Megamania

 

When Steve Cartwright planned Megamania, his second game, he wanted to produce the ultimate space game. There were many space games at this time. "Megamania is a combination of every space shoot ‘em up rolled into one," said Cartwright. It’s gameplay is an expansion on Space Invaders and Galaxian. Unlike Space Invaders, the enemies move horizontally, vertically, and diagonally in many different patterns. There are eight different waves and enemies - hamburgers, cookies, bugs, radial tires, diamonds, steam irons, bow ties, and space dice. After completing the eight waves, the game continues with faster and more difficult attack patterns. The attackers also drop bombs as well. Actually, Megamania is subtitled A Space Nightmare. It’s what is supposed to happen when a pilot eats too much and then has to fly his ship. Is it just a bad dream?

"Back then, games were released in pairs somewhat analogous to a hit single and its flip side. Megamania was supposedly the hit single. It did go on to sell over one million copies, stated Steve. The flip side was Pitfall, which went on to sell over four million copies. Unfortunately, Activision never tried bundling two games together for some reason. They should have tried selling games in two-packs.

Your ship is located at the bottom of the screen and you can fire at the attackers above you and move left and right. You cannot take your time. You can monitor an energy bar which represents your time remaining per wave. You have to be quick because if your energy is depleted, your ship will be destroyed. There’s no way to refuel. You have to complete the wave as quick as possible. Any energy remaining when you complete a wave is rewarded as points added to your score.

Threshold (by Tigervision) tried to mimic Megamania, but it was not nearly half as popular as Megamania was.

Back in the 1980s, Activision used to give out embroidered game club patches if you got a high score, took a picture of your TV screen, and mailed it to them. Here is the high score to shoot for:

Megamaniacs: 45,000
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