Missile Command (Atari 2600)

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Description

Aliens from the planet of Krytol are attacking your cities! As the commander of a missile base, it is your responsibility to defend them. A variety of enemy weapons and planes will be incoming trying to destroy the six cities at the bottom of the screen. You need to fire missiles to destroy the incoming weapons. If anything gets through, one of your cities could be destroyed. When all of the cities are gone, the game is over. On each level you have a limited amount of ammo, so make sure most (if not all) of your shots are accurate or you could run out of ammo and leave your cities at risk! As the levels progress, there are more and more enemy weapons to destroy which come in at an increasingly faster rate.

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Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

• "Comando de Mísseis" -- Brazilian title

Part of the Following Groups

• Gaming Service: Game Room
• Missile Command variants

User Reviews

80's Cold War paranoia manifest it'self into a insanely fun game !	GAMEBOY COLOR! (2002)
All-Time-Favorite	JoeHamburg (5)

Critic Reviews

Woodgrain Wonderland	Jun 30, 2017	A+	100
The Video Game Critic	Jan 06, 2019	A	100
The Atari Times	Feb 25, 2002	92 out of 100	92
8-bit Central Retro Gaming	2011		90
Oldies Rising	Aug 27, 2009	17 out of 20	85
Retro4Ever	Oct 31, 2012	8 out of 10	80
Atari HQ	2000	8 out of 10	80
VideoGame	Aug, 1991		80
Game Freaks 365	Jun 08, 2005	7.5 out of 10	75
Digital Press - Classic Video Games	Sep 25, 2004	7 out of 10	70

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

Missile Command appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cancelled successor

The successor Missile Command 2 was in development, but was never released to arcades. It was supposed to be a two-player-variant in which two opponents defend and attack simultaneously. According to designer Rich Adam they never managed to make the concept fun.

Cities

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.

Development

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.

References to the game

• 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.
• 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.
• In the 1983 episode Smaller Than Life from the TV series Magnum P.I., a kid is seen playing Missile Command on an Atari 800.

Awards

• Retro Gamer
  • September 2004 (Issue #8) – #96 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
  • #7 in the “Top 25 Atari 2600” Games poll

Information also contributed by Martin Smith, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Robbb and FatherJack

Related Web Sites

• The International Arcade Museum (extensive information about the arcade game machine)
• Wikipedia: Missile Command (Information about Missile Command at Wikipedia)