I played my first couple rounds with keyboard, but given the name of the genre I suppose it necessitates getting my sticks out. Little did I know that the cheat toggles on the face buttons would cause me to feel much better about my groove than was actually taking place. Before and after I noticed this, it would seem quite often that a glider or parabola would spawn on top of me and kill me instantly. On the other hand, I was able to observe the different weapon patterns without as much stress applied to acquiring them; contrary to my expectations, the weapons don't gain extra power with each cycle, leaving this secondary objective mute once you get an optimal weapon pattern.
The game isn't much more than the classic Nerve beater roots that it takes mechanical inspiration from, spruced up by the aesthetic of another icon for Gen-X computer nostalgia. Adherence to the rules of Conway's game would fundamentally come at the cost of Asteroid's rules. Because randomly spawning gliders are not only the leading cause of death, but it also makes them aesthetically incongruent.
Asteroids can never really surprise you with anything except for the accumulation of your own consequences in the form of tiny debris closing in on you. To me, an immutable system with brevity can be more interesting than a random one; rather than the player discovering miracles by chance, they discover facts and patterns that are just as unexpected and miraculous.