If I ever wondered why I love retro and retro video gaming, it’s when you pick up a game and read things like this “If you think Megamania is just another space game, you’re dreaming.  And that dream will become a nightmare.  A space nightmare.  So, prepare yourself for one of the most unreal experiences you’ll ever encounter.”

Now, come on tell me after reading that description, that it’s not retro cool. And it gets a little more retro cool, which i will touch on a bit further down. 

After loading the Atari 2600 cart, which incidentally I found out from researching Wikipedia that Megamania was made by Steve Cartwright.  Steve is best known as one of the original Activision game designers and is credited with other such hits as Barnstorming, Seaquest and Hacker 2, for the Atari 2600 platform. A little more research of Megamania on Youtube I saw that the game comes highly recommended to buy for both gamers and game collectors.

Atari 2600 version

At the bottom of the screen you’re in control of a fleet of mobile blasters. The design and look of these blasters won’t win any awesome best graphics in an Atari 2600 awards video games ceremony and to me look like the head of E.T and space rockets for legs but that’s my retro mind wandering. Your objective is oh so simple, accumulate points by shooting out as many enemy objects as possible before your energy bar at the bottom of the screen is depleted and before enemy waves destroy your fleet of blasters. It’s a similar vein of gameplay to space invaders the difference being is that the enemy is completely unique and varied and need I say typically retro cool 80s.

How often would you come across a space blasting game with wave after wave of enemies consisting of shooting hamburgers yes I did say shooting hamburgers, cookies, bugs, radial tires, diamonds, steam irons, bow ties and space dice. Like I mentioned earlier very retro cool and the point of difference it has from other similar games in the genre.

Atari 5200 version

There is two styles of game, one where you use guided missiles or the other using straight missiles.  Guided missile play means that you can control the direction of your missile after it has been fired by steering it with your joystick which also includes firing continuously by holding down the fire button.  With straight missiles you can only fire missiles straight up and pressing your fire button will only fire single shots. Each new game begins with three blasters / lives and for every 10,000 points reached you will be given an additional life / blaster with a maximum of six blasters / lives at any one time.

For shooting down the first wave of burgers you get 20 points per burger shot down then it’s a sliding up scale, cookies get 30 points, bugs 40 points, radial tires 50points, diamonds 60 points, steam irons 70 points, bow ties 80 points and space dice 90points. Once the first wave of each enemy has been completed the scoring becomes more uniformed and each enemy shot down earns 90 points. You must always keep a watchful eye on your energy bar, if the energy bar reaches zero, and you still haven’t wiped out an attacking wave, you will lose a life.

Atari 2600 version

The enemy waves are random and reading the game instruction manual even Steve Cartwright recommend that you try to stay in the center of the screen while playing the game as it keeps you from getting trapped and squashed in a corner and also gives you the side-to-side flexibility necessary to guide your missiles effectively.

The graphics and sounds are typical Atari 2600.

You will need to have a quick hand to eye co-ordination playing Megamania as it is a fast moving and challenging game especially as you progress further it becomes more difficult to shoot down those flying space hamburgers and cookies and bow ties.

Overall 7 out of 10

Pros:

challenging
varied enemy and wave attacks
retro cool
keeping it real – classic Atari 2600 graphics and sounds

Cons:

depleting energy bar is frustrating
no uniformity of points in the first wave
maximum of 6 lives on screen at one time in reserves

CPC4EVA