| Meteor Mission II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | Big Five Software |
| Programmer(s) | Bill Hogue Jeff Konyu [1] |
| Platform(s) | TRS-80 |
| Release | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Meteor Mission II (written as Meteor Mission 2 on the title screen) [2] is a clone of the Taito arcade game Lunar Rescue released by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 home computer in 1982. [3] It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. [1]
The game is similar in concept to Lunar Lander but adds a rescue element. The initial goal is to navigate a ship through a moving meteor belt and land on one of several landing pads. A small figure runs out from the side of the screen, enters the ship, and then the player must navigate and fire back through the meteor field and dock with the mothership.
The game was the fifth of seven arcade clones programmed for the TRS-80 by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu, who left the TRS-80 platform in 1982. Hogue previously wrote and published an unrelated game called Meteor Mission that was withdrawn from the market. [2] [1] He would later that year create the platform game Miner 2049er for the Atari 8-bit family.
Ian Chadwick reviewed Meteor Mission II in Ares Magazine #13 and commented that "the challenge is limited and the game is really not terribly exciting. This is prime stuff for the younger set but otherwise pale in comparison to other efforts". [4]
A review in 80-U.S. stated that "the graphics in Meteor Mission II are very good", but that "sound effects are not very fancy". [5] In the conclusion, the reviewer called it "well worth the $15.95" and "impossible to master to a point where it lacks challenge".
In a 2012 retrospective, Gamasutra wrote that "'inspired by' the early Taito classic Lunar Rescue, this Big Five Software effort remains a compelling gameplay experience". [6]
Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.
Centipede is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.
Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages – these included word processor VIEW and the spreadsheet ViewSheet supplied on ROM and cartridge for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer.
Miner 2049er is a platform game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely converted to other systems. The title "Miner 2049er" evokes a 21st-century take on the circa-1849 California Gold Rush in which the gold miners and prospectors were nicknamed "49ers". It was the first Atari computer game, and by far the biggest release, from the previously TRS-80 focused company.
Lunar Lander is a genre of video games loosely based on the 1969 landing of the Apollo Lunar Module on the Moon. In Lunar Lander games, players generally control a spacecraft as it falls toward the surface of the Moon or other astronomical body, using thrusters to slow the ship's descent and control its horizontal motion to reach a safe landing area. Crashing into obstacles, hitting the surface at too high a velocity, or running out of fuel all result in failure. In some games in the genre, the ship's orientation must be adjusted as well as its horizontal and vertical velocities.
Choplifter is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers.
Apple Panic is a game for the Apple II programmed by Ben Serki and published by Broderbund Software in 1981. Apple Panic is an unauthorized version of the 1980 arcade game Space Panic, the first game with ladders and platforms. While the arcade original remained obscure, Apple Panic became a top seller for home computers. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, VIC-20, IBM PC, and TRS-80.
Telengard is a 1982 role-playing dungeon crawler video game developed by Daniel Lawrence and published by Avalon Hill. The player explores a dungeon, fights monsters with magic, and avoids traps in real-time without any set mission other than surviving. Lawrence first wrote the game as DND, a 1976 version of Dungeons & Dragons for the DECsystem-10 mainframe computer. He continued to develop DND at Purdue University as a hobby, rewrote the game for the Commodore PET 2001 after 1978, and ported it to Apple II+, TRS-80, and Atari 800 platforms before Avalon Hill found the game at a convention and licensed it for distribution. Its Commodore 64 release was the most popular. Reviewers noted Telengard's similarity to Dungeons and Dragons. RPG historian Shannon Appelcline noted the game as one of the first professionally produced computer role-playing games, and Gamasutra's Barton considered Telengard consequential in what he deemed "The Silver Age" of computer role-playing games preceding the golden age of the late 1980s. Some of the game's dungeon features, such as altars, fountains, teleportation cubes, and thrones, were adopted by later games such as Tunnels of Doom (1982).
Lunar Rescue is an arcade game released by Taito in November 1979. The gameplay has some resemblance to both Taito's own 1978 hit Space Invaders and Atari, Inc.'s Lunar Lander.
Big Five Software was an American video game developer in the first half of the 1980s founded by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. The company released games for the Tandy TRS-80 and later the Atari 8-bit family. Most of its TRS-80 games were clones of arcade games of the time, such as Galaxy Invasion (Galaxian), Super Nova (Asteroids), Defense Command, and Meteor Mission. Big Five also sold an Atari joystick interface called TRISSTICK which was popular with TRS-80 owners. The company's most successful release was original: the 10-stage platform game Miner 2049er, released for the Atari 8-bit family in 1982 and widely ported to other systems.
Preppie! is an action video game for the Atari 8-bit family published by Adventure International in 1982. It was programmed by Russ Wetmore of Star Systems Software, whose name is prominently displayed on the box cover. Leaning on the preppy trend of the early 1980s, the game follows prep schooler Wadsworth Overcash as he navigates the hazards of a country club to retrieve golf balls. Preppie! borrows heavily from Konami's Frogger, with lanes of traffic in the bottom half of the screen and a river crossing the top portion. Alligators are an element from both Frogger and preppy fashion; an open-mouthed gator is the icon of shirt brand Izod. Reviewers recognized the game as derivative, but called the music and visuals some of the best for Atari 8-bit computers.
Galaxy Invasion is a clone of Namco's Galaxian arcade game written by Big Five Software founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu for the TRS-80 16K and published in 1980. It is the first game from Big Five to include sound and music. Galaxy Invasion was followed by an enhanced version in 1982, Galaxy Invasion Plus, which includes voice.
Super Nova is clone of Atari, Inc.'s Asteroids arcade game published by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 in 1980. Co-author Bill Hogue called Super Nova "the game that started the company."
Attack Force is a 1980 video game developed by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 16K. It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. Hogue later wrote Miner 2049'er. Attack Force is based on Exidy's 1980 Targ arcade game.
Robot Attack is a clone of the arcade game Berzerk written by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu for the TRS-80 and published by Big Five Software in 1981. It was the first game from Big Five to include speech.
Scarfman is a clone of Pac-Man written by Philip A. Oliver for the TRS-80 computer and published by The Cornsoft Group in 1981. A version for the TRS-80 Color Computer followed in 1982 as Color Scarfman, which uses 64x64 low resolution graphics.
Planetoids is a clone of Atari, Inc.'s Asteroids arcade game published by Adventure International for the Apple II in 1980 and TRS-80 in 1981. Each was originally an independently sold game, neither of which was titled Planetoids. The Apple II version, written by Marc Goodman, was published as Asteroid. The TRS-80 game was written by Greg Hassett as Fasteroids by Adventure Works. Fasteroids was still sold by Adventure Works at the same time Planetoids was available through Adventure International. The TRS-80 version includes features not present on the Apple II or arcade original.
Lunar Lander is a 1980 video game published by Adventure International.
Demon Seed is a fixed shooter written by Jeffrey Sorensen and Philip MacKenzie for the TRS-80 and published in 1982 by Trend Software. The same programmers developed the TRS-80 Color Computer version published in 1983 by Computer Shack. Demon Seed is a clone of the 1980 arcade game Phoenix.
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