Classic Game Room - ASTEROIDS arcade game review

[@ivanb8126]

No graphic engine in the world today can match those analog light effects!! Amazing!!

[@aaron.0303]

I like how there's a hint of blue in there, and how bright the bullets are.

[@Heisenberg2097]

The true beauty of Asteroids is the phosphor glow of the cathode ray tube!!! No emulator can serve that pleasure. The glow intensity of the single dot shots in conjunction with the glass reflections. Just wonderful.

[@turbochop3300]

I played an Asteroids arcade cabinet for the first time today at a newly opened bar. I've always played Asteroids in re releases or emulaters, and let me tell you that an emulator can never capture the look of a vector display! The shapes are crystal clear, and its so BRIGHT; in an emulator all the points and lines are the same brightness, but on the real thing the bullets are downright dazzling! It's incredible! You only have to watch the video for a demonstration.

[@epitoaster1701]

turbochop3300 IKR its so great, the actual brightness is amazing.

[@Drakelx55]

That was my EXACT reaction to playing an asteroids arcade for the first time

[@KingdomSoldier12]

I just played Asteroids for the first time today on at a arcade’ Wow I am a instant fan. Have loved Galaga since the 90s but this game blew my mind. New favorite

[@xbaxdark]

There is an emulator called "AAE" (another arcade emulator) that does try to emulate the bright glowing and trail effects you get from the vector display and while it does a great job I do agree, nothing can truly match the real thing.

[@captn_hanky]

I had this machine for a while but will never forget the bullets where so bright that a dark room was lit by their glow. Loved it. Asteroids without vectorgraphics is like a car without a body. You can drive it, but it has no style. Asteroids, Defender and Choplifter are my all time greatest.

[@zyrgle]

Asteroids was the best game since Space Wars! Vector graphics RULE!!

[@Gxhbro]

Yeah ikr

[@michaelbasal9600]

Asteroids remains a classic to this day. Three games that set the foundation of video games, 1: Space Invaders, 2: Asteroids and 3: PacMan. No other Atari coin-op sold more units than Asteroids! Great review that holds up as well as this classic!

[@DCookStaVideo]

I played this arcade cabinet the other day. You are right about the screen, it's gorgeous and the intensity of the bullets as they fly across the screen looks so clean.

[@OtterloopB]

My orthodontist had an Asteroids arcade machine installed in his waiting room. Thanks for the nostalgia, Mark!

[@mjh5437]

Lucky!!

[@ChrisLT]

Whenever I visit the local arcade, my first task is to go to the Asteroids machine and beat the current local high score.

[@dunchadoit5421]

What's your high.

[@tdemaree]

if you get to 100,000 the score would go back to zero, this was like beating the game for me, love ASTEROIDS!

[@LeonardChurch33]

I got to play an original Asteroids cabinet for the first time about a week ago. This is after having built my own MAME cabinet years earlier and playing asteroids hundreds of times. I was absolutely dumbstruck by how good the real thing is. I geeked out so hard I was almost in tears. There just aren't words to capture the visceral feel of that vector display. It's almost like the difference between an automatic and a manual car. You can drive an automatic but a manual becomes a part of you.

[@UTOBEDUDE]

I was 22 when Asteroids was released. I discovered it in the games room of my fav bar/nightclub. All it took was one quarter and I was addicted. At first I was lucky to have 5 or 6 thousand points on the board before I lost my three ships. Within a year I could drop in a quarter and play til the score board rolled over - back to zero ( on a good day). Often, when you had the game going crazy, with everything it had coming at you - a small audience would gather round to watch the action. Totally loved it. Oddly, being a lefty, I had to cross my right arm over my left arm to play it . The layout of the buttons was completely backwards to how my brain thought they should be. I found it on line(asteroids - original) a few yrs ago and re-enjoyed many a game until the website disappeared. I haven't seen the arcade version anywhere in years and years !

