Asteroids

Asteroids is a 1981 Atari 2600 game from Atari, Inc., originally released in arcades in 1979, catalogued here for 5 defining game mechanics.

Atari 26001981Originally Arcade 1979Complexity 20/1002D TopdownPopular

Asteroids is a 1979 multidirectional shooter developed and published by Atari, Inc.; its 1981 Atari 2600 port was a massive seller. (via Wikipedia)

The genre Asteroids helped define

Multidirectional shooter. free rotation, thrust, and inertia in open space, against debris that splits into smaller threats as you shoot it.

Physics MomentumTraversalPlayer movement uses accumulated velocity that persists between frames; intentional momentum management is a core skill.
Contact DamageCombatTouching an enemy or environmental hazard deals damage to the player without any explicit attack trigger from either party.
Projectile SystemCombatPrimary player-versus-enemy interaction is firing and/or dodging discrete moving objects.
Lives SystemResourcePlayer has a finite number of attempts; losing all lives resets progress to a defined point or ends the game.
Wave SpawningSimulationEnemies appear in scripted or procedural groups at intervals; surviving each wave is the primary challenge loop.

Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.