Missile Command 

was ported to the Atari 2600 in 1981.[7] The game's instruction manual describes a

war between two planets: Zardon (the defending player) and Krytol. The original arcade game
contains no reference to these worlds. On level 13, if the player uses all of his or her missiles without
scoring any points, at the end of the game the city on the right will turn into "RF" — the initials of the
programmer Rob Fulop. This Easter egg is originally documented in Atari Age (Volume 1, Issue 2) in
a letter to the editor by Joseph Nickischer, and is the second one publicly acknowledged by Atari.
Missile Command was released for the Atari 8-bit family in 1981 and an identical version for the Atari
5200 in 1982. The same Atari 8-bit port was later used in the 1987 Atari XEGS as a built-in game
that boots up if there isn't a cartridge or keyboard in the console.
Missile Command is considered one of the great classic video games from the Golden Age of
Arcade Games. The game is also interesting in its manifestation of the Cold War's effects on popular
culture, in that the game features an implementation of National Missile Defense and parallels real
life nuclear war.
The game sold nearly 20,000 arcade cabinets.[9] Missile Command was a commercial success for
Sega in Japan, where it was among the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980.[10]
In 1983, Softline readers named Missile Command for the Atari 8-bit family eighth on the magazine's
Top Thirty list of Atari programs by popularity.[11]

Re-releases[edit]
Missile Command has also been included in the compilations Atari Arcade Hits 1, Atari Anniversary
Edition, and Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!. It was released as part of the original Microsoft
Arcade for the PC in 1993. It was also included in some compilations on Sega consoles: Arcade
Smash Hits on the Master System, Arcade Classics on Game Boy Retails 4 Published
by Nintendo, Arcade Classics on Game Gear and Arcade Classics on Genesis.

Sequels
In late 1980, a two-player sequel Missile Command 2 was field tested but never released,[12] although
at least one prototype appeared in an arcade in Santa Clara, California. This game was similar to the
original except that each player had their own set of cities and missile batteries and the players
could cooperate to save each other's cities from the onslaught. In 1992, Atari developed a prototype
of an arcade game called Arcade Classics for their 20th anniversary, which included Missile
Command 2 and Super Centipede.
In 1981, an enhancement kit was made by General Computer Corp. to convert Missile
Command into Super Missile Attack. This made the game even harder, and added a UFO to the
player's enemies.
In 1982 Atari released a game called Liberator, which was seen by some as being a sequel to Mi
Missile Command with the situation essentially reversed; in Liberator, the player is the one attacking
planetary bases from orbit.[13]

Updated versions
Enhanced versions of Missile Command were released for the Atari Lynx and Game Boy.
An updated version called Missile Command 3D was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1995. It
contains three versions of the game: Classic (a straight port of the arcade game), 3D (graphically
upgraded and with a rotating viewpoint), and Virtual. [14] It is the only game that works with the virtual
reality helmet from Virtuality.
Hasbro Interactive released a 3D remake of Missile Command for Microsoft
Windows and PlayStation in 1999.
Missile Command with high-definition graphics was released via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox
360 on July 4, 2007.
Missile Command was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch for US$5 in September 23, 2008. It
includes two gameplay modes ("Ultra" and "Classic").