[@garybenchette96]

i was 10! imagine that! what a time to be enjoying arcades. congratulations

[@VilaToro64]

Arcade 1up my friend

[@fdo.eduardo1925]

In 80's I was an Asteroid Local Champion and I used to be playing longer than 3 hours with just one coin. I dont remember my highest score but I do remember when My extra ships were a long line across de screen. My favorite game and after seeing this video i want to play it again. Great Video.

[@ilnonvivo]

one of the best reviews EVER

[@burgerrider7773]

Great review. Thanks for the memories. I remember playing that game at the 7-11 back in the day. A good day for me was 35,000. The one at the Arcade was set at the highest level. That owner wanted games to last less than a minute at most if he could help it.

[@Omastian]

Asteroids just raised the bar from Space Invaders which was, when released, mind blowing.

[@Mr.Everything]

The first thing that caught my eye is how bright and sharp the images on that screen are. People talk about resolution and pixel density but right here is a prime example of a nice high quality smooth image, COD take notes.

[@CODMarioWarfare]

You're right, COD should come with vector CRT monitors.

[@garybenchette96]

having searched for "asteroids, the video game that used vector graphics" - i am glad i did see this video clip. thank you!

[@awwrelic]

Ah yes, Asteroids. I remember seeing this at a Kroger grocery store, back in the very early 80s and playing it. This was when you had smaller stores (like drug stores) having a machine installed near the doors of the place.

[@johnmaltepes]

Greatest game of all time

[@rarecoolitems]

I have an asteroids arcade I will never give it up. There is no arcade games like it!

[@dunchadoit5421]

I own (4) of these!!! Love the Vector graphics

[@WyreWizard]

Roids (which is what I call Asteroids) Is the third game I have ever played. I was 9 years old when I played it. I played it at a bar where my uncle took me to. He gave me some quarters, downed a couple beers and played darts. I played Roids for 2 hours.

[@walidb123]

I WISH I had this arcade machine at home. It wouldn't fit anywhere... but I still want it.

[@lunes-1]

This was muy favourite one! Great review. I will have this machine at my living room if i could..

[@leolivi]

Mark loves that game so much he even gave a proper review. And didn't even ask for a flamethrower! Not that I have anything against Mark's "normal" reviews. But he doesn't need many jokes to make that review fun. The game does it by itself.

[@KevinTwiner]

ooh yeah..my first arcade...ahhh the quarters

I play this game on my TI-84 plus calculator in classes. Great fun

[@Dukefazon]

I played an Asteroids arcade machine about a year ago when I was visiting the GameOn exhibition. That was one of the best arcade machines there, the CRT just shined through the whole event, that was awesome! I'd buy one if I could, emulation can't reproduce the CRT feeling that I felt there.

[@archaichobo6969]

Dude, your reviews are awesome, why you don't have more subscribers, is a mystery.

[@Njenkin]

Used to play this game to bits after the end of my swimming lessons... um, 30 years ago. I learnt both to swim fast and to destroy asteroids with a spinning space ship. One of these skills has come in useful.

[@wildbilltexas]

The early console versions of Asteroids had a glitch that would allow you to win an unlimited amount of extra ships. So if you were really good at Asteroids (or look below at Zyrgle's comment) you could have a LONG line of 10+ spaceships across the top of the screen and play for a long time. Then after arcade owners complained about it, Atari limited extra ships to around 5-6 ships. Asteroids came out in 1979, before Pac Man and Centipede allowed girls to play video games.

[@zyrgle]

It wasn't actually a glitch, it was merely an unforeseen tactic that we used to score unlimited points. All you had to do was lurk near the edge of the screen when there is only one or two asteroids left, and pick off the spaceships as they appear.

[@MattMcIrvin]

@@zyrgle Asteroids Deluxe basically existed to defeat the tactics that players used to play Asteroids endlessly. The UFOs were smart enough to deal with the screen wraparound, and the hexagonal "killer satellites" existed to force you to move, because they'd separate into a swarm of darts that would chase you.

