To me, this is a type of game that nobody has really done right recently. Geometry Wars is as close as modern games have gotten, as far as I’ve seen, and even that didn’t quite do it for me. For something that tends to be a common ‘first game I ever make after pong knockoff’ toy project, it’s somewhat surprising that none of the big companies have treated it seriously.
I still go right to Asteroids if an arcade has it and spent hours playing Operation: Inner Space growing up, if you’re familiar with it. I didn’t do much in terms of gaming that my uncles or cousins didn’t show me, so it was the only space shooter I had. Just wish I still had it, but sadly it seems to have been lost to computer upgrades and weeding out of old stuff so I’ve only had the demo to go back to (it limits you to only selecting one ship after a while, but there’s a button that lets you ‘swap’ ships with an ally once in-game).
http://www.abandoneer.com/games.php?gameid=27
The ‘radiant AI’ that bethseda loves to gush about is pretty much in this game…and it was for Windows 3. There’s an abundance of ships to choose from and I seem to remember being able to make my own and put them in. Or download them from the official website.
Do you know of any other good Asteroids-like space shooters?
The Star Controls are a game I cannot stop playing.
