Space Battle

INTELLIVISION CARTRIDGE [Mattel Electronics #2612]

Working title: Battlestar Galactica

Produced by APh Technological Consulting for Mattel Electronics

Program: Hal Finney

Package illustration: Jerrol Richardson


Instructions Posted Here

1981 CATALOG DESCRIPTION

The alien armada is closing in on your Mother Ship. You're awesomely outnumbered, and they attack and attack...

Flick on the situation map and analyze your position. Dispatch a fighter squadron toward the closest alien cluster.

You're smarter, a little faster, and you're going to let these aliens know they've got a fight on their hands.

Flick back to a cockpit close-up view. Here they come! Aim lasers...fire!

  • Computerized situation map
  • Close-up attack viewer

Computerized and manual battle modes


DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

If the enemy spacecraft look familiar, it's because they are Cylon raiders from the late-seventies TV program Battlestar Galactica. One of Mattel's subsidiaries, Concepts 2000, had the license to produce Battlestar Galactica electronic toys, so it was figured to be a lock that Mattel would get the license to produce the official Battlestar Galactica videogame. Wrong. The game was well into development when they discovered Mattel didn't get the license. The name was changed, but the graphics remained the same.


Production Note

An M Network Atari 2600 version, called Space Attack was also released.

RUNNING CHANGE: When the game was finished, Dale Lynn, who tested it, said it was too easy. APh cranked up the difficulty, but Dale told them it was still too easy. "Maybe for you," he was told, "but not for the general public." Wrong again. Consumers found the game too easy when it was released.

A more difficult version was released soon after as part of the new Space Action Network. This version, in a blue box with a blue label, is the more familiar.

PLAYING TIPS: From Intellivision Game Club News, Issue 2, Winter 1982 (credited to "Hal, one of our creative programmers"):

Strategy Mode (radar screen)

     •     Fight your own fights -- when the computer fights for you, you will probably lose more ships than if you fought the battle yourself. Rotate through your squadrons if more than one is engaged.

     •     Stagger dispatches -- if you carefully time your squadron dispatching, you may be able to complete the first battle before your second squadron engages.

     •     Don't let the radar screen fool you -- make your dispatch decisions based on the actual distances from the aliens to your mother ship. The rectangular layout on the game screen may cause you to misjudge the distance.

     •     Win the battle but don't lose the war -- the instant one of your squadrons defeats an alien squadron, dispatch your squadron to another alien group or return it to base. Don't waste valuable time by leaving a squadron drifting aimlessly in space.

     •     Hit them where it hurts -- if an alien squadron penetrates your home base territory, send in one of your squadrons. Keep the alien squadron busy and they'll have less striking power to use against your home base.

Battle Mode

     •     Practice aiming -- lead the ships with your cursor for best results.

     •     Keep moving -- after firing, it's not necessary to keep your cursor on target. Your lasers will blast the spot at which they were fired. Move on to a new target, and keep mobile to avoid enemy lasers.

     •     Avoid target fixation -- keep switching back to the radar screen to track alien progress.