Release Date: 1980
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
Ever since Atari’s Computer Space debuted at the Music Operators of America (MOA) Exposition in 1971, the purpose of video games has been to provide enjoyment for players and money for developers. Rare is the video game that is supposed to make players think about the consequences. Rarer still is the game that gives its developer nightmares. Missile Command is such a game.
The arcade game, released in 1980 by Atari, is one of the all-time video game classics. The premise is as simple as many games of that era were. An enemy has launched nuclear missiles against six cities. The player is the commander of anti-missile defenses for the six cities. Using a trackball, players navigate a crosshair in the skies above the cities. They must fire their anti-air missiles in the path of the attacking missiles in order to neutralize them. If any missiles get through the player’s defenses, they will nuke the city they are targeted at. If you lose all six cities, the game is over.
The missiles, of course, don’t just come in on dumb ballistic paths. Some will split up into Multiple Independently-targeted Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) that will spread out and try to do as much damage as possible. Smart bombs will also do whatever possible to evade a player’s defenses, swerving whenever possible. Strategic bombers and satellites would occasionally fly across and drop their own payload, adding to the target list. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against the player.
This was not a flippant design choice. The game’s developer, Dave Theurer, wanted to make a game that mimicked the real-life tensions of that era. 1980 was the absolute height of the Cold War between the United States, and the Soviet Union. The prospects of global thermonuclear war were not just a possibility, but almost a foregone conclusion. Everyone was dreading the moment “the bombs” would drop and end civilization as we knew it.
The presentation was as basic as possible. The missiles are just dots with trailing paths to let players know what their ballistic trajectory was. The only solid objects were the ground and the cities. The sounds were also sparse; explosions, whistles, launches, and explosions were the only aural punctuations. For the player, the only things that mattered were the ballistic paths, the sound of their anti-air missiles launching, and the explosions of either the cities or the missiles that saved them. Trust me when I say there is no time for anything else. This was nuclear war, and the stakes were grave.
A 1983 film, The Day After, set out to depict the fears the world had about nuclear war, as well as its consequences. The film, which aired on U.S. television on November 20th, 1983, is said to have even shaken then-President Ronald Reagan. He was quoted as saying the film’s message was “very effective and left me greatly depressed.” I saw the made-for-TV movie and couldn’t sleep for five days. That TV movie would depress anyone.
In 1980, only Dave Theurer was depressed. In the arcade game, the six cities were representations of six real-life California cities: Eureka, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Luis Obispo. Theurer wanted to depict the stress of defending real cities, as well as the consequences of failing. The game’s premise actually gave him nightmares about the end of the world.
All of this was lost of the players, though. Missile Command was very successful in the arcade. Players would drop tons of quarters in the machine, assuming the role of the defender of the free world. None were successful. The game was a typical quarter-muncher of the era: brutal and remorseless. The trackball was the perfect controller for the game, as it allowed precise control of the crosshair. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. The missile waves were relentless, and the MIRVs more diabolical by the wave. If the US’s NORAD and the USSR’s Voyska PVO were forced to play this game, nuclear war would have certainly never happened.
Missile Command would see a port to the Atari 2600 home console. In the port, the story was changed. The player was the commander of the missile defenses of the planet Zardon. The attacking missles were from the planet Krytol. The 2600’s joystick was not perfect, but control was smooth and precise. That port was my favorite game for the console, which I knew as the Video Game System (VCS). I played that game more than any other in my youth. Other ports for the Atari 8-bit computer and Atari 5200 followed. The Atari Lynx and Jaguar would also see ports. Eventually, the game would leave the Atari ecosystem. Sega featured the game on its Arcade Smash Hits compilation. Similar compilations were released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Sega Genesis. Hasbro Interactive released version for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation later on.
Does it still hold up? Yes it does, if you like twitch gameplay and impossible odds. The ports did have different levels that slowed things down at first or ramped up the difficulty to 11, so there were multiple ways to enjoy the game. Ultimately, however, you will lose. The only bragging rights to be had were in high score.
For those that want to try their luck, there are a couple of options. Missile Command was gussied up and released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2007. The iPhone and iPad saw a port in 2008. Microsoft re-released arcade and 2600 ports as part of its Game Room service in 2010. In 2016, Atari, now owned by the company formerly known as Infogrames, released Atari Vault, which contains both the arcade and 2600 versions of the game. If you want to play an unwinnable game that dares you to best it, Missile Command is for you. When you play, try to recall an era where the gameplay was a probability. Hopefully, you won’t have the nightmares Dave Theurer or I had.
Good: Frenetic gameplay, simple controls
Bad: Will kick your ass and not apologize
Final score: 8.5/10
