Looking for an old Atari game

May 21, 2006 3:19 PM

I'm trying to remember the name of an old Atari game. It's been about 20 years since I played it so my description may be a bit hazy.

Basically all I can remember of it was that it turned the tables on the standard `UFO invasion' type game. You were playing a UFO, which was at the top of the screen, and you attacked bases on the ground.

I think the ground scrolled past as you travelled along.

Wow, that's not a lot of clues.

I downloaded a ROM collection recently and I don't think it was amongst the collection.

posted by tomble to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 comments total)

Actually, it sounds like Coleco's Zaxxon. Is it possible that you played the gam on Coleco instead?
posted by oflinkey at 3:29 PM on May 21, 2006

Defender was a similar game.
posted by justgary at 3:53 PM on May 21, 2006

Defender.
posted by justgary at 3:54 PM on May 21, 2006

Cosmic Ark
posted by Otis at 3:57 PM on May 21, 2006

No no no! I'm certain it is this:

Laser Blast

They had a contest for the best score-- I got very very good at it, and played non-stop for about 5 hours. (I didn't win-- I think that to win, you had to have someone take over for you while you went to pee-- remember, these were the days before "pause".
posted by gregvr at 3:59 PM on May 21, 2006

Whoops, sorry...

Laser Blast
posted by gregvr at 4:06 PM on May 21, 2006

I vote Laser Blast as well. I loved that game.
posted by mykescipark at 4:09 PM on May 21, 2006

Yup, my guess is Laser Blast as well. I could play that for hours on-end, beating all the high scores that were published in magazines at that time. I even took a photo of my end-game high score once and sent it in, but it never got published.

How did you people possibly come up with Defender from that description?
posted by jdroth at 4:13 PM on May 21, 2006

I'm people, and if zaxxon was a possible answer, defender isn't that different.
posted by justgary at 5:51 PM on May 21, 2006

I'm people, and if zaxxon was a possible answer, defender isn't that different.

Except that in Defender, you didn't "attack bases on the ground"

Zaxxon is at least plausible in that respect (albeit remotely very plausible).

I can't believe just how addicting Laser Blast was for me as a kid, back in the day. Looking at the game now, I can't understand the appeal it had to me, but appeal to me it did.
posted by melorama at 6:13 PM on May 21, 2006

Wooo! Laser Blast!

Hooray for Ask Metafilter! Thanks all!

Gregvr - I spent a whole afternoon and night with a friend smashing the high score of a motorbike racing game. Once you got good at it, you could just keep driving. As you drove, your points went up and up. You could stay on the same track forever, after an hour or so you could drive it without thinking about it.
posted by tomble at 6:17 PM on May 21, 2006

Laser Blast could be played to full effect with timing and sound cues alone. Picture not necessary.
posted by NortonDC at 7:27 PM on May 21, 2006

Xevious?
posted by ImJustRick at 2:05 PM on July 21, 2006