Asteroids Deluxe (Arcade)
In a simple and straightforward space shooter like Asteroids, an issue can arise where a single strategy can completely invalidate the intended difficulty of the game. While UFOs were meant to fly in and keep players on their toes, a player could keep the game going as long as they like by hiding at the corner of the screen, keeping one asteroid in play, and firing at the UFOs as they arrive in a way that prevented counterattacks. While being able to survive a long time is a good value for the customer, arcade owners were miffed by players spending too long with a game on one credit, and even though Atari issued revisions, a better solution would come in the form of Asteroids Deluxe. The sequel didn’t aim to alter the gameplay too much, but a few key changes were made to better prevent exploitative play.
The very basics of the 1979 arcade game Asteroids are still in play in Asteroids Deluxe. The player controls a small spacecraft and tries to earn a high score by clearing out asteroids that split when shot. Rather than using the same dark space background of the original Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe uses a trick with a mirror to project the gameplay onto a nice piece of colored artwork depicting their own battle to blow up asteroids in more detail. Lit with a blacklight, it looks even more otherworldly, but it’s an aesthetic touch with a small drawback. The degree of detail in the image can sometimes become a small hindrance, the actual important elements like tiny asteroids not standing out as much as they would against a plain black backdrop, but Asteroids Deluxe’s vector graphics do lead to a pleasant glow on objects that helps combat that issue.
Your most consistent concern in Asteroids Deluxe will be keeping the screen from becoming crowded with the space rocks that fly by and threaten to destroy your ship on contact. A single laser shot landing will shatter them into smaller boulders that scatter in different directions, and the rocks can break down even further until they became rather tiny and more difficult to hit. Once all asteroids are cleared, a new wave of them will appear, and for a few rounds the difficulty will increase a touch as additional large asteroids will appear at the start of each new wave. Your movement controls mean firing and dodging asteroids isn’t too easy, the player’s ship only able to fly forward when igniting its thrusters and turning is handled with a pair of buttons that turns the ship either clockwise or counterclockwise. Momentum persists in this space shooter, meaning you might need to rotate and activate your thrusters to slow yourself down, and since your main worry is weaving through the asteroid field without colliding, this momentum drift is key to keeping Asteroids Deluxe from being too inherently easy. This movement style can lead to the player finding themselves in a jam if the rocks float into the right positions, but mitigating danger by firing on asteroids at the right time and knowing when to fly off is definitely part of the intended challenge and dealing with the increasing number of fast flying tiny rocks introduces an element of player-led difficulty as they can determine how much danger they have to deal with at once.
One of the changes made to the Asteroids formula, and one in the player’s favor, comes in the form of the a shield they can activate that completely invalidates most forms of danger. If an asteroid is about to bump into you and wreck your craft, holding down the shield will cause you to bounce off it harmlessly instead. The shield is limited in its use; initially it will be strong enough to stay up for well over ten seconds, but any impact it sustains drastically cuts the amount of time it will take for it to be fully depleted. Once you have run out of shield energy, you can’t use it again until you start a new life, but if treated as a way to get out of an unfortunate bind rather than a crutch for sloppy play, the shield is a far more reliable and helpful tool than the original arcade game’s random teleportation option. The shield won’t protect you if you end up sandwiched between a few asteroids though, but this little ability does feel like an important addition because Asteroids Deluxe otherwise mostly makes adjustments to the first game’s design to make things rougher for the player.
As you are busy at working blasting rocks apart, UFOs will fly in to attack. While shooting these down provides a bigger point boost than breaking boulders, the flying saucers have pretty decent aim and will fire at you from afar. Asteroids Deluxe features a wraparound screen, meaning any object that exits the screen will reappear on the opposite side, and this even applies to your own laser shots. The UFOs recognize this aspect of the game and will even fire off-screen to catch you off-guard, the player needing to carefully watch these enemy arrivals and eliminate them quickly if they want to avoid an unexpected end. The saucers aren’t so aggressive you’ll panic on seeing them though and ignoring them until they leave entirely can be a valid tactic if you want to stay out of laser range, but they aren’t so easily overcome that you can always count on waiting them out.
