The Game Census
Bit Blaster XL cover art

Bit Blaster XL

Adamvision Studios · 2016-01-22

Steam

ActionCasualIndie

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jan 22, 2016 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jan 22, 2016 (Mac), Jan 22, 2016 (Linux)

Bit Blaster XL is a fast-paced, retro arcade shoot 'em up (shmup) inspired by the classic quarter-munchers of the ‘80s. Easy to pick up, hard to put down, boost, dodge, shoot, and chase high scores in this addictive, old-school action game!

Bit Blaster XL is a 2016 Action Casual Indie game priced at $0.49, with an estimated 500,000 .. 1,000,000 owners and an Overwhelmingly Positive review sentiment (96% of 6152 reviews).

2
playing now
96%
positive of 6.2k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
steam's rating (official)
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
68/100
IGDB user rating (9 ratings)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$0.49
steam price (US)

2 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 12:00 UTC (census sample)

Trailer

Bit Blaster XL trailer thumbnail

Super Bit Blaster XL - Launch Trailer

≈320,278 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 64 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~8/week).
  • · Review velocity up 33% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 6% of 27,667 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 154k–369k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 6,156 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $0.48 at Steam (2023-02-06) · bundled 1×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $0.99 · on sale 8 of 15 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
12412420182026Week of 2018-01-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 51 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 62 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 63 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 66 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 78 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 65 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 82 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

702026-09-15 13:00 — 1 players2026-09-16 21:00 — 3 players2026-09-18 04:00 — 1 players2026-09-19 12:00 — 1 players2026-09-20 19:00 — 0 players2026-09-22 03:00 — 1 players2026-09-23 11:00 — 1 players2026-09-24 18:00 — 2 players2026-09-26 02:00 — 0 players2026-09-27 09:00 — 1 players2026-09-28 17:00 — 2 players2026-09-30 00:00 — 2 players2026-10-01 08:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 15:00 — 3 players2026-10-03 23:00 — 0 players2026-10-05 07:00 — 2 players2026-10-06 14:00 — 0 players2026-10-07 22:00 — 1 players2026-10-09 05:00 — 1 players2026-10-10 13:00 — 1 players2026-10-11 21:00 — 1 players2026-10-13 04:00 — 3 players2026-10-14 12:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$0.99$0.492016-01-222026-08-242016-01-22 — best price $0.892016-06-23 — best price $0.492016-10-28 — best price $0.492017-02-06 — best price $0.492017-05-25 — best price $0.992017-09-21 — best price $0.992017-12-21 — best price $0.492018-03-12 — best price $0.492018-07-16 — best price $0.622018-11-15 — best price $0.502019-01-24 — best price $0.992019-06-17 — best price $0.492019-09-23 — best price $0.492019-12-01 — best price $0.502020-01-14 — best price $0.502020-04-20 — best price $0.992020-07-27 — best price $0.992020-11-23 — best price $0.992021-03-01 — best price $0.992021-07-26 — best price $0.992021-12-20 — best price $0.992022-04-04 — best price $0.992022-07-18 — best price $0.992022-11-29 — best price $0.992023-03-23 — best price $0.992023-07-13 — best price $0.992023-11-28 — best price $0.992024-03-21 — best price $0.992024-07-22 — best price $0.992024-12-04 — best price $0.992025-03-20 — best price $0.992025-07-21 — best price $0.992026-01-12 — best price $0.992026-06-15 — best price $0.992026-08-24 — best price $0.49
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

17
achievements tracked
61.7%
earned "1K"
15.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudSteam LeaderboardsRemote Play on TVFamily Sharing1 DLC

9 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Portugal, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese - Brazil

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2016-12-05 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)13,81913%17

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DSpaceActionArcadeCasualSci-fiShooterDifficultControllerMinimalist

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsUnclaimed WorldGET EVENZigguratJudgment: Apocalypse Survival SimulationPLANET ALPHASemblanceCookies vs. Claus

Similarity via IGDB.

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