by Tom Erik Gundersen

© 2026 Tom Gun Software, for the Dragon 32/64, Tandy Color Computer (32K) and Amstrad CPC

An alien mothership has parked itself overhead, and its swarms are pouring out. Climb into your fighter and hold the line.

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• Dragon and CoCo tape: CLOADM"ASTRO" then EXEC. The same tape file works on both machines.
• Dragon disk (DragonDOS): RUN"ASTRO.BIN"
• CoCo disk (Disk BASIC): LOADM"ASTRO" then EXEC.
• Amstrad CPC disk: RUN"ASTRO.BIN"

The Dragon/CoCo version detects your machine (Dragon or CoCo, PAL or NTSC) by itself and shows the result on the start-up screen.

Starting a game

Your first press on the title screen also chooses how you'll play:

• SPACE: keyboard. The arrow keys move, SPACE fires.
• Joystick fire button: play with that joystick.
  • Dragon and CoCo have two joystick ports: press the fire button on the left or right joystick to play with that one.
  • The Amstrad CPC has a single joystick port: press its fire button.

Hold fire for automatic shots.

How to play

• The aliens leave the mothership, fly out above the centre console and drop into ten tubes. When a tube is full, the next alien pushes the bottom one out, and it falls to the ground.
• An alien that hits the ground explodes, and the blast spreads out to both sides. Don't get caught in it.
• Every few seconds a UFO falls from one of the three wide shafts. Shoot it down: if it reaches the ground, you lose a ship, wherever you are.
• A falling alien or UFO landing on your gunship also costs a ship.
• When all 200 aliens are out, the mothership leaves and returns with another 200, and the next wave begins.

Scoring

• Alien in a tube: 10 points
• Moving alien: 20 points
• UFO: 100 to 400 points. The value depends on when you hit it, so learn the pattern.

You start with three ships and get one extra ship at 10,000 points. Today's top 10 scores are kept until you switch off.