Atari Recharged Series (Discussion)

[negative1]

6 hours ago, justclaws said:

Megan McDuffee just gave away the information in an email, too. ?
Centipede, Asteroids, Black Widow, and Breakout
https://meganmcduffee.bandcamp.com/album/atari-recharged-original-video-game-soundtrack

 

I like Black Widow and Breakout. Interesting they picked a twin stick shooter, and overall 2 vector games.

 

There were some refreshed versions on the xbox 360, but they were very cheesy looking, and had way too many

particle effects on them : Centipede, Millipede, and Tempest.

 

heres a maxout on new centipede:

 

later

-1

Edited September 29, 2021 by negative1

[Mockduck]

Perfect pick of the next three games. Breakout will be the one that seems hardest to translate. So far they have both been one life til game over remakes without levels but rather progressive play until dead games. I guess new block walls will just keep coming like a reverse Tetris?

[+SabertoothRetro]

Those were my guesses! I thought that she hinted at Black Widow on the podcast but it seemed like a bit of a deep cut to reboot. 

[bugcatcher88]

7 hours ago, negative1 said:

There were some refreshed versions on the xbox 360, but they were very cheesy looking, and had way too many

particle effects on them : Centipede, Millipede, and Tempest.

 

heres a maxout on new centipede:

 

Wow, I remember when those "newer" versions came out on Xbox 360. I actually liked the revamped graphic style, but I do agree the particle effects were excessive. The worst offender IMO was their Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe update. The explosions made it hard to see the direction the tiny rock chunks were going. 

[negative1]

7 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Perfect pick of the next three games. Breakout will be the one that seems hardest to translate. So far they have both been one life til game over remakes without levels but rather progressive play until dead games. I guess new block walls will just keep coming like a reverse Tetris?

The 3 breakout variants from super breakout are : progressive, cavity, and double

 

I'm pretty sure they might implement progressive mode, where the bricks just get lower and lower.

 

makes it really hard.

 

 

 

later

-1

[tripled79]

On 9/1/2021 at 7:36 AM, Djmicklovin said:

I would like to see some Atari Jaguar games redone. Kasumi Ninja, Tempest 5k, Defender, Cybermorph/Battlemorph, Alien vs Predator, and others that were cancelled would be nice to see happen.

Maybe we can finally find out the source of Angus' fireballs?

[+adamchevy]

Asteroids, Black Widow, and Breakout would be close to my top choices.  That's almost enough for me to justify the purchase of a new VCS console.  it's to bad they didn't have these games ready at launch.   What they really need to do is guarantee exclusivity on each of these new games for atleast 6 months to a year on their new console. 

Edited September 29, 2021 by adamchevy

[justclaws]

As I recall, Atari has 147 historical IPs to choose from, and I am looking forward to future Recharged series.
I think there are so many classic arcade games which would come before remakes of Atari Jaguar games.

I love my Jaguar, but I'll also be happy to be able to play the games on my VCS in the coming year, too.
Likewise, with the 7800, and then the 5200 was never released in Europe, so that's a whole new platform!

[bugcatcher88]

10 minutes ago, justclaws said:

As I recall, Atari has 147 historical IPs to choose from, and I am looking forward to future Recharged series.
I think there are so many classic arcade games which would come before remakes of Atari Jaguar games.

I love my Jaguar, but I'll also be happy to be able to play the games on my VCS in the coming year, too.
Likewise, with the 7800, and then the 5200 was never released in Europe, so that's a whole new platform!

Atari is always touting owning over 200 IPs. Maybe that number was true at one point in time, but since they keep selling off games, 147 seems more accurate.

BTW, Atari only mentions two Jaguar games in their IP catalog (Tempest 2K & Missile Command 3D). I wonder what happened to Fight for Life, Trevor McFur, Club Drive, etc. The copyright info on the back of those games' respective packaging only mentions Atari. 

[Nall3k]

4 hours ago, bugcatcher88 said:

Atari is always touting owning over 200 IPs. Maybe that number was true at one point in time, but since they keep selling off games, 147 seems more accurate.

BTW, Atari only mentions two Jaguar games in their IP catalog (Tempest 2K & Missile Command 3D). I wonder what happened to Fight for Life, Trevor McFur, Club Drive, etc. The copyright info on the back of those games' respective packaging only mentions Atari. 

Probably the reason why Fred Chesnas is no longer running the show. If you read Wade Rosen's interview, you can read between the lines. Casino, bitcoin, etc... Diluting the Atari brand.

 

Fred was responsible for a lot of terrible decisions, selling off Alone in the Dark (after rushing a poor L4D rip off), Test Drive, BattleZone. Mishandling the RCT franchise.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Nall3k

[PaulXMann]

12 hours ago, Nall3k said:

Fred was responsible for a lot of terrible decisions, selling off Alone in the Dark (after rushing a poor L4D rip off), Test Drive, BattleZone. Mishandling the RCT franchise.

Wait, they sold off Battlezone?! Dammit... that was one I was really hoping would come to the Recharged series. 

[justclaws]

27 minutes ago, PaulXMann said:

Wait, they sold off Battlezone?! Dammit... that was one I was really hoping would come to the Recharged series. 

 

When the previous incarnation of Atari went bankrupt in 2013, Rebellion swooped in on Battlezone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_Developments
Fred bought the company from the bankcruptcy too, so he didn't really choose to just sell Battlezone.

[negative1]

18 hours ago, bugcatcher88 said:

Wow, I remember when those "newer" versions came out on Xbox 360. I actually liked the revamped graphic style, but I do agree the particle effects were excessive. The worst offender IMO was their Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe update. The explosions made it hard to see the direction the tiny rock chunks were going. 

the new version of missile command was very well done:

 

 

also the new version of warlords too.

 

 

later

-1

Edited September 30, 2021 by negative1

[bugcatcher88]

19 hours ago, Nall3k said:

Probably the reason why Fred Chesnas is no longer running the show. If you read Wade Rosen's interview, you can read between the lines. Casino, bitcoin, etc... Diluting the Atari brand.

 

Fred was responsible for a lot of terrible decisions, selling off Alone in the Dark (after rushing a poor L4D rip off), Test Drive, BattleZone. Mishandling the RCT franchise.

'Battlezone' was split from the rest of the Atari classic catalogue sometime prior to 2013 so I understand why that one was sold off by itself. 'Alone in the Dark' is but one example of IP sold off post-bankruptcy. 'Drakkhen', 'Glover', 'Hogs of War' (among others) all went in later years after 2013. It would've been really cool to have new games based on these IPs for VCS. Sure there's not much brand recognition there, but at least it would've meant more content for their console. They were also the owners of the Odyssey/Videopac IP until it was sold to Subvert Ltd a few years ago. I would've loved a classic Odyssey 2 collection on the VCS (Hell, even on Steam).

 

Their casino initiative in Africa seemed very sleazy. They were operating in developing nations (Liberia & Kenya, for example) with populations dealing with gambling addiction (Link, Link). That hotel idea seems silly to me, but we'll see how that turns out. 

 

 

[bugcatcher88]

7 hours ago, justclaws said:

When the previous incarnation of Atari went bankrupt in 2013, Rebellion swooped in on Battlezone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_Developments
Fred bought the company from the bankcruptcy too, so he didn't really choose to just sell Battlezone.

Fred Chesnais took over Blue Bay's shares of Atari in February 2013 (source). The sale of the 'Battlezone' IP occurred in July that year (Source). After the sale of 'Battlezone', Atari SA/Infogrames wanted to break up the rest of the Atari classic catalogue and sell it piecemeal. Thankfully that didn't happen. 

[Nall3k]

40 minutes ago, bugcatcher88 said:

'Battlezone' was split from the rest of the Atari classic catalogue sometime prior to 2013 so I understand why that one was sold off by itself. 'Alone in the Dark' is but one example of IP sold off post-bankruptcy. 'Drakkhen', 'Glover', 'Hogs of War' (among others) all went in later years after 2013. It would've been really cool to have new games based on these IPs for VCS. Sure there's not much brand recognition there, but at least it would've meant more content for their console. They were also the owners of the Odyssey/Videopac IP until it was sold to Subvert Ltd a few years ago. I would've loved a classic Odyssey 2 collection on the VCS (Hell, even on Steam).

 

Their casino initiative in Africa seemed very sleazy. They were operating in developing nations (Liberia & Kenya, for example) with populations dealing with gambling addiction (Link, Link). That hotel idea seems silly to me, but we'll see how that turns out. 

 

 

Oh yeah, 100% sleazy and I'm glad they're out of it. The hotels is dumb too and should back out of that. Again, focus on being a publisher, build up your library, etc.

[bugcatcher88]

7 hours ago, negative1 said:

the new version of missile command was very well done:

 

 

also the new version of warlords too.

