Astrosmash (Intellivision)

Astrosmash
Developer: Mattel Electronics Publisher: Mattel Platform: Intellivision Released in US: November 1981 This game has unused code. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused modes / minigames.

What happens when Houston baseballers are exposed to gamma rays.

Unused Meteor! Mode

Download Meteor! Restoration Patch File: Astrosmash-INTV-MeteorPatch.zip (220 B) (info)

Astrosmash was originally intended to be a clone of Atari's Asteroids entitled Meteor!, with a secondary game mode called Avalanche in which a lone fighter on the ground fired at falling meteors and other hazards. Shortly before release, Mattel nixed the Asteroids clone due to legal concerns and the secondary Avalanche mode was renamed Astrosmash, becoming a standalone game. The original menu to choose between Meteor! and Avalanche was skipped over using a single branch instruction and some minor palette edits (the original menu, as seen in the leaked beta build, used a gray background).

The above patch reinstates the original selection menu. To play Avalanche/Astrosmash, press 1 then Enter on the Intellivision keypad. To play Meteor!, press 2 then Enter.

(Source: Blue Sky Rangers, original TCRF research)

Developer Credits

Hidden near the beginning of the ROM at 0x52 is a credit string:

JOHN PARK SOHL 1981

(Source: Scott Stilphen)