1980s
MIDI Maze
1987 · First-Person Shooter · Atari ST
Overview
MIDI Maze (1987) was the world's first networked multiplayer first-person shooter, connecting up to sixteen Atari ST computers through their MIDI ports. Players navigated smiley-face arenas shooting at other smiley faces — predating Doom's LAN deathmatch by six years.
Deep Dive
MIDI Maze used the Atari ST's built-in MIDI ports as a network interface, daisy-chaining up to sixteen machines in a ring topology. Each machine rendered its own first-person view; position data was transmitted through the MIDI connection.
Developer Story
MIDI Maze was developed by Xanth Software F/X and published by Atari Corporation in 1987. It was later ported to the Game Boy as Faceball 2000.
Did You Know?
- MIDI Maze was commercially unsuccessful but its networked multiplayer concept predated the mainstream first-person shooter multiplayer era by years.
- The game used the MIDI protocol for networking because the ST's MIDI ports were more reliable than its serial RS-232 port for the ring-network topology.
