Atari 400/800 Missile Command
http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/163183338001/thehauntedrocket-vintage-video-game-atari
Missile Command was on of THE classic arcade games of the golden age of arcade games. It was released in 1980 and the only original home ports were the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit ports in 1980 and the Atari 5200 port (essentially the same as the Atari 8-bit port) in 1982. The original Atari 8-bit version is also included as the built-in game for the Atari XEGS released in 1987. This game also perfectly illustrates the Cold War mindset of that time period.
The home version to have is of course the Atari 8-bit (pictured above) or Atari 5200 version. However, the Atari 2600 version was great also. The point of the games is to target incoming ballistic missiles (and later bombers and satellites) with your 3 batteries of ABM missiles in order to protect six cities.
There were also a number of later ports and remakes. In 1993 it was included as part of Microsoft Arcade for the PC. In 1995 is was ported to the Game Boy and Atari Lynx. Also in the 1990s it was included in compilations for the Sega Master System, Genesis and Game Gear. And updated 3D version was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1995 which also included the original arcade version. Another 3D remake was released for Windows and the PlayStation in 1999. An HD remake was released for the Xbox 360 via Microsoft Arcade in 2007. An iPhone version was released in 2008. In addition, Missile Command has been included on a number of other compilations and stand-alone multi-game units. A true sequel has never been released but a two-player version titled Missile Command 2 was tested late in 1980.
I didn’t have an Atari computer growing up so I played the 2600 version. It may not be quite as good but it was still one of the few Atari 2600 games I could spend hours playing.
