Space Duel

Space Duel is a 1982 multidirectional shooter video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. It is a direct descendant of the original Asteroids, with asteroids replaced by colorful geometric shapes like cubes, diamonds, and spinning pinwheels. Space Duel is the first and only multiplayer vector game by Atari. When Asteroids Deluxe did not sell well, this game was taken off the shelf and released to moderate success.

Space Duel
North American arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Atari Inc.
Publisher(s)	Atari Inc.
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 7800
Release	Arcade NA: February 1982[1] 7800 WW: November 29, 2024
Genre(s)	Multidirectional shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot

The player has five buttons: two to rotate the ship left or right, one to shoot, one to activate the thruster, and one for force field. Shooting all objects on the screen completes a level. Space Duel, Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, and Gravitar all use similar 5-button control system.

Legacy

Space Duel is included within the Atari Anthology compilation^[2] for Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2, as well as on the PlayStation version of Atari Anniversary Edition. A port of Space Duel was released on the Atari Flashback 2 console, reproducing only the single-player mode.

A Space Duel cabinet is pictured on the cover of The Who's 1982 album It's Hard.^[3]

In 2024, Atari re-released Robert DeCrescenzo's homebrew port of Space Duel for the Atari 7800, via its 2600+ and 7800+ platforms.^[4]

High scores

David Plummer holds the official world record for 1 single player, single ship version, with 623,720 points.^[5][6]

Sam McNear holds the official world record for 1 single player, double ship style version, with 403,610 points.^{[citation needed]}

John McAllister and Sam McNear hold the official world record for double players, double ship style version, with 263,890 points.^{[citation needed]}