[@singleplayermoments]

Aw wow. :) This is a blast from the past. Had no idea it was so old though!

[@RogelioPerea]

Classics never die

[@Lakster37]

I first played Asteroids on my TI-83 calculator... in Algebra II. It was actually a surprisingly good version of it!

[@icycoolstudios]

I remember playing this at Disney quest as a kid not long before they closed it, what stuck out to me was the beautiful screen, despite only being black and white the contrast and brightness of the bullets mixed with the vector was still amazing and unlike anything I had seen. I agree modern day emulation does not do it justice, heck even this video doesn't

[@A_Dylan_of_No_Renown]

If someone did an emulation that properly utilized HDR, they could probably get very close to the effect now. But I’m not aware of an emulator that utilizes HDR.

[@mattfoley6082]

I was hooked on this in college in 1980-81. I had little spending money but could not resist dumping quarters into it. Got pretty good at it and could play for 15 minutes but that damn little spaceship always got me.

[@Devr0ss]

I can't believe you didn't end the video with the line "I've got some more asteroids to kick" ;p

[@Majora_T]

this is the game other games aspire to be

[@HughMacEachern]

Awesome review, made more awesome by this user "Once there was an Ugly Barnacle. He was so ugly, that everyone died. The end." Best.UN.ever!

[@That80sRPGGuy]

Best part of my youth, was playing this game for hours at my local Boys & Girls Club

[@supawanhendy6478]

Please More arcade machine reviews from late 70s early 80s...spy hunter etc

[@Jamie.Laszlo]

I'm picking up a Space Duel this weekend...which is basically Asteroids III

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

I've never seen this at arcades, as a mater of fact there are almost no arcades anywhere anymore! I did play this once though as an old friend of mine had an original arcade machine in his basement! It was pretty awesome but I doubt I will ever get the money to buy one. To much other stuff to spend money on.

[@FGazi-qf1hp]

I had to see it to believe it but Mark you have a nice picture on the IMDb site. I didn't know you directed shows. Nice work. And love your videos. I am currently watching Shatterhand for the NES and I want to see all the videos you put on the youtube, on this channel ofc, but yes the vides I am watching are in reverse order so from the newest to the oldest. Keep up the good work.

[@ag3ntorange164]

Awesome game. Like a fine wine it improves with age! Thanks for reviewing Mark. Any possibility of a review if another ground breaking game from Atari? Crystal Castles? Would love to know what you think of it.

[@Tletltecuhtli]

It’s AWESOME! On the top 10 of all time.

[@gtzaskar6353]

I could never be good at this game, but I had a friend that mastered it.

[@garylucas637]

My all time favorite game from the arcade era. There's just something about the vintage black and white monitors and images that simply interest me. Probably because that's how all the video technology started out; including standard television. I noticed on this Asteroids game there's an extra circle in the middle which on most games I never saw. Is that a glitch in the game or is that an extra feature that can be set on the game board to enable game play easier? The deluxe version I can't get interested into as much simply it's harder to see because of the mirror reflected image. I was born with a visual impairment so some of those arcade games with the mirror reflected image make it look like its 20 or 30 feet away. If I was able to collect these arcade games; I would include the Asteroids original game; along with Star Castle (mentioned on Star Castle video comments); plus some other arcade games that are my favorites. :))

[@mjh5437]

The circle in the middle is where he’s burnt out the screen by leaving the machine turned on for too long and with the brightness turned up too high.

[@ToumalRakesh]

Finally you got your space rocks off :P

[@marcusroele]

This game is awesome! Light years ahead of Pong. You can MOVE around the whole screen!!! SO amazing! We will be on Mars by the 90s or 2000s at the latest!

[@TOBI10795]

i got this when i was a kid for GBA, simple and a very rage inducing game.

