Megamania
| Megamania | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Activision |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers |
| Release | 1982 (Atari 2600) |
| Genre(s) | Fixed shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, alternating two-player |
Megamania is a fixed shooter for the Atari 2600, published by Activision in 1982. The player's ship sits at the bottom of the screen and fires at waves of enemies that are household objects: hamburgers, steam irons, bow ties, spinning dice and tires. Versions for the Atari 5200 followed in 1983 and for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1984.[1] The game is one of four named as influences on the planned game SARS Invaders by Molecular Reality Corporation.
Gameplay
The game has eight waves, and each has its own pattern of movement and its own way of dropping hazards on the player. Enemies are worth more points in each later wave. An energy bar at the bottom of the screen shrinks during each wave, and when it empties the player loses a ship. The player starts with a small reserve of ships, wins extra ones for scoring, and can choose between missiles that fly straight and missiles that the player can steer.[1]
Development
Activision was founded in 1979 by programmers who had left Atari, and it was the first company to sell games for the console that Atari had not made. The programmer of Megamania drew gameplay ideas from an arcade shooter of 1981, Sega's Astro Blaster. Activision's advertising agency then supplied the theme: a space commander's nightmare after a meal of junk food, which explains why the aliens are hamburgers.
Reception
Opinions in 1982 and 1983 were divided. Electronic Games magazine gave it an Arkie Award for the most humorous home arcade game, and another magazine named it the best Atari 2600 game of 1984. Later reviews have been mostly favorable. Its sales have not been published.
Influence on SARS Invaders
The memo Early Releases on Maxine's Quest (about 2022) gives the inspirations for SARS Invaders as "2d Galaga, Missile Command, Defender, and Megamania, 3d Star Raiders and Star Wars". Megamania is the last of the flat games and the only one in the list that was written for the Atari 2600.[2]
The enemies that the memo describes are plastic beads. Their "different surface functionalities" are the chemical groups attached to each bead's surface, which a nanopore can tell apart by the pulses they make. A hamburger and a steam iron are easier to tell apart, and the memo says that no real viruses are involved in the early phase of the game.[2] The memo does not say what the company took from Megamania. The game had not been released by October 2026.