Meteor Mission II

Meteor Mission II (written as Meteor Mission 2 on the title screen)[2] is a clone of the Taito arcade game Lunar Rescue released by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 home computer in 1982.[3] It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu.[1]

Meteor Mission II
Publisher(s)Big Five Software
Programmer(s)Bill Hogue
Jeff Konyu[1]
Platform(s)TRS-80
Release1982
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game is similar in concept to Lunar Lander but adds a rescue element. The initial goal is to navigate a ship through a moving meteor belt and land on one of several landing pads. A small figure runs out from the side of the screen, enters the ship, and then the player must navigate and fire back through the meteor field and dock with the mothership.

Development

The game was the fifth of seven arcade clones programmed for the TRS-80 by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu, who left the TRS-80 platform in 1982. Hogue previously wrote and published an unrelated game called Meteor Mission that was withdrawn from the market.[2][1] He would later that year create the platform game Miner 2049er for the Atari 8-bit family.

Reception

Ian Chadwick reviewed Meteor Mission II in Ares Magazine #13 and commented that "the challenge is limited and the game is really not terribly exciting. This is prime stuff for the younger set but otherwise pale in comparison to other efforts."[4]

A review in 80-U.S. stated, "The graphics in Meteor Mission II are very good," but that "Sound effects are not very fancy."[5] In the conclusion, the reviewer called it "well worth the $15.95" and "impossible to master to a point where it lacks challenge."

In a 2012 retrospective, Gamasutra wrote that "'Inspired by' the early Taito classic Lunar Rescue, this Big Five Software effort remains a compelling gameplay experience."[6]

References
  1. "Meteor Mission". TRS-80.org.
  2. Hogue, Bill. "TRS-80 Games". Big Five Software.
  3. Linzmayer, Owen (September 1981). "Bringing Home the Arcade". Creative Computing. Vol. 7 no. 9. Morristown, NJ: Creative Computing. pp. 180–183 – via Internet Archive.
  4. Chadwick, Ian (Winter 1983). "Software". Ares Magazine. TSR, Inc. (13): 20.
  5. Shutz, Kevin (April 1982). "Reviews: Meteor Mission II". 80-U.S. 5 (4): 98–99.
  6. Dobson, Dale (2012-11-26). "Games from the Trash: The History of the TRS-80". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
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