Developer: Syrox Developments Publisher: Crave Entertainment

Released: December 14, 1999 Rated: E 5/10

I’m always interested in the progression of the arcade-revival genre that picked up a lot of steam in the fifth and sixth generations. As storage limits increased at home, compilations became more extensive while ports became less compromised, but some of the older and most simple titles of yesteryear finally had the chance to combine nostalgia and novelty with standalone releases like Tempest 2000 that actually brought something new to the formula with graphics that didn’t need players to meet them halfway so much. The N64, as you’ll see if you’re reading these alphabetically, had several of these in its library, but it’s especially this handful of titles that demonstrates how often these games were treated as quick paint jobs rather than true reinventions of the titles that spark such joy when you hear their names. 

So no, Asteroids Hyper 64 is not a great, painstaking reimagining of the original Asteroids formula by diehard fans bringing every idea they ever had over the past 18 years to fruition. If anything, it’s the baseline of what this subgenre was in this era: some fresh visuals (rather than the classic black or otherwise static backgrounds), a couple powerups like shields, missiles, and spin attacks to supplement the classic pea shooter, some variations on available ships that look and handle differently, and some different targets for your destruction that do slightly more than just float aimlessly across the screen. It’s the type of stuff that even sounds like a lot on paper, but once you’re on your third or fourth level, you realize it’s still just Asteroids at its core, and even if it’s a catch-22 to change the formula or not deviate too greatly, it doesn’t leave this half-hearted redux with anything worth revisiting. And when the publisher makes it a point to include the original as a bonus and advertise as such on the box, you wonder if they’re trying to convince you that it won’t be a total loss if you don’t like the new version.

Continuing Legacy

When I mentioned developers composed of “diehard fans” or, really, just a special kind of group that specializes in revitalizing the classics at this point, I was more or less just referring to Digital Eclipse. Digital Eclipse has been around for over 30 years at this point, handling GameBoy conversions as well as arcade compilations, a focus they still maintain to this day while also taking a crack at implementing their own creative license on projects like Atari 50, where they not only handled presentation and emulation, but got to reinvent several titles including Breakout and Yar’s Revenge. 

Additional Information

Saves: None

Compatible With: Rumble Pak

Players: 1-2

Print Guides: None

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 57.11%, based on 9 reviews

Other Releases: NA Exclusive on N64

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