Megamania
| Megamania | |
|---|---|
Atari 2600 Megamania box artwork autographed by Steve Cartwright
|
|
| Developer(s) | Activision |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Designer(s) | Steve Cartwright |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 (original) Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit |
| Release date(s) |
Atari 2600
|
| Genre(s) | Fixed Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Megamania is an Atari 2600 game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. It took six months to develop the concept and another three months to fine-tune the game. It was released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit family in 1983, ported by Glyn Anderson.
Megamania is similar to Sega's 1981 arcade title Astro Blaster. Both games have nearly identical patterns of approaching enemies with the player relying on an "energy" meter. Also, the player's ships are remarkably similar in both games.
Megamania gameplay resembles that of Astro Blaster, but rather than being aliens or spaceships the enemies in are various objects such as hamburgers, bow ties, and steam irons. The object is to shoot them down before the energy bar at the bottom of screen is depleted, all while avoiding the oncoming enemies and their own projectile attacks. Each of the enemies fly in select patterns and as soon as they hit the bottom of the screen, they re-appear at the top until shot by the player. The player's spacecraft depicted in the game is a cross between the U.S.S. Enterprise and Klingon battlecruiser from the Star Trek universe.
If a player exceeds a score of 999,999 the game ends.
Anyone who scored above 45,000 points could send Activision a picture of their screen and become an official Megamaniac. They also would receive an Official Megamaniac emblem.
The band The Tubes performed a Megamania theme song in a 1982 television commercial advertising the Atari 2600 version of the game.
...
Wikipedia