How to play Megamania online
- Move your blaster: left and right arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar (hold it down for continuous fire in games 1 and 2)
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleâs Reset switch)
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the consoleâs Select switch)
- Missile speed: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0â9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0â9 loads it
Gameplay
The backstory is a junk-food nightmare. Each wave is one kind of object, with its own movement pattern, and they all fire at you. Anything that leaves the bottom of the screen comes back at the top, and anything that leaves one side returns on the other, so nothing escapes until you shoot it. A hit or a collision costs you a blaster.
The energy bar is your time limit. It starts each wave at 80 units and slowly runs down. If it reaches zero before you clear the wave, you lose a blaster. Clear the wave and you get bonus points for every unit of energy left, then the bar refills for the next wave. After all eight waves, the cycle starts again with new colours and trickier movement.
| Wave | Points per object (first cycle) |
|---|---|
| Hamburgers | 20 |
| Cookies | 30 |
| Bugs | 40 |
| Radial tyres | 50 |
| Diamonds | 60 |
| Steam irons | 70 |
| Bow ties | 80 |
| Space dice | 90 |
From the second cycle on, every object is worth 90 points. Each leftover energy unit is worth the same as one object in that wave, so finishing the hamburger wave with 30 units left gives you 600 bonus points. You start with three blasters in reserve and get another one for every 10,000 points, with room for up to six in reserve.
Game variations and switches
- Games 1 and 2: guided missiles. After you fire, you can steer the missile left and right with the joystick. Game 1 is for one player, game 2 for two players taking turns.
- Games 3 and 4: straight missiles that fly straight up, fired one shot at a time. Game 3 is for one player, game 4 for two.
- Difficulty switch: in position B your missiles are fast; in position A they are slow. The manual suggests starting on B.
Tips
- Stay near the middle. Steve Cartwrightâs own advice in the manual: it stops you getting trapped in a corner and gives you room to steer guided missiles.
- Hit and run. A small sideways move is enough to dodge enemy fire, but you do have to move. Attackers can come very close and still be shot down, so keep firing.
- A risky trick for big scores. Cartwright suggests that if you have spare blasters and a wave is nearly over, losing one refills your energy bar. Destroy the last attacker quickly and you collect the maximum bonus.
The story behind Megamania
Steve Cartwright had studied with Activision co-founder David Crane, and his first game for the company was Barnstorming. He got the idea for Megamania from the arcade game Astro Blaster, which he played at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, and he spent about nine months on it. The 2600 version came out in September 1982, followed by an Atari 5200 version in 1983 and one for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1984.
Reviewers were divided. Some loved the variety, graphics and sound, while others saw it as just another Space Invaders. It still won âMost Humorous Home Arcade Gameâ at the 1983 Arkie Awards. Players who scored 45,000 points or more could send Activision a photo of their screen and receive a âMegaManiacâ emblem. Cartwright later reused the Megamania code for his tooth-defending game Plaque Attack.