 

Oh yeah, I have those games on PSP in 'Atari Classics Evolved'. I enjoyed the fresh visuals in 'Missile Command'. I found the idea of shooting lightening interesting. I wasn't too into 'Warlords' though (graphically, that is). 

 

The 'Missile Command' game is available on the newer Xbox consoles. I may pick it up for the achievements. 

[+joeatari1]

47 minutes ago, Nall3k said:

The hotels is dumb too and should back out of that.

The hotels is just a licensing deal.  All Atari did on that is collect a licensing check and in return they are loaning their name and IP for a hotel theme.  Atari just approves or disapproves of the layout and use of its name.

[+adamchevy]

Does the Atari VCS have an option to run these games at 1440p on a PC monitor? Also, can you adjust the FPS up to 120FPS?

 

The system requirements for Steam look pretty low and it says up to 240hz.

 

Windows 7

 

Dual Core+

 

4gb of Ram.

 

 

I’m guessing running this on Windows 10 installed on steam the VCS should be able to pull this off. It’s a shame they can’t do this in their own OS.

[zzip]

13 hours ago, joeatari1 said:

The hotels is just a licensing deal.  All Atari did on that is collect a licensing check and in return they are loaning their name and IP for a hotel theme.  Atari just approves or disapproves of the layout and use of its name.

Yeah this.  I also think the idea is that the generation for whom the name "Atari" means something is now in their peak earning years and some would be happy to stay at an Atari themed place when visiting Vegas or wherever.   We'll see.   Also Steve Wozniak is involved in this initiative. 

[justclaws]

13 hours ago, bugcatcher88 said:

[...] 'Drakkhen', 'Glover', 'Hogs of War' (among others) all went in later years after 2013. It would've been really cool to have new games based on these IPs for VCS. Sure there's not much brand recognition there, but at least it would've meant more content for their console.

They were also the owners of the Odyssey/Videopac IP until it was sold to Subvert Ltd a few years ago. I would've loved a classic Odyssey 2 collection on the VCS (Hell, even on Steam).

I've never heard of those first games which were sold off. I guess they were Windows games?

I saw that Subvert had bought various games I'd not heard of, and yes, it said "Videopac series".
If that really means the Philips/Odyssey Videopac games, I'd never heard that Atari ever owned them,
because I have a Philips Videopac G7000, and from that scene, I understood rights are a controversy.
Philips had even forgotten they had ever had a games console, and this hampered emulators for it.

I really would have loved to see a new set of Philips G7000/G7400 game conversions for the VCS! ?
 

[bugcatcher88]

4 hours ago, justclaws said:

I've never heard of those first games which were sold off. I guess they were Windows games?

I saw that Subvert had bought various games I'd not heard of, and yes, it said "Videopac series".
If that really means the Philips/Odyssey Videopac games, I'd never heard that Atari ever owned them,
because I have a Philips Videopac G7000, and from that scene, I understood rights are a controversy.
Philips had even forgotten they had ever had a games console, and this hampered emulators for it.

I really would have loved to see a new set of Philips G7000/G7400 game conversions for the VCS! ?
 

Those games I mentioned were available on a variety of hardware (SNES, PS1, PC, etc.)

 

In 1997, Infogrames acquired Philips Multimedia BV, the gaming unit of Koninklijke Philips N.V. 

I assume all of their gaming assets were held by that subsidiary, including the Odyssey/Videopac IP.

I never knew Atari SA had that stuff either until I visited Subvert's website a few years ago. IMO, the Odyssey/Videopac IP is historically significant and I wished Atari actually did something with them (a classic collection would've been nice) instead of sitting on them for so many years.

[justclaws]

14 minutes ago, bugcatcher88 said:

I never knew Atari SA had that stuff either until I visited Subvert's website a few years ago. IMO, the Odyssey/Videopac IP is historically significant and I wished Atari actually did something with them (a classic collection would've been nice) instead of sitting on them for so many years.

I totally agree!
Atari Videopac 800 with a Videopac: Recharged collection. Well, if others can dream crazy things...  so can I.

[oo7]

Breakout if recharged enough would be awesome

[+adamchevy]

Played some Centipede Recharged on the Series S tonight. It was great both single and co-op. I do wish that I had an Arcade Joystick to play with. Overall though I would give it a 10/10. The sound was great, graphics were excellent, and the gameplay has that authentic arcade feel with a modern spin. I really like the power-ups when you kill spiders and the ability to bring your team mate back to life.

 

I’d love to play a demake of this on the 7800 with Pokey/Yamaha Sound.