Missile Command is one of the most beloved arcade games of all time, but it’s also a byproduct of one of the most turbulent geopolitical eras in American history — The Cold War. Spawned out of the fear of nuclear annihilation, Missile Command epitomizes the inexplicable way that entertainment is informed and molded by history. When Mighty Yell and Atari looked at reviving Missile Command, it was vital that the game’s historical place was kept in mind.
“Cold War media is all about fear, and paranoia of an impending invasion by an unpredictable enemy,” Missile Command Delta director Dave Proctor tells Inverse, “There’s a reason we wanted to tell this story through the lens of four teens — they have values, they have beliefs, and those things become tested and what they know about the world becomes less and less clear as the story goes on.”
