Atari 2600

Missile Command

Trivia

Missile Command was named #7 in the “Top 25 Atari 2600” Games poll in Retro Gamer Magazine (Issue 46).

Contributed by PCGamer77 (3025) on May 01, 2008.

Senior Atari engineer Steve Calfee is responsible for suggesting the display of the final words THE END following the explosion when the last city is destroyed.

In the movie 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', John Connor is shown playing Missile Command at the arcade at the mall. Ironically, the movies are based on a nuclear war where nukes fell from the skies and destroyed every city on earth, and John, who will eventually be the leader of the Resistance, is actually playing the game, showing a vision of things to come.

The game appears to have been parodied in the TV series 'The Simpsons'. In the episode in which Lisa develops a crush on school bully Nelson Muntz, he and his friends are seen hurling eggs at the window of the house of Principal Skinner. The view is then seen from inside the house, and the green lines hitting the window and exploding into circles look a lot like the shots in the game.

When the game was designed, the cities in MISSILE COMMAND were intended to represent six cities on the California coast: Eureca, San Francisco, San Lois Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego.