Phantom of the Asteroid

• Title — Phantom of the Asteroid • Developer — Mastertronic • Publisher — Mastertronic • Designer — Martin Ellis • Composer — Rob Hubbard • Released — March 1986 • Genre — Action-adventure • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Commodore 64

Earth is menaced by an imminent asteroid impact; to prevent disaster, the player must plunge into the asteroid's depths, gather 36 uranium cubes, and escape to safety before the asteroid explodes. Phantom of the Asteroid takes place in a vast, side-scrolling, subterranean maze within the eponymous asteroid. The player is an astronaut equipped with a jetpack, which must be regularly replenished with fuel using depots strewn around the labyrinth. The game contains numerous enemies, called Phantoms, which must be dispatched with the player's gun before they can drain the player's energy. The maze also contains many traps that will instantly kill the player, who has only a single life to complete the game. In order to progress deeper into the asteroid, the player must locate control pads to deactivate obstructive force fields, some of which will reactivate after a limited time. The main goal of the game is to find all 36 uranium cubes hidden throughout the asteroid, which is generally considered an extremely difficult task. Should the player obtain all of the cubes, they will have 5 minutes to escape the exploding asteroid; if they fail, the game is over. The game allows the player to save their current position on tape, so the game does not have to be completed in one sitting.