[@Ulagcomp]

I use to leave one or two roids flying around and just blew up the spaceships. Best way to get high scores. I loved this game when it first came out

[@jamesrbrindle]

Great review Mark just one thing, your monitor is going to get spot burn in the centre as the brightness is a little too high thats what the dot with circle is in the centre. Get someone to help if you're not sure but adjust it to save the monitor.

[@mjh5437]

Good point

[@aegisofhonor]

There has been a lot of clones of Asteroids over the years, the best clone by far though is Maelstrom, a mac only (though could be wrong about that now) asteroids clone by Ambrosia Software released some 20 years ago, it still holds it's own and adds power ups and sly humor to make the game more interesting while still "feeling" like classic Asteroids, I used to play it all the time on my old mac and I wonder now if there is a PC version of now.

[@mbsfaridi]

The game looks awesome and runs so smooth!

[@andrewwilliams3408]

my favorite childhood game.. i was a teen.

[@clutchkman]

Great review, and a great game. Wish I had one of those machines too.

[@donaldswink6259]

I love asteroids until that little UFO comes out, I hate that thing but it’s my favorite game.

[@electricadventures]

Now if I ever do get the chance to get an original single game cabinet (I have a 48 in one in a generic Jamma cabinet), this would be very close to being my number one pick. I played this heaps back in day and wrote versions for the original Spectravideo and MSX, and recently converted to the Colecovision in EA Classics :) Your cabinet is in awesome condition!

[@milesjohnson5487]

Now you need a master's degree in computer science to play a video game. I sure miss the 80's with games like Star Castle, Asteroids, and Donkey Kong.

[@scottb2794]

If you get over 30k you are actually doing pretty good since I don't see scores that high at the arcades that often.

[@sanicyouth6540]

+Scott B. The best score I managed to get in this game so far is 14,080 points.

[@mjh5437]

My record was about 60,000 in 1984 when I gave up playing games.

[@ragingsquirrelsproductions5181]

I love the bright screen and It looks really cool when you shoot. You should do a video about Asteroids Deluxe.

[@w0mblemania]

Used to have one of these (upright cabinet). I restored it, but then it died and I didn't have the tech knowledge to fix it at the time. Now I do, and I wish I'd kept it! But it weighed a ton.

[@Dad1972hthorn]

As much as I like Asteroids this style, I like to 2600 version better. Alot more game variations. Great review though, I like this game alot.

[@Hedgpig]

If Lord Karnage likes Asteroids so much he'd be very pleased with a little indie game called Space Rubbish.

[@polastarr]

Mark says he's terrible at it but I think he's just being modest, look at him play!

[@goldensolder44]

Holy crap, it looks shinier on the arcade cabinet!!!

[@Psychonautic6]

Mark I wonder if you ever turn down the lights and shut the doors and poor up a beer and pull up your favorite bar stool and get into "The Zone" in your Arcade games. BTW LONG LIVE THE VECTREX.

[@markzilla9623]

Asteroids is not only my all time fav as well but i'm still good at it enough to put the highest score possible (99,990 pts.) This was a challenge itself because once ya got past 99,000 you had to pay more n more attention to the point values of everything you shoot as so to calculate your score or you either come up short of 99,990 OR WORSE YET-your high score will ROLL OVER back to ZERO pts thus meaning no more high score (nor proof thereof). You would also during this time, have to kill off any remaining ships BUT only letting the small UFO shoot you because colliding with any asteroids or a ufo will add points as shooting 'em. Always a personal mission whenever I can get my hands on such a classic arcade machine !!

[@SrRagde]

Finally an asteroids review.

[@ilovepie990]

Now Once there was an Ugly Barnacle. He was so ugly, that everyone died! The End. we can all sleep well tonight know that CGR has done an Asteroids review.

[@warrenfairbanks9912]

The tiny UFO make me cry out in frustration. I enjoy asteroids deluxe more. I do have an asteroids cocktail though.

[@martingolding4951]

Played this alot at a youth club in the school i was at I'd be around 14yrs old in 79

[@tdemaree]

we would always get down to one small asteroid and then just fight the small ufo's which were worth a thousand I think..

[@chase2247]

I want to play some of these arcade games so much but for some reason my city forbids arcades if I ever won the lottery I would love to have my own Top 5 favourites 1. Donkey kong 2,pac man 3,galaga 4,asteroids 5,centipede

[@kawaiiprincess3607]

That sounds really sad! What kind of fucked up city forbids arcades?

[@chase2247]

KawaiiPrincess360 apparently there was a lot of people dealing drugs or something in the arcade we had a long time ago because it was so dark and dingy like many arcades so are city just said we couldn't have them

[@kawaiiprincess3607]

That strongly explains the clechie in most tv shows that potrays all arcades as gang hangouts and other bad stuff. Though still fucked up

[@ewthmatth]

Small city? Big city? If you don't wanna say, what country, at least? Just curious.

[@WebVManReturns]

I would be so jealous right now if I didn't just get the Asteroids Deluxe cabinet today.

[@Colin2084]

A couple of us came up with a software patch to help eliminate the bright spot in the middle of the screen which can be seen in the video. On old tubes the brightness has to be turned up which causes the issue, a new tube will fix the fault too of course, but it's cheaper to blow a new set of roms. If you still have this machine and want to try patching it let me know.

[@mjh5437]

I would like one please.

[@123456RaulMorales]

Satellites(Big UFO's) shoot at random. Little UFO's are extremely aggressive.

[@antdude]

Hard game, but what's the left arcade? It seems to have a bunch of games!

[@MarkTheMorose]

Memories of fish and chip shops in 1981/2...

[@magesfolly]

I love Asteroids. I recently coded my own version in Javascript called ASSDROIDS, It was fun writing it, but I still haven't gotten how the ufo's fire just right; so still a work in progress.

[@TOBI10795]

assdroids, release it man ! XD

[@magesfolly]

TOBI10795 Actually I did, though not commercially. There is a video of an earlier version on my channel, and a link to play the game is in the video description.

[@PaulJuray]

you should turn your brightness down before you burn a hole in the middle of your screen.

[@MetalHermit83]

my dad got the second highest score at asteroid, he would of beaten the highest if his mom dident make him come home, he got so many extra lifes that there was no more room on the screen to display them.

[@Hexekiel]

My god, your face reflected on the black screen is terrifying!!!

[@LiquidAnomaly]

where are you i really really would love to experience asteroid on the cabinet like the first people who played it did

[@SrChoppers]

C'mon Mark. This should've been a 2-part review! XD

[@AsianTheDomination]

This game rocks! get it?

[@MrNamine]

This game was awesome.

[@lctb51]

Do you know what's better than Asteroid, more Asteroids!

[@bland9876]

From what I can tell space duel plays like a co-op version of asteroids Deluxe because of the Shield

[@legofans452]

Doesn't that dot in the middle mean the screen is set too bright?

[@Must0oni]

classic as always

[@angelbate]

ASTEROIDS with its unmatched light bomb.

[@KingGameReview]

I think the key to high scores in this game is get just one little asteroid left and just farm ufos

[@dave4shmups]

This is the way to play Asteroids-on a vector graphics monitor! Not on some Atari compilation for consoles or PC.

[@schmoab]

I remember playing this a lot on Windows 3.1

[@keeper7keys2003]

What he's saying in the beginning of the video? "(?)...from old classic game room brodcast from intergalactic space"

[@mannycarrero2487]

I spent 3hrs. playing Asteroids on ONE quarter. The owner of the Pizzeria actually gave me $1.00 to end my game, I took the dollar :-)

[@KabukiKid]

Wasn't Asteroids the first arcade game to let you enter your initials for your high score?

[@MattMcIrvin]

It was. Space Invaders was the first to record a high score, but it didn't have a table with initials.