''Meteor Mission II'' (written as ''Meteor Mission 2'' on the title screen) is a clone of the

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

Lunar Rescue is an arcade video game released by Taito in November 1979. The gameplay has some resemblance to both Taito's own 1978 hit ''Space Invaders'' and Atari, Inc.'s ''Lunar Lander'' (released several months earlier). Gameplay The player's ship ...

'' released by

Big Five Software Big Five Software was an American video game developer and publisher in the first half of the 1980s founded by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. The company developed games for the TRS-80 and Atari 8-bit computers. Most of its TRS-80 games were video g ...

for the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer developed by American company Tandy Corporation and sold through their Radio Shack stores. Launched in 1977, it is ...

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

in 1982. It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu.

Gameplay

The game is similar in concept to ''

Lunar Lander A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...

'' 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. He would later that year create the

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

Miner 2049er ''Miner 2049er'' is a 1982 platformer game developed and published by Big Five Software in December 1982. It is set in a mine, where the player controls the Mountie Bounty Bob. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, ...

'' for the

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

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". A review in ''80-U.S.'' stated that "the graphics in ''Meteor Mission II'' are very good", but that "sound effects are not very fancy". 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 ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print maga ...

'' wrote that "'inspired by' the early Taito classic ''Lunar Rescue'', this Big Five Software effort remains a compelling gameplay experience".

References

External links

Review
in

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format t ...

''Meteor Mission II''
on YouTube 1982 video games Big Five Software games Shoot 'em ups Single-player video games TRS-80 games TRS-80-only games Video game clones Video games developed in the United States {{8bitcomputer-game-stub