Dionoid Posted May 6, 2023 Share Posted May 6, 2023 (edited) As a big surprise, John van Ryzin (the designer/programmer of H.E.R.O. for the Atari 2600) just released the new Atari 2600 game "Alien Abduction" as a digital download in the Atari VCS store. It's a 16K game ROM (using F6 bank-switching) and plays on the Stella emulator without issues. 20 levels, 140 play screens, 16 obstacle types. Wow!! [Edit: I just noticed the game was also announced in the Atari VCS forum] I wonder if John is working with Atari to release a cartridge version of the game later this year. If so, I hope the game is also released for PAL 50Hz! And I also wonder if John has talked with his former Activision colleagues at Audacity Games about a possible release on their platform. Edited May 6, 2023 by Dionoid 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MarcoJ Posted May 6, 2023 Share Posted May 6, 2023 Does look quite hero-like. Good to see the game engine being repurposed for another great title. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SabertoothRetro Posted May 6, 2023 Share Posted May 6, 2023 Here's some gameplay only footage of the game. It definitely has that H.E.R O. DNA. I would buy a physical release in a heartbeat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phobos867 Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 Oh my, this is HUGE! I don't have a VCS or 2600, but I would love to buy a rom of this! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 Wish there was a way to purchase the download from atari without a vcs so the consumer could pull the ROM and play it on their 2600. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 “The princess has abducted”? I hope that gets corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linards Ticmanis Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 11 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said: “The princess has abducted”? I hope that gets corrected. I think the letter in question is in fact supposed to be a "W". Look closely at the horizontal stroke, it is lower than the one in the "H" of "Hero". 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 2 hours ago, Linards Ticmanis said: I think the letter in question is in fact supposed to be a "W". Look closely at the horizontal stroke, it is lower than the one in the "H" of "Hero". This is correct. I've seen this same font styling used also on a few 7800 games too or I should recent 7800 homebrew games with text in them does similar with the 'W' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 14 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said: “The princess has abducted”? I hope that gets corrected. All your princess are belong to us! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 Game is fantastic, nice VCS exclusive for now. Seems likely to get a physical XP-style release from Atari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 5 hours ago, Linards Ticmanis said: I think the letter in question is in fact supposed to be a "W". Look closely at the horizontal stroke, it is lower than the one in the "H" of "Hero". Yep, that makes sense and looking again, it does look like it could be a “w” and not an “h”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted May 8, 2023 Author Share Posted May 8, 2023 Could this enemy character in Alien Abduction be a reference to "Master Chief" from Halo 2600? 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymz887 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 is this rom availablr for download. thanks jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Not unless you own a new Atari VCS, is not released for the 2600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 8 hours ago, jaymz887 said: is this rom availablr for download. thanks jaime Currently only on the new VCS, but I'd expect them to figure out a way to release it to other systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phobos867 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 No Swear Gamer made a review about the game: I love how this is basically HERO 2, I always tried to imagine what a true sequel to HERO would be (on the same vein as Pitfall 2, River Raid 2 or Frogger 2) and this is better than anything I could make up 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phobos867 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 (edited) [double post] Edited May 9, 2023 by Phobos867 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Looks pretty good. I’ll purchase it soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredtdk Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 Incredible! How many kb will be needed if it is converted to 2600? 8, 16, 32, 64, 128kb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 AFAIK 8K. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 16K 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 I am not normally in the habit of promo'ing my videos in the 2600 forum, but I figured I'd do it this time for this game: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Alien Abduction on tonight's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch, hope you can join us! Fri Aug 11, 2023 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT+1Day WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Bob and the Alien Fire Flies (2023 | 2600) by Peter Cullen @8bitsinthebasement Caesar (2023 WIP | 2600) by Alberto @jab Domino (2023 WIP | 2600) by Alberto @jab Alien Abduction (2023 | