15e  blstroid    4014d60f2b6590c96796dbb2a538f1976194f3e7 
136057-1119.16m  65536  33690379  blstroid    09ddfd18ccab1c639837171a763a981c867af0b1 
136057-1106.5n  65536  2720ee71  blstroid    ebfd58effebadab361dfb4bd77d626911da4409a 
136057-1108.67n  65536  2faecd15  blstroid    7fe9535b9bc72fd5527dbd1079f559ac16f2a31e 
136057-1110.8n  65536  a15e79e1  blstroid    3fc8c33f438fd304b566a62bbe0f6e17a696edbc 
136057-1112.10n  65536  4d5fc284  blstroid    c66f95af700828225a62f46437ca83453900f7fc 
136057-1114.11n  65536  a70fc6e6  blstroid    fbf469b8f5c6e69540743748ad994a6490ad7745 
136057-1116.13n  65536  f423b4f8  blstroid    a431686233b104074728a81cf41604deea0fbb56 
136057-1118.14n  65536  56fa3d16  blstroid    9d9c1fb7912774954224d8f0220047324122ab23 
136057-1120.16n  65536  f257f738  blstroid    a5904ec25d2190f11708c2e1e41832fd66332428 
cabinet art
additional information
info 0.35b11 [Aaron Giles]

0.33b4 [Aaron Giles]

Bugs:
  • (1) Start a new game, but don't enter any of the warps. It helps to transform to Speeder so you can stay in the middle of the screen with minimal effort. (2) Let yourself run out of energy. You'll get text warnings about low energy, and then your ship blows up and you're taken to the continue screen. Notice that the background changes and the message reads "Continue at same level?" The background will display with odd colors. (3) Continue the game. You'll start at level 1, whose background displays with a bad color set. (See a screenshot here). The level plays just fine, and is at Novice difficulty (any items you pick up during this game will show their initial information messages). (4) As you play, notice the number of sectors you have to clear when you exit a sector. It'll be a total of 16 sectors, but you will only be able to select from the first 9! When those 9 are done, you're stuck - you won't be able to make any more progress in the game. Also, the background music for each sector after the first one is some sort of rock-style music, which I haven't heard elsewhere in the game and I haven't had the patience to find out if it's the same as in the harder levels. Played around with it a little more and discovered that if you warp into Medium, Hard or Expert levels at the start of the game, defeat the first galaxy and the first round with Mukor, and THEN let yourself run out of energy on the next warp screen: The game puts you back into the last level of the galaxy you just conquered (when you continue), tells you to warp to fight Mukor, and then lets you fight him again! And I think it's a different configuration of "ports" on Mukor's body this time. When you've defeated him for the second time, you end up at the warp screen again, and running out of energy and continuing will only put you on the warp screen again and again. (In other words, you can't fight Mukor infinite times this way). Also, the "rock music" I referred to earlier is indeed from the 4th warp in Hard and Expert levels. Dorsola (ID 01180)
WIP:
  • 0.122u4: Changed M6502 clock speed to 1789772 Hz and YM2151 to 3579545 Hz.
  • 0.114u2: Aaron Giles and Couriersud added more accurate video timing to most of the Atari 68000-era games. The parameters are from published specs, not derived. The board uses an SOS-2 chip to generate video signals. Changed VSync to 59.922743 Hz.
  • 0.114: Couriersud added general save state support to the atarijsa and atarigen modules.
  • 0.105u4: Updated address map (full map verified from schematics).
  • 0.76u1: Aaron Giles added clones Blasteroids (rev 3) and (German, rev 2).
  • 1st August 2002: Russell Howard submitted a small fix for Blasteroids dipswitch settings.
  • 0.60: Changed palettesize to 16384 colors.
  • 0.37b15: Changed M6502 CPU2 clock speed to 1789500 Hz and YM2151 to 3579000 Hz.
  • 0.37b5: Added clone Blasteroids (with heads).
  • 19th June 2000: Aaron Giles added a new Blasteroids romset, which replaces the rocks with designer Ed Rotberg's head under certain circumstances.
  • 0.36RC1: Changed 68000 CPU1 clock speed to 7159090 Hz, M6502 CPU2 to 1789772 Hz and YM2151 to 3579545 Hz.
  • 0.35b12: Removed TMS5220 speech.
  • 0.35b11: Aaron Giles added Blasteroids (version 4). Added Pokey sound. Renamed (blstroid) to (blstroi2).
  • 0.34b8: Nicola Salmoria support high resolution sprites in Blasteroids.
  • 0.33b4: Aaron Giles added Blasteroids (Atari Games 1987).
LEVELS: 68

Other Emulators:
  • Retrocade
Recommended Games (Asteroids):

Asteroids

Asteroids Deluxe

Astropal

Space Duel

Space Force

Space Fortress

Blasteroids

Space Lords

Romset: 1600 kb / 25 files / 596 zip
history Blasteroids (c) 1987 Atari Games.


A one or two-player update of Atari's seminal "Asteroids", where the object of the game is to clear all sectors of the asteroids and enemy ships. Once this task is completed, the player goes on to battle Mukor - the "boss" asteroid who rules all galaxies - and destroy him.


The player's ship appears first in the center of four vortices, he or she must chose which vortex they wish to enter, which then transports them to a sector of their chosen star system.


Unlike Asteroids, the player ship has a finite amount of fuel which must be replenished as often as possible. This is achieved by destroying specifically-colored asteroids which turn into collectible crystals. Not all sectors contain the crystal-bearing asteroids, however, and if the player runs out of fuel, a ship is lost. The game contains three different ship configurations and the player can switch between them at any time during a level. The three configurations are : Speeder (small and fast, but weak), Fighter (medium speed and strength) and Warrior (large and strong but very slow).


Additional power-ups can be collected to improve the player's chances, some of the items available are : additional guns, larger fuel tanks, crystal magnets and impervious shields. Some of these add-ons are time-limited while others last until the player's current ship is destroyed. In the asteroid field, there are also 'popcorn' asteroids; small blue rock formations that grow larger and travel faster with each hit they take until they become large, non-moving objects on the screen. These obstacles must be avoided since hitting them will drain all of the ship's fuel, costing the player a life. A popcorn asteroid can not be destroyed. Hitting anything other than bonus power-ups and energy crystals costs precious fuel. Clearing a sector of all of its asteroids takes the player back to a screen and shows a preview of all of the cleared and uncleared sectors in this star system. Some sectors are marked as "unknown" and no preview is offered for these levels. From here, the player can choose which system they wish to tackle next. All systems need to be cleared before the player is given the chance to battle against Mukor himself. To kill Mukor, the player must eliminate each of the volcanoes with multiple blaster hits. Destroying a volcano causes Mukor to release bonus power-up items, and destroying all of the volcanoes causes Mukor to flee, returning the player to the selection vortices.


Later, after all other sectors have been cleared, the player will eventually have to face Mukor again and this time, the enemy boss will have to be destroyed. After Mukor has been destroyed, the game ends.


In the simultaneous two-player game, the first person to fly their ship into a vortex chooses the star system to which the players go. A unique feature of two-person play is the docking of ships : to dock, one player must transform their ship to the largest size while the other transforms to the smallest. By touching the two ships together, they dock and form one large ship. The player originally with the larger ship now controls the speed and direction of the docked ship and can fire straight forward. The player with the smaller ship controls a turret that can rotate and fire independently of the main ship. The dock is broken when the player with the small ship hits their 'thrust' button.


- TECHNICAL -


Cabinet dimensions : 70'' (178cm) High x 26,75'' (70cm) Wide x 34,38'' (87cm) Deep.

Cabinet weight : 302 lbs (137 kg).


Game ID : 136057


Main CPU : 68000 (@ 7.15909 Mhz), M6502 (@ 1.7895 Mhz)

Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 3.579 Mhz)


Screen orientation : Horizontal

Video resolution : 640 x 240 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 512


Players : 2

Control : dial

Buttons : 4


- TRIVIA -


The game was originally to have areas in which a certain ship form was required to get through them, but the game's production was pushed forward, and it didn't receive the fine-tuning that was originally planned.


Background space-scapes, pictures of space ships, asteroids and other obstacles are actually digitized pictures of real-life objects. The asteroids were digitized by non other than ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), Lucasart's industry-leading special effects company.


Mark Twitty holds the official record for this game with 2,773,840 points on April 20, 1988.


