Throwback Thursday: Asteroids

Happy Thursday gamers! We haven't covered an Atari game for a while, so this week we're spotlighting none other than Asteroids for Atari!

Asteroids needs no introduction, and anyone with a pulse knows the objective of the game. It was released in 1979 by Atari during the Golden Age of arcade games and was an instant success. It demanded immediate upgrades of newer arcade models and the cabinets were even made with larger boxes to hold the increased revenue spent by players.

In 1982, Scott Safran set a world record of 41,336,440 points on the arcade version. The record stood for an impressive 27 years, until John McAllister beat it by 300 points in 2010. It took John 58 hours of gameplay to accomplish the feat, and the whole experience was recorded as proof of the new world record.

Asteroids was Atari's highest grossing game of all time, and still continues to influence pop culture today. It's referenced in all types of media, has inspired numerous sequels, and remains a legacy to this day. Asteroids remains the king of vintage video games, and we're honored to welcome it into the vault!