What platforms is Planet Smashers on?

Planet Smashers was released on Atari 7800.

When did Planet Smashers release?

Planet Smashers was first released on December 31, 1990.

Planet Smashers

Dec 31, 1990ShooterAtari 7800

Planet Smashers — frequently asked questions

What platforms is Planet Smashers on?: Planet Smashers was released on Atari 7800.
When did Planet Smashers release?: Planet Smashers was first released on December 31, 1990.

About Planet Smashers

Planet Smashers finally delivered an original 2D Shooter to the Pro System late in its life. Your spaceship, which oddly looks like an airplane, has the grave task of defending Earth from an alien armada. Planet Smashers has some nice features like level warp codes, laser upgrades, cloaking devices, and interesting bosses. You even have the burden of defending Earth's shield from asteroids and alien ships. The back of the box boasts, "awesome sound effects", but the main laser noise is mind-numbingly irritating. After you defeat the game, you are treated to a text ending commanding you to play Alien Brigade, which makes little sense since you just defeated the alien mothership.

Summary via IGDB.

Planet Smashers on Wikipedia

Planet Smashers is a 1990 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed by Datafast Computer Systems and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari 7800. Released late in the console's life cycle, it bears references to Atari's own Alien Brigade, which was developed concurrently.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Atari 7800
Developer: James Zalewski
Publisher: Atari Corporation
Game modes: Single player
Themes: Action, Science fiction

Details via IGDB.

Collector value & authenticity

Atari 7800 · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-19

Loose

$81

Complete

$119

Sealed

$240

How often it sells

Loose: about once a month
Complete: about 3 times a year
Sealed: about 3 times a year

Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-19.

Price over time

Loose
Complete

A loose copy sold for about $11.95 in Apr 2010, $55 five years ago, and $90 as of Oct 2026.

Show as table

Month	Loose	Complete
Jan 2011	$12.50	—
Jan 2012	$6.50	—
Jan 2013	$23	—
Jan 2014	$20	$40
Jan 2015	$19.99	$32
Jan 2016	$25	$50
Jan 2017	$32	$10.50
Jan 2018	$37	$56
Jan 2019	$41	$60
Jan 2020	$41	$70
Jan 2021	$70	$73
Jan 2022	$50	$92
Jan 2023	$70	$100
Jan 2024	$78	$98
Jan 2025	$99	$176
Jan 2026	$100	$155
Oct 2026	$90	$119

Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.

Documented sales

480 US copies invoiced by Atari in 1990

Ranked 34 of the 39 Atari 7800 cartridges in Atari's internal reports. These count cartridges shipped to US stores, less returns, not copies sold to players, and they end on 31 December 1990, so the game's 1991 shipments are not included.

Source: Atari Corporation's internal 7800 software sales reports (1986–1990)

Release record

Territory	Label	Catalog #	MSRP	Rarity
North America Atari	Color	CX7868	$29.99	Rare

North America: Price new: Atari's own catalogue (Atari Explorer, Jan–Feb 1991), list price.

Source: Catalog numbers, label types, rarity, controllers and player counts: AtariAge 7800 software database

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1990
Controller: Pro-Line Joystick, Both fire buttons used (left shoots, right activates capsule)
Players: 1 - 2
Authenticity: Med

Not in Atari 50 — other compilations and reissues are not tracked hereMedium look-alike risk

Atari 7800 prices, all games & how to spot a fake

A fast vertical shooter that Atari Explorer liked, and a rare cartridge from the library's final wave.

Datafast built Planet Smashers for Atari Corporation in 1990, with James Zalewski as programmer. Wikipedia lists it as 7800-only, and notes that it shares references with Alien Brigade, which was developed at the same time. Atari announced it at the summer 1990 show as a space adventure.

Atari Explorer's 1991 review said it starts fast and gets faster, with two difficulty levels, a two-player mode and a high-score feature. You can chain three color-coded warp capsules to skip ahead to a boss, and the reviewer singled out the graphics, especially the burning Earth that appears when you lose. Wikipedia notes the same review thought the pace too frantic.

What the press said at the time

“Planet Smashers starts off fast, and gets faster as the waves progress. Two levels of difficulty, a two-player mode, and a “high scores” feature are supported. Graphics are terrific”
— Atari Explorer, March-April 1991

Atari Explorer was Atari Corp.'s own magazine, so its reviews are of the company's own games.

Worth knowing

From the 7800 manual. Easy and Hard difficulty; in two-player each player can pick a different level.
From the 7800 manual. Warp capsule colour codes repeat on Easy but are random on Hard.

Before you buy

AtariAge rates the Atari color-label cart rare, so condition and authenticity matter. CX 7868; Pro-Line joystick, one or two players. There is no sourced counterfeit problem, but only buy from a seller who shows the label and board. The box and manual carry much of a complete copy's value.