Megamania

Megamania

Atari 2600 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Activision Publisher Activision Published 1982-??-?? Platforms Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit Genres Action, Fixed shooter, Shooter, Single-screen Themes Action, Science fiction Multiplayer Alternating versus Distribution Commercial

Megamania is a fixed shooter programmed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982 on the Atari 2600, and in 1983 on the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers. The game borrows heavily from Astro Blaster.

The game's manual describes the game play as part of a nightmare where strange objects fall at you from space and must be destroyed.

Personal

Own?	Yes. Atari 2600 loose cartridge.
Won?	No. This game doesn't end, but the score stops counting at 999,999.

I first played the game as one of the many games in a used collection of Atari game my parents bought us kids at a garage sale. It quickly became one of my favorite Atari 2600 games, and certainly my favorite of the single-screen space shooter genre. I even programmed my own version of the game in QuickBASIC.

My highest score is 111,920, well beyond the score of 45,000 needed to earn the Activision Megamaniacs patch, but a far cry from when the game stops counting at 999,999.

Review

5	5	3	2	3

Best Version: Atari 8-bit

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• Despite the Atari 2600's memory restrictions, Cartwright packed a lot of variation into the enemies. Their movement patterns vary, they look different, and each have several variations.
• Even though the ship designs repeat, the palette shifts and the enemy ships adopt new movement patterns in subsequent waves giving the game more variety. Also, in the third loop, the enemy bombs drop faster making it even harder.
• Being able to control the ship's gun in different ways was a nice addition.
• The game has really nice sound for a 2600 game.

Bad

• Due to the extreme limits of the Atari 2600, the game is unfortunately too repetitive.
• Although the enemies all have different movement patterns, they're really all just variations on a theme.
• Because it's so derivative of Astro Blaster, it's hard to look at it and not see what it's lacking from the original.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The cartoonish 2600 box art beautifully depicts the game.

• 

  Both the 5200 and 8-bit releases use this utterly terrible art. The game is only depicted in the reflection on the glasses of the strange bow tie wearing man. And, why is there a cat?

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Atari 2600.

• 

  Manual - Atari 5200.

• 

  Megamaniacs patch.

• 

  Strategy guide - How to Win At Home Video Games.

• 

  Strategy guide - Be a Home Videogame Superstar: Secrets to the Best Games for Your Atari VCS.

• 

  Ad.

Screenshots

• 

  The idle screen.

• 

  Wave 1 - Hamburgers fly across the top of the screen.

• 

  Wave 2 - Cookies descend back and forth diagonally.

• 

  Wave 3 - Bugs fly across while slowly descending.

• 

  Wave 4 - Radial tires fly back and forth while descending.

• 

  Wave 5 - Diamonds fly across the screen while moving up and down.

• 

  Wave 6 - Steam irons move back and forth in formation while occasionally descending.

• 

  Wave 7 - Bow ties jump up and down while flying across the screen.

• 

  Wave 8 - Space dice fall straight down.

• 

  At wave 9, the ships repeat, but with harder patterns.

Videos

Longplay (max score).

Play Online

Atari 2600

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There don't appear to be any women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There don't appear to be any women.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	No race is described.
Queer character?	Fail	There don't appear to be any queer characters.

Ports

Port	Released	Porter	Publisher	Notes
Atari 2600	1982-??-??	Activision	Activision	Original release.
Atari 5200	1983-??-??	Activision	Activision	More detailed graphics and additional sound effects.
Atari 8-bit	1983-??-??	Activision	Activision	Nearly identical to the 5200 port.

Credits

Role	Staff
Entire Game	Steve Cartwright

Links

       

• atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=298 - AtariAge - 5200.