{{Short description|1983 video game}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox video game |title = Mad Planets |image = Mad Planets arcade flyer.jpg |developer = Gottlieb |publisher = Gottlieb |programmer = Kan Yabumoto |artist = Jeff Lee |composer = David D. Thiel |platforms = Arcade |released = {{vgrelease|NA|February 1983<ref name="ah">{{cite web|url=https://www.arcade-history.com/?page=detail&id=1434|title=Mad Planets [Model GV-102]|website=arcade-history.com|accessdate=2018-10-06}}</ref>}} |genre = Multidirectional shooter |modes = Single-player, multiplayer |arcade system = GG-III<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi?action=url&type=info&page=Gottlieb-info.txt|title=Gottlieb Video System Boards|website=mikesarcade.com|accessdate=2018-10-06}}</ref> }}
'''''Mad Planets''''' is a multidirectional shooter released as an arcade video game in 1983 by Gottlieb. The player controls a spaceship, which can be moved and rotated independently, to fend off angry planets and moons attacking from all sides. It was designed and programmed by Kan Yabumoto<ref name="arcadehistory"/><ref name="giantlist"/> with art by Jeff Lee and sound by David D. Thiel.<ref name="arcadehistory"/> Lee and Thiel previously worked on ''Q*bert'' for Gottlieb,<ref name="qbert"/> a game that was inspired by a pattern of hexagons implemented by Yabumoto.<ref name="coinop"/> Kan Yabumoto died in 2017 of a degenerative lung disease.<ref name="trickman"/><ref name="arcadeblogger"/>
==Gameplay== thumb|left|Fighting three planets with moons while an astronaut floats by
The player uses a flight-style joystick to move a spaceship around a dark starfield, a rotary knob to orient the ship, and a trigger on the stick to fire.<ref name="arrants"/> At the beginning of a level, planets appear and begin growing. They can be destroyed prior to their reaching full size and sprouting moons. If a wave is completed by destroying all planets before they reach full size, a substantial bonus is awarded. Once a planet has moons, it is shielded until all its moons have been destroyed or launched at the player's ship, at which point the planet becomes enraged and charges the player.
Erratically moving astronauts can be collected by flying over them. They also appear in bonus rounds after every third level (every fourth after level twelve). Orbiting comets accelerate the longer they go without being shot. In a bonus round, comets increase in value by 100 points, to a maximum of 1000, until a comet leaves the screen or the level ends.<ref name="sabbatini"/>
==Reception== Writing for ''Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games'', Steve Arrants chose ''Mad Planets'' as one of the top ten games of the 1983 American Amusement Operators Expo. He praised the "beautiful graphics", "extremely responsive" controls, and concluded "I would rank ''Mad Planets'' right up there with other high-tension favorites such as ''Robotron'' and ''Tempest''."<ref name="arrants"/>
In a 1983 review for ''Video Games'', John Holmstrom wrote: "it's the frenetic game play and rock-oriented soundtrack that make ''Mad Planets'' worth playing."<ref name=holmstrom/> He found the player's ship to be overly large for the screen, and the lack of new elements in later levels reduced his interest in sticking with the game.<ref name=holmstrom/>
==Legacy== Programmer Simon Nicol wrote two clones for the Commodore 64 published by Martech: ''Crazy Comets'' and its sequel ''Mega Apocalypse''.<ref name="wilkins"/>
==References== <references>
<ref name="giantlist">{{cite web|title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers |url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ |first1=James |last1=Hague}}</ref> <ref name="arcadehistory">{{cite web|title=Mad Planets|url=http://www.arcade-history.com/?page=detail&id=1434|website=Arcade History}}</ref> <ref name="wilkins">{{cite web|last1=Wilkins|first1=Chros|title=C64Gems : Mega Apocalypse|url=http://www.retro-now.com/c64gems-mega-apocalypse/|website=Retro Now!|date=May 8, 2016 }}</ref> <ref name="sabbatini">{{cite web|last1=Sabbatini|first1=Mark|title=MAME Reviews: Mad Planets|url=http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/magazine/?issue=94&page=301&theme=green|website=Retrogaming Times}}</ref> <ref name="qbert">{{cite web|title=Q*bert|url=http://www.arcade-history.com/?page=detail&id=2094|website=Arcade History}}</ref> <ref name="arrants">{{cite journal|last1=Arrants|first1=Steve|title=New Top 10 Games at the AOE '83|journal=Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games|date=Fall 1983|volume=1|issue=2|url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n2/toptengamesofaoe.php}}</ref> <ref name="trickman">{{cite web|title=Dr. Kan Yabumoto - Creator of Mad Planets passed away|url=https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=401349|website=KLOV forums|date=April 4, 2017}}</ref> <ref name="arcadeblogger">{{cite web|title=Kan Yabumoto: Mad Planets|url=https://arcadeblogger.com/2017/04/07/kan-yabumoto-mad-planets/|website=The Arcade Blogger|date=2017}}</ref> <ref name="coinop">{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Warren |title=The Creation of Q*bert |url=http://www.coinop.org/features/qbstory.aspx |website=coinop.org}}</ref> <ref name=holmstrom>{{cite journal |last1=Holmstrom |first1=John |title=Coin-op Shop: Mad Planets |journal=Video Games |date=August 1983 |volume=1 |issue=11 |pages=44–45 |url=https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_11_1983-08_Pumpkin_Press_US/page/n43/mode/2up}}</ref>
</references>
== External links == *{{KLOV game|id=8489|name=Mad Planets}} *[http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=wide-flyer&db=videodb&id=628&image=2 Arcade flyer]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mad Planets}} Category:1983 video games Category:Arcade video games Category:Arcade-only video games Category:Gottlieb video games Category:Multidirectional shooters Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games Category:Multiplayer hotseat games Category:Video games developed in the United States Category:Video games set in outer space