Meltdown (Atari 7800)

Meltdown is a light gun shooter video game developed by Atari Corporation and published in 1990 for the Atari 7800 Pro System. It is one of the few games compatible with the Atari XG-1 light gun accessory.[1]

Meltdown
Developer(s)	Atari Corporation
Publisher(s)	Atari Corporation
Platform(s)	Atari 7800
Release	WW: 1990
Genre(s)	Light gun shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Plot

This game is set in a world where international terrorists have threatened to destroy the world. To accomplish this, the terrorists unleashed a weapon known as "sparkx" to attack 20 nuclear reactors. This weapon attacks the control rods of each reactor until forcing a nuclear meltdown. The player takes on the role of an unnamed hero tasked with destroying the sparkx within each reactor to save the world.[2]

Gameplay

Meltdown is an arcade style shooter game. The object of the game is to protect the 20 nuclear reactor cores from sparkx. The player must shoot the sparkx before they damage the reactor core.

If the player misses, a barrier temporarily appears. A maximum of four barriers can appear at a time. Sparx will bounce off of the barriers adding a defensive strategy to the game. Sometimes power ups will appear on screen called power crystals and bonus blocks.

After a period of time, the play field area will shrink, causing the player to shoot in a more constrained place. If the reactor survives at the end of the round, the player is awarded with a password to continue their progress later. Alternatively, the player can shoot to continue to the next reactor.

The game ends when either the control rods are destroyed or if the player saves all 20 reactors.

At the title screen, the player chooses the number of players and the difficulty level. This game can be played with one or two players and either on novice or expert difficulty.[3][4]

Reception

Reception
Review score Publication Score GamePro 14/25[5]

Videogamecritic.com gave the game a C- in 1999, citing "boring" graphics and "too easy" gameplay.[6]

References

1. "AtariAge - Atari 7800 - Meltdown (Atari)". atariage.com. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
2. Meltdown Atari 7800 Game Manual. Sunnyvale, California: Atari Corporation. 1990. p. 1.
3. Meltdown Atari 7800 Game Manual. Sunnyvale, California: Atari Corporation. 1990. pp. 2–5.
4. "MeltDown (Atari 7800)". VideoGameGeek. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
5. Normal, Abby (October 1990). "Atari ProView: Meltdown" (PDF). GamePro. p. 86.
6. "Atari 7800 Reviews M-R by The Video Game Critic". videogamecritic.com. Retrieved June 14, 2019.