Asteroids 2

Asteroids 2 is a graphically updated version of Asteroids with power-ups. A trade route has been established between Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) and Earth. It's your mission to clear a path for the mining ship and defeat any attacking space pirates. Fly your spaceship around and blast away the asteroids in each wave.

The game consists of several stages of clearing asteroids, with the occasional break in formula when having to defeat enemy ships.

How to Play
The title screen contains control information as well as a story blurb. Click on "Start Game" to begin.

Once the game starts, you will be greeted by your mission controller (an anime girl wearing a headset and a black, sleeveless turtleneck). She will brief you on your mission and the game will start. You are invincible for 2 seconds when the game starts. Afterward getting hit by an asteroid, or shot by an enemy ship will destroy you.

You only have three lives.

Control
Same control scheme as Asteroids, but without the "Hyperspace" button.

Left and Right arrow keys steer the ship by rotating it.

Up arrow thrusts the ship forward for as long as you hold down the key.
 * Letting go of the key eventually slows the ship down, but you will not stop and will continue traveling in that direction until you thrust forward in a different direction.

Space bar fires your ship's cannon.

Down arrow key, even though it is listed on the title screen's control map... does nothing.

Power-ups
This game has two power ups you can use. Both are only temporary and cannot stack.
 * Shield: Protects the ship from all damage, rendering it invincible.
 * Icon is a spinning circle of many white dots.
 * Escort ships: Adds two small purple ships to fire along side your ship, increasing your firepower.
 * Icon is two small spinning purple triangles.

Tips
Like in the old Asteroids game, any asteroid the leaves through one side of the screen will reappear on the opposite side. Be wary of this. Remember that the same logic also applies to your ship. Use that to your advantage when dodging.

Before each mission, while your mission controller is talking, you can see the asteroids and what path they are traveling on. Use this time and observe these paths to plot a good starting point.

The mission controller will always warn you before you have to fight a wave of pirate ships. The ships usually attack from the bottom of the screen, so use your initial invincibility against them.

After a certain number of missions, the game will just send the same intense wave of asteroids against you until you lose all lives. This usually happens after the "three pirate ship" wave.

Bugs
Occasionally the wave will end even though you have not destroyed every asteroid or enemy on the stage. In the event of a left over asteroid, it's also possible to see that same asteroid carry over to the next stage.

When a wave ends, your ship freezes in place and then fades away. During the pirate ship missions, usually destroying only one pirate ship will end the stage, but the remaining ship(s) may take a pot-shot at you while you're frozen and destroy you. It's a rare occurrence, however.