Astro Invader (   Ⓒ 1980 Stern Electronics.
Astro Invader is a simple 2-D shooter. You control your laser base against an endless stream of alien invaders. The invaders don't come in set waves, instead, they come in a constant stream. Once you have gotten through one barrage of aliens, more are just behind to continue the action. Your job is to keep them from overwhelming you with their superiority in numbers. Kill or be killed, that is the objective.
Astro Invader is one of the follow-up games that rode on the wave of the "Space Invaders" craze. The game itself is simple in concept but the action gets fast paced, real quickly. Especially since several things can be going on at the same time during the game.
- TECHNICAL -
Main CPU : Z80 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Samples
Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 8
Players : 2
Button : 3
=> LEFT, RIGHT, FIRE
- TRIVIA -
Released in June 1980.
This game is also known as "Kamikaze" (Leijac).
Although all the screen colors are generated by the game's hardware as opposed to a screen overlay, there are varying bands of color dependent upon where the aliens are displayed vertically. At different heights, the aliens and their saucers are displayed in various colors. When a player's ship is destroyed, the entire display is drawn in red.
This game appears in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers music video for the song 'You Got Lucky' (1982).
Fred Pastore of Medford, Massachusetts, holds the official record for this game with 56,330 points on June 4, 2006.
An Italian bootleg of this game is known as "Kosmo Killer".
- SCORING -
Alien spacecraft, not moving, in their stalls : 10 points
Alien spacecraft moving into stalls or dropping toward you : 20 points
UFO : 100, 200, 300, or 400 points.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -

• When you start the game, your base will be in the middle, at the bottom of the screen in the area in between the stalls. When the game starts, a large UFO will enter the top of the screen. It will have the number 200 in it. That is how many alien spacecraft that 'mother' ship is going to attack you with. The 'mother' ship will land on the platform and the game will commence or continue. When the 'mother' ship expends all 200 of its ships, all gameplay freezes and a new 'mother' ship will enter with 200 more alien spacecraft. This cycle will keep going until you lose all of your bases.

• A stall will hold 4 invaders. If you haven't reduced that number down, the 5th invader on will drop to the ground. When an invader hits the ground, it just doesn't hit, it produces a blast radius a little wider then the stall it fell from. Your laser base can be destroyed by this 'indirect' fire.

• Just as deadly are the UFO's that show up. They can appear out of any of the open areas (as denoted in the playing field). They don't shoot or look threatening. The problem is, when they land on the ground, your base will be destroyed.

• The ''mother'' ship starts to distribute invaders starting with stall number 1 and works from left to right. Then it works from right to left and so on. The pattern is like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2... As you can see, the right side will fill up quicker if you don't act quickly. This only works on odd numbered boards. On the even numbered boards, the 'mother' ship will stack the invaders on the same side as your laser base.

• The best strategy for this game is to keep the middle as open as possible. Keep stalls 4, 5, 6, and 7 as cleared of invaders as possible. Prevent these stalls from building up there maximum of 4 invaders. This will give you some breathing room plus it will help when dealing with the UFO's that come down on the left or right sides.

• There is a pattern on how the invaders are distributed. Use this knowledge when you are moving along the bottom of the screen. If you have stalls topped off and invaders are dropping, watch which way the 'mother' ship is distributing the aliens. If it is from right to left, then the aliens will fall from the farthest stall away from you and come inward. If it is from left to right, then the invaders will fall away from you. This is good if you are trying to make it to one side or the other to know how the invaders are falling.

• You can shoot the aliens that are falling but keep in mind, there probably is another that is on the left or right side that will hit the ground. Given that the blast radius is wider then the stall, it's better to let it go. Just keep the stalls (especially 4, 5, 6, and 7) cleared as best as possible.

• When the 'mother' ship is down to its last few invaders, make sure you are not in a position to get blasted the moment the new 'mother' ship arrives to continue the action. Nothing like having an falling invader inches from your laser base and the action pauses only to unpause and you get your base destroyed.

• Although the UFO seems to come out at random times and places, there does appear to be a pattern. It seems to come down the center mostly but it also has a pattern as to when it comes down the right and left sides.
- SOURCES -
Game's rom.
Machine's picture.
F.A.Q. by Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc