Planet Smashers (Atari 7800) Review – The new Atari VCS – Mockduck Plays Games

Because you were unable to stop the invading alien 
hordes, the Earth has been subjected to total  
annihilation. This is the message Planet Smashers 
sends to you when you do finally lose your last  
life. Although the Atari 7800 had several 
shoot em ups, including Galaga and Xevious,  
its library doesn’t actually have very many space 
shooters. Planet Smashers came out in 1990, fairly  
late for this kind of game, butit offers core 
vertical space shooting gameplay with a twist;  
in order to fight the boss you 
need to unlock a three-color code,  
which is done by collecting drops from enemies 
and changing them to the correct color.
 
There is also a nice upgrade system at play in 
Planet Smashers which give you your shield back  
and increase your firepower. After facing 
the boss, you go back to a new level and  
the difficulty increases. Overall, this is a 
very simple game, and it was perhaps even a  
bit dated when it was released in 1990, but it 
is also a solid game that plays well and has  
enough going for it to be a few hours of fun.
I particularly enjoyed playing the game on Hard  
difficulty, as the speed of the gameplay 
felt more in-line with the action they  
seem to have been going for. You also have 
to figure out the codes without hints.
 
The game hasn’t aged particularly well 
due to its repetitive music and gameplay,  
but I had fun with it, even if I never was 
able to destroy

a boss. The game is also
available for free on Antstream Arcade.
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