Astro Blaster
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| Astro Blaster | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of Astro Blaster |
|
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Gary Shannon, Barbara Michalec |
| Release date(s) | 1981 (Arcade) |
| Genre(s) | Shooter game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Platform(s) | Arcade Game |
| Input | 4 Buttons |
| Arcade cabinet | Vertical |
| Arcade system(s) | Sega G80 Raster hardware |
| Arcade CPU(s) | Z80 |
| Arcade sound system(s) | Sound CPU : I8035 Sound Chips : SP0250 + samples |
| Arcade display | Raster, 224 x 256 pixels, 65 colors |
- For the Disney game, see Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
Astro Blaster is a shoot 'em up arcade game released by Sega in 1981. The player controls a ship (bearing a resemblance to the Battlestar Galactica) which can move left or right, and fire red bolts upward. The player must battle through waves of enemies, which attack with varied formations and flight patterns. When a wave is destroyed, a new one appears. Every three waves, the player flies through an asteroid belt of some kind, and can obtain fuel for their ship by shooting oncoming fireballs. After this, a large ship is met, where the player can dock and refuel for the next set of waves.
[edit] Trivia
- Astro Blaster utilized speech synthesis, novel for its time, and as such the game attracted players by stating 'Fighter pilots needed in sector wars, play Astro Blaster'. During game play, the game gave you different advice such as 'Alert, alert, aliens in sector 1, man your battle stations', 'Fuel status marginal', or 'Warp activated, 10, 9, 8, ...' to name a few. Astro Blaster wasn't the first game to introduce speech synthesis in a game, that honor goes to "Berzerk". Astro Blaster, though, challenged the player to go through seven sectors with a varying amount of waves within each sector.
- Gus Pappas holds the official record for this game with a maximum possible 299 100 points. [1]
