Alien Abduction, a new 2600 game from John Van Ryzin - (in VCS Store)

[davpa]

Want a surprise?  How about a new game from the legendary creator of Activision's H.E.R.O., John Van Ryzin?  Wish granted!  Welcome Alien Abduction, a new 2600 game exclusive to the Atari VCS!

 

20 Levels, 140 Play Screens, 16 Obstacle Types.
 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by justclaws
added tweet link, adjusted title for release status

[THX-1138]

Good news. Thanks

 

[Tempest]

I thought it was a real 2600 game for a moment.  Darn...

[Raiu]

Interesting.  Any screenshots, movies, description, etc?

[davpa]

FYI, there is a manual for Alien Abduction but the format is kinda odd (first time trying to use it).  These are the control schemes:

 

CONTROLS
__

up    - fly up

right   - walk or fly right

left       - walk or fly left

down   - duck

    - trigger bomb

    - if flying. land on desired floor

 fire    - fire plasma gun

[davpa]

4 minutes ago, Raiu said:

Interesting.  Any screenshots, movies, description, etc?

The princess has been abducted by aliens. As a space force super hero, you are going to rescue her. Your space suit comes equipped with jet powered flight boots, an energy defense shield and a plasma weapon. You must enter the alien spacecraft and find the princess. Watch out for the armed alien robot guards!

 

20 Levels, 140 Play Screens, 16 Obstacle Types.

 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Downloaded this earlier and absolutely loving it so far! Definitely a welcome release for the Atari VCS. I feel like we've been getting quite a lot of new games recently its been awesome! Hopefully it continues.

[jwelsh]

Awesome, but what's the deal? Is this going to be sold? Is there somewhere to download it? People are saying they've played it but I can't find anything about this online other than here.

[davpa]

12 minutes ago, jwelsh said:

Awesome, but what's the deal? Is this going to be sold? Is there somewhere to download it? People are saying they've played it but I can't find anything about this online other than here.

It is for purchase on the VCS, the modern Atari VCS 800.  This is the digital distribution.  Physical cartridge is TBD.

[Godzilla]

Huh, it LOOKS like a real 2600 game. I guess we can only play it on the most recent VCS, not the original? 

[jwelsh]

18 minutes ago, davpa said:

It is for purchase on the VCS, the modern Atari VCS 800.  This is the digital distribution.  Physical cartridge is TBD.

Ah okay, gotcha. Thanks for the info

[Mockduck]

This news is HOT!!! What a cool game and what a surprise! Atari almost certainly has to print off some carts for this one, right?

[THX-1138]

5 hours ago, Tempest said:

I thought it was a real 2600 game for a moment.  Darn...

 

2 hours ago, Godzilla said:

Huh, it LOOKS like a real 2600 game. I guess we can only play it on the most recent VCS, not the original? 

It IS a real 2600 game.  This is just a digital download for the VCS of the ROM (which then runs on the VCS through Stella). 
As Davpa said, the cartridge version is TBD.

 

[Tempest]

44 minutes ago, THX-1138 said:

 

It IS a real 2600 game.  This is just a digital download for the VCS of the ROM (which then runs on the VCS through Stella). 
As Davpa said, the cartridge version is TBD.

 

Good to know.  I'll have to snag this when they make cartridges.

[beaugosse]

Oh wow, this is fantastic. H.E.R.O. is such a timeless classic, and to see John Van Ryzin applying his creativity to the 2600 again is awesome.

Slowly but surely the status of the VCS is evolving from retro to revived!

[RollOut]

It's great to see Atari giving the VCS some love. It was a great idea to give the VCS a surprise exclusive title. I wonder if they're planning this as a strategy. Smaller classic style titles by some legendary developers. Time will tell...

[Gunther]

 

[+SabertoothRetro]

Here's a quick look at the game. These are my first few plays so I'm pretty terrible. I do get to the 8th level be the end of it.

 

 

[joeatari1]

@justclaws can you please merge this with the other thread?

[SoyBoy]

Very enjoyable game! I used to play HERO on C64, I really dig this.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Quite heroic.  

[Dionoid]

On 5/5/2023 at 11:12 PM, davpa said:

Your space suit comes equipped with jet powered flight boots, an energy defense shield and a plasma weapon.

I’ve played the game for a little while, but I’m not sure how to activate the ‘energy defense shield’. Any hints? 

[davpa]

2 hours ago, Dionoid said:

I’ve played the game for a little while, but I’m not sure how to activate the ‘energy defense shield’. Any hints? 

It is not an activated power it is more of a thematic explanation of why you can take a few hits from enemies.

[Mockduck]

Having played this a bit this is just the greatest possible Friday surprise and a great choice by Atari. Game has a future as well. So cool! Best so far is 9 saved.

[Gunther]

An A.R.T.I style 7800 update with improved graphics, cut-scenes, and Pokey in-game music and s.f.x, would be a great future ATARIXP release too.

It's about time the 7800 had a high-quality official Activision-esque game.

 

I'd buy both the 2600 and 7800 versions on cart and VCS too.

It would add real value to the included VCS download-code too.

 

Hopefully Flashback Friday's will make a return, as it's clearly very popular amomgst VCS owners.

 

The 7800 Accolade games would be nice on the VCS Store.