A wholly new idea to shake up play comes in the form of Killer Satellites. As you play Asteroids Deluxe, you’ll hear a beeping slowly increase in tempo, almost evoking the Jaws theme as it grows more and more hurried until finally the danger makes itself known. The Killer Satellite, despite their name, is actually a bit passive at first, the cube packing no way to directly attack and drifting around more slowly than most asteroids do. The moment a laser breaks it open though, it will unleash many smaller diamond shaped foes who in turn can be split apart into enemies shaped like arrows. These diamonds and arrows will doggedly pursue you, flying directly at you and often flying in a cluster so shooting one down won’t be the end of your worries. This satellite is one of the more unsteady alterations to the Asteroid formula, this adding a new more active danger than the UFOs but also they start to strain the movement system’s limitations in turn. Flying away from the satellite’s swarm is possible, but not only might they decide to turn and pursue you through the wraparound borders if you stray too far, but it’s hard to really turn and set up shots to clear away the enemies. Your laser is limited to four shots in quick succession which isn’t enough to clear out the satellite’s forces, meaning you’ll have to play the awkward game of cat and mouse a bit as you try to rotate, land a few potshots, and then retreat again.
Normally Asteroids Deluxe is about smart management of the screen space as you don’t want to fill it with so many small rocks that you can’t avoid them, the UFO there as a disruptor so it’s not too easy to keep under control. If you can’t quickly clear out enough of the satellite’s forces before they close in though, Asteroids Deluxe briefly turns into a clumsy chase that feels at odds with its design. You can still overcome the pursuers and the satellite takes time to appear so it’s not always a concern, but it doesn’t feel like the kind of additional complexity that elevates the game so much as it helps it better avert cheesy strategies like the old UFO hunting trick. There are some small appreciated touches like UFOs being able to crash into asteroids or even shoot down parts of the satellite’s forces, and the flying saucers do come in two sizes that will help shake up how likely the friendly fire on the enemy’s side might be. In some ways, new changes are balanced out by new limits on them, but it can also make it feel like Asteroids Deluxe is only a small alteration to the original Asteroids rather than something thought of as a true sequel.
THE VERDICT: Asteroids Deluxe doesn’t really feel like an improvement over the 1979 Asteroids game, but it also doesn’t really harm the simple fun that game presented despite its increase in difficulty. The main focus remains on managing a gradually more crowded space field where the amount of danger you’re in is determined by what you choose to shoot, your limited movement ensuring even basic rocks pose some threat so you aren’t just waiting for spaceships to arrive for things to get challenging. The Killer Satellites up the difficulty a fair bit with their dogged persistence, but the shields give you a rather effective way to get out of a bind while they last. As a twist on the original Asteroids it doesn’t break away from simple and enjoyable action, but its more aggressive elements might mean you’re less likely to return to it than its more comfortable and clean predecessor.
And so, I give Asteroids Deluxe for arcade machines…
An OKAY rating. Having a shield you can activate for protection is a lovely, player-friendly idea even if it is a shame that once they run out, you’re without any defensive tricks until you next lose a life. It is a clean way to help a player acclimate to the game some though, the Killer Satellite certainly needing some time to get used to and understand to effectively outmaneuver and smartly destroy. The UFOs feel like they’re in a sound spot though, a pest that injects a moment of more active danger than dodging rocks but their friendly fire both puts them in harm’s way and allows them to eliminate remaining asteroids to prevent the all too effective hunting strategy from the first game. The Killer Satellite does feel like it probably needs the most adjustment though, its concept a reasonable evolution on the idea of splitting objects down and needing to manage how much danger is in play but the way they behave makes it less sustainable than the random drifting paths of the asteroids. If there was something to keep them from clustering together so often perhaps the concept could still work without alterations being made to the slightly cumbersome flight controls, but these few mechanics hang together decently enough that the Killer Satellite doesn’t feel like it is showing up just to claim a life. Managing it isn’t as entertaining as trying to keep the field full of rocks in check as they fly all about, but its speed and the obvious alerts on when it will arrive do ensure it’s something you can be ready to respond to even if it might not be so clean to do so.
Asteroids Deluxe doesn’t feel like it could be an easily executed swap in for the original thanks to its higher difficulty not quite coming with a leap in quality, but it won’t feel like you’re being denied the core appeal of an Asteroids game if you find this in the arcade instead of its predecessor. It is lightly more advanced but you’re still given that visual sense of progression as a screen lousy with large stones soon dwindles down to tiny pebbles zipping about, but where it might truly shine is outside of the arcade setting. In games like Asteroids & Deluxe on Xbox 360 and retro compilations like Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, Asteroids Deluxe can instead stand next to its predecessor and serve more as a difficulty option than a slightly different standalone sequel. While arcade owners might still be left choosing between the two based on whether simplicity or challenge feels better for a retro-aligned arcade, Asteroids Deluxe feels like a nice companion piece to the original since it still provides many of the small thrills found from that simple rise and fall in how hectic the space battle becomes thanks to your input.