How to play Planet Smashers online
- Fly: arrow keys
- Fire: Z (left button); hold it for rapid fire after upgrades
- Turn on a cloak: X (right button)
- Before the game: up/down for one or two players, left/right for Easy or Hard, Z to start
- Pause: F4
- Back to the title screen: F3 (Reset)
- Both the USA (NTSC) and Europe (PAL) cartridges are on this page; use the switch above the emulator.
Gameplay
You fight alien invaders in their own galaxies before they reach Earth. You have four ships, and one hit or collision destroys a ship unless it has a shield. Every enemy that slips past you weakens Earth’s shield; if it reaches zero, you lose all your reserve ships.
A galaxy has no fixed end. Shoot the alien cargo ships and fly under the capsules they drop:
- W (weapon): faster automatic fire
- S (shield): absorbs one hit; you can store six
- C (cloak): twenty seconds of invisibility; you can store six
- Warp capsules: each galaxy has a three-color code. Collect the colors in order to jump straight to the galaxy’s leader.
- Extra ship: touch it only while it shows a ship, never a skull
The final boss is the Planet Smashers’ dictator. On Easy, enemies are slower and the warp code for each galaxy is the same every game; on Hard, they are faster and the code changes every time. Bosses are worth 5,000 points or more.
Tips
- Learn the codes on Easy. They never change there, so note each galaxy’s warp colors.
- Recolor warp capsules. Shoot one to change its color instead of waiting for the right one.
- Don’t let enemies through. Earth’s shield matters as much as your own ship.
The story behind Planet Smashers
Planet Smashers was developed by Datafast, with James V. Zalewski as programmer, and came out in 1990 as part of the last group of 7800 games Atari released. An original game rather than an arcade conversion, it contains references to Alien Brigade, which was in development at the same time. Raze magazine scored it 76 out of 100, praising its speed and simple, attractive graphics but not its sound.
