Asteroids Deluxe

Asteroids Deluxe is the sequel to Asteroids, one of the biggest arcade hits ever made. Atari released it in 1981, just two years after the original, and the entry catalogued here covers the version for the Atari ST computer, one of the machines the arcade classic was later carried over to.

The core idea is unchanged: a lone ship in a field of drifting rocks, inertia-based movement, rotation and shooting. Destroyed asteroids split into smaller, faster fragments, so the screen keeps getting busier. The Deluxe revision, however, tightened the screws considerably – the risky hyperspace jump gave way to a limited energy shield, and the enemies became more aggressive, because skilled players had learned to milk the original for hours on a single coin.

The arcade original was built on vector graphics, crisp glowing lines on a black background, which was Atari's signature look at the start of the 1980s. One player could chase the high score alone, or several people could take turns at the machine – a competitive ritual that carried over into the home conversions.

Asteroids Deluxe is a textbook example of sequel design from an age when follow-ups added no stories or new worlds; they tuned difficulty and coin economics instead. For anyone studying the early arcade era, it is essential material.

The conversion context matters too: Atari ST owners received ports of arcade classics in the late 1980s as part of building the new machine's library. Comparison with the cabinet was always merciless – a vector display is hard to imitate on a home monitor – which makes studying how each version coped all the more interesting.

The game's card on OldGame.cz lists its year, its maker and screenshots from this version.