Missile Command
Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. It was released by Taito and Sega in Japan. The game was designed by Dave Theurer, who would also design Tempest for Atari the following year. The player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1980
- Developer
- Atari, Inc.
- Platforms
- 3 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 1 January 1980 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Atari, Inc. |
| Publisher | Atari, Inc. |
| Platforms | Game Boy, Arcade, Steam Deck |
| Genres | First-Person Shooter |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1192794, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Missile Command? How long to beat it
Total play time for Missile Command is about 2 hours to do everything, and around 0.4 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 0.4h | 22 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 1.6h | 1 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 2h | 4 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Missile Command sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Missile Command lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 28ahead of 0% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 36ahead of 77% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Missile Command
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Missile Command appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Missile Command qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Missile Command
What platforms is Missile Command on?
Missile Command is available on Game Boy, Arcade, Steam Deck. It first released in 1980.
Who made Missile Command?
Missile Command was developed by Atari, Inc. and published by Atari, Inc..
How long does it take to beat Missile Command?
about 0.4 hours for the main story, 1.6 hours with the main extras, 2 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.