Space War

How to play Space War online

• Player 1: left and right arrow keys rotate the ship, up arrow fires the thruster, down arrow jumps into hyperspace, Space fires a missile
• Player 2: F and H rotate, T thrusts, G jumps into hyperspace, A fires
• Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
• Choose one of the 17 games: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
• Difficulty switches: F4 (left) and F9 (right)

Gameplay

Your ship turns on the spot and moves only when you fire the thruster, so it keeps drifting until you thrust the other way. Each player starts with eight missiles and a limited supply of fuel. You score a point when your opponent’s ship is destroyed: by one of your missiles, by flying into the sun, or by running out of fuel in hyperspace. Hyperspace makes your ship vanish for a moment, which is a good escape, but it burns extra fuel. A game lasts ten minutes, or until someone reaches ten points.

The games differ in how the “galaxy” behaves. With Galaxy Boundaries, ships bounce off the edges of the screen. With Warp Drive, a ship that leaves one edge reappears on the opposite side. Some games put a Space Sun in the centre, which pulls ships in with its gravity and blows up any ship that touches it. Others have a Starbase in the centre where you can refuel and pick up new missiles.

War games and shuttle games

• Games 1–7: two-player battles, with different mixes of boundaries, warp drive, hyperspace, the sun and the starbase
• Games 8–13: two-player shuttle races. Instead of fighting, you steer your ship into a drifting space module to dock with it and score
• Games 14–17: one-player shuttle games, where you try to score ten dockings within the ten minutes

Both difficulty switches should be in position B for the war games. In the shuttle games, position A means you must match the module’s speed exactly to dock, while position B lets you dock without matching speed.

Tips

• Thrust in short bursts. There is no brake, so every burst has to be cancelled later by turning around and thrusting again.
• Count your missiles. Eight is not many. In games without a starbase, don’t waste them on long shots.
• Use the sun’s pull. In the Space Sun games, a ship drifting near the centre is in danger. Keep your distance and try to herd your opponent towards it.
• Hyperspace is a last resort. It saves you from a missile, but trying it with no fuel left costs you the point.
• New players should start with Game 1. Boundaries only, no sun, and no hyperspace tricks.

History

The original Spacewar! was one of the first video games ever made, written for a university mainframe more than fifteen years before this cartridge. Atari’s version, model CX2604, brought its two-ship duel to the living room and added the shuttle docking games, which also give solo players something to do. Atari later planned a version for the Atari Lynx handheld, but it was never released. Space War 2000, an updated version for the Atari Jaguar, came much later.