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Room 14

Atari VCS Space Invaders instruction manual. A grid of 16 x 7 game variations. Game types included moving shields, zigzagging bombs, fast bombs, invisible invaders. Also one-player, two-player and partnership games.

Team Play

Sharing controls to make play easier surely dates back to the earliest of video games. 

My first memory of this is in sharing a free credit left on an Atari Asteroids machine between a group of kids. We pennyless youth cramped up around the machine to share the 5 buttons and precious game. It didn't last long. 

By 1980 Atari VCS owners had a less constricted shared play option. The seminal Space Invaders game cartridge featured two player partnership options (games 97-112). Here the controls were split between joystick 1 to move, and joystick 2 to fire. An early form of video game co-piloting.

For many physically and learning disabled people, modified controllers and this type of shared play method will always be an essential way to play.


 

One player moves, other player fires.


Room 14 Exhibits