- UPDATES -


The prototype version of Blasteroids has the programmer's head (Ed Rotberg) hidden in it.


- TIPS AND TRICKS -


* Ed Rotberg (Prototype version only) : To find his head, start a game on medium difficulty... complete the first wave, then pick the upper right hand wave next. Shoot the blue crystal rocks until they turn into spinning heads.


- SERIES -
  1. Asteroids (1979)
  2. Asteroids Deluxe (1981)
  3. Space Duel (1982)
  4. Blasteroids (1987)
  5. Asteroids Hyper 64 (1999, Nintendo 64)
  6. - STAFF -
    • Staff : Ed Rotberg, Peter Lipson, Gary Stempler, Sam Comstock, Rob Rowe, Mike Hally, Brad Fuller, Mike Albaugh, Chris Downend
    • - PORTS -
    • * Computers :
    • Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1987)
    • Commodore C64 (1988)
    • Amstrad CPC (1989)
    • Atari ST (1989)
    • Commodore Amiga (1992) : European release.
    • - SOURCES -
    • Game's rom.
    • Machine's picture.
    • Edit this entry at Arcade-History.com: http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=blasteroids&page=detail&id=275&o=2
resource links view in MAWS
view in CAESAR
view high score and replay at MARP
view in Progetto EMMA (Italian)
view in arcade-history.com
view in GameFAQs
view in KLOV
view in MamEnd
view in System16
view in The Arcade Flyer Archive
view in The Arcade Flyer Archive
view in VGMuseum Gamepics
view in VGMuseum Gamepics
cheats
cheats
code comments
00000000:FFCF05:00000019:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Credits
60000000:000000:00000000:00000000 
00000000:FFE548:000000A0:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Energy PL1
00000000:FFE55E:00000063:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Shields PL1
00000000:FFE5BD:000000A0:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Ammo PL1:Get the blaster first
00000000:FFE55C:00000080:00000080  Always Death Blossom PL1
00000000:FFE55C:00000040:00000040  Always Blaster PL1
00000000:FFE55C:00000020:00000020  Always Power Shots PL1
00000000:FFE55C:00000001:00000001  Always RipStar PL1
00000000:FFE55D:00000008:00000008  Always Crystal Magnet PL1
00000000:FFE55D:00000004:00000004  Always Booster PL1
00000000:FFE55D:00000002:00000002  Always Cloak PL1
00000000:FFE55D:00000001:00000001  Always Extra Fuel Tank PL1
00000001:FFE55C:00000080:00000080  Get Death Blossom Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55C:00000040:00000040  Get Blaster Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55C:00000020:00000020  Get Power Shots Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55C:00000001:00000001  Get RipStar Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55D:00000008:00000008  Get Crystal Magnet Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55D:00000004:00000004  Get Booster Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55D:00000002:00000002  Get Cloak Now! PL1
00000001:FFE55D:00000001:00000001  Get Extra Fuel Tank Now! PL1
60000000:000000:00000000:00000000 
00000000:FFE578:000000A0:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Energy PL2
00000000:FFE58E:00000063:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Shields PL2
00000000:FFE5ED:000000A0:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Ammo PL2:Get the blaster first
00000000:FFE58C:00000080:00000080  Always Death Blossom PL2
00000000:FFE58C:00000040:00000040  Always Blaster PL2
00000000:FFE58C:00000020:00000020  Always Power Shots PL2
00000000:FFE58C:00000001:00000001  Always RipStar PL2
00000000:FFE58D:00000008:00000008  Always Crystal Magnet PL2
00000000:FFE58D:00000004:00000004  Always Booster PL2
00000000:FFE58D:00000002:00000002  Always Cloak PL2
00000000:FFE58D:00000001:00000001  Always Extra Fuel Tank PL2
00000001:FFE58C:00000080:00000080  Get Death Blossom Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58C:00000040:00000040  Get Blaster Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58C:00000020:00000020  Get Power Shots Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58C:00000001:00000001  Get RipStar Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58D:00000008:00000008  Get Crystal Magnet Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58D:00000004:00000004  Get Booster Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58D:00000002:00000002  Get Cloak Now! PL2
00000001:FFE58D:00000001:00000001  Get Extra Fuel Tank Now! PL2
2004-2009 MAWS all copyrights belong to their respective owners