Missile Command

{{Infobox video game | title = Missile Command | image = Missile Command flyer.jpg | caption = North American arcade flyer | developer = Atari, Inc. | publisher = Arcade Game Boy | designer = Dave Theurer | programmer = Rich AdamDave Theurer | composer = Rich Adam | released = ArcadeAtari 2600Atari 8-bitAtari 5200Atari STGame Boy| genre = Shoot 'em up | modes = Up to 2 players, alternating turns | platforms = Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Game Boy, Lynx }}Missile Command' is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. The game was released during the Cold War, and the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases. Atari brought the game to its home systems beginning with the 1981 Atari VCS port by Rob Fulop. Numerous contemporaneous clones and modern remakes followed. Missile Command is built into the Atari XEGS released in 1987, an Atari 8-bit family computer repackaged as a game console. Plot The player's six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of which split like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. New weapons are introduced in later levels: smart bombs that can evade a less-than-perfectly targeted missile, and bomber planes and satellites that fly across the screen launching missiles of their own. As a regional commander of three anti-missile batteries, the player must defend six cities in their zone from being destroyed. Gameplay The game is played by moving a crosshair across the sky background via a trackball and pressing one of three buttons to launch a counter-missile from the appropriate battery. Counter-missiles explode upon reaching the crosshair, leaving a fireball that persists for several seconds and destroys any enemy missiles that enter it. There are three batteries, each with ten missiles; a battery becomes useless when all its missiles have been launched or if it is destroyed by enemy fire, whichever occurs first. The missiles of the central battery fly to their targets at much greater speed; only these missiles can effectively kill a smart bomb at a distance.