Now that the final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program is underway, we thought we’d take a look at some of the games influenced by the primitive spacecraft over the years.
Since the early test flights leading up to the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, game creators have been enamoured with NASA’s orbital spacecraft. The shuttle represented a future where all of mankind worked together to reach the stars. It represented cutting-edge technology. It was a link between reality and science fiction.
And hell, it was pretty cool too, and game developers embrace cool things. Flip through the gallery to see how they paid to the space shuttle, and feel free to share your favourite shuttle-themed gaming moments in the comments!
Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Space
Publisher: Activision
Platform: Atari 2600
Release Date: 1982
Back before Activision was an evil empire, the focus was purely on squeezing every ouch of power out of whatever gaming system they happened to be developing for at the time. Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space may look primitive by today’s standards, but back then it was one of the most advanced games you could pick up for Atari’s wood-panelled game console pioneer.
Space Shuttle Pinball
Manufacturer: WMS Industries
Release Date: 1984
In an age where video games had nearly completely eclipsed pinball tables in arcades, along came this sexy machine to turn everything around. Fitted with a tiny replica of one of NASA’s craft, the Space Shuttle pinball table was as entertaining as it was eye-catching.
Please excuse the irony of showing off the Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection video game version of the table that saved pinball from video games, albeit briefly.
Tetris
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare
Platform: Gameboy
Release Date: 1989
Russian computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov’s block-dropping classic was the killer app for Nintendo’s Game Boy, with parents and children alike flocking to see how high a score they could rack up. The higher the score, the better the end game celebration. Players that ended the game with over 200,000 points were treated to a party so big only the space shuttle itself could contain it.
Blast Corps
Publisher: Rare
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Date: February 1997
Blast Corps was a quirky game in which the player must use various demolition vehicles destroy everything in the path of various doomsday devices, lest they themselves destroy everything in their path. Later in the game the missions take a shuttle themed turn, as the player is tasked with clearing a landing strip for a damaged shuttle coming in for an emergency landing.
It seems someone at Rare was infatuated with the shuttle back in 1997, as evidenced by our fifth and final entry…
Goldeneye 007
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Date: August 1997
Tucked away in the secret unlockable Aztec Complex level of the hit James Bond-inspired shooter Goldeneye 007, a space shuttle stolen by the Drax Corporation from the Bond film Moonraker lies hidden beneath an ancient Aztec temple, a plot that would make absolutely no sense if James Bond were not involved. I’m guessing Rare just had some shuttle art leftover from Blast Corps and decided to go to town.
Pay no attention to the man talking over the video. It was the best resolution version I could find without replaying the entire game myself.
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