Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve clearly run out of things to say about other arcade games, so now I have to talk about myself. You knew it was coming.
There’s a few videos out there of interviews I’ve given about Missile Command and arcade gaming, and I’d like to gradually share those over time on the blog here.
But I thought a good place to start might be the talk I gave a couple of years back at the Play Expo event at Old Trafford, Manchester. I think it gives a good overview of the arcade game Missile Command from a player and design perspective.
I do have a fair grasp of the subject matter, but the real challenge has always been covering off the development of the game due to the lack of documentation and knowledge out there. The game’s designer, Dave Theurer, has given very few interviews over the years, so much of the info we have to refer to is sketchy to say the least.
That said, there is enough stuff out there to piece the story together, and I was able to give what I think was a credible account of the game.
As you may have gathered, there’s a lot more Missile Command to come on this blog, but in the meantime I hope there’s a few things in this talk that may be new to some of you.
(Video courtesy of Anthony Graham)
The Arcade Blogger 
Hi Tony, I don’t know much about missile command, except my mate had one in my local pinball club. Having watched your talk at replay, I know a bit more about it now, thanks for sharing!
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I really enjoyed your video above and was really excited that you showed some game footage. I have been stuck at 67,100 using mostly the shield strategy, but I will try using your conservative sniper strategy. I think making shields is a lot of fun when the cloud takes out a bunch, but the boards are so random, I end up wasting a lot of missiles when the patterns are not so centralized. I play on a X-arcade controller setup (Mame) , 3 in trackball, with the track ball settings as close to the arcade as possible. My score is with bonus city every 10,000. I have been frustrated trying to at least achieve 100,000. I thought you would show a special shield placement, but instead you showed a sniper type strategy. I found that very interesting, yet it makes the most sense. I’m a huge Missile Command fan (38 yo) & I recently bought the Arcade 1up Missile Command/Centipede/Millipede Home arcade cab. It’s smaller than a cabaret, but it plays real nice and has beautiful artwork. A really well built cab. Thank you for your blog/interviews/videos and congratulations on your world record! You are awesome! I will continue playing and will try to push my score higher by using your strategy. Long play videos of centipede and missile command would be worth watching. On another video you showed a score of over 100,000, not bad at all. Me and my son are trying to get over 38,000 currently. Maybe some strategies on that game would be cool too! Arcade games are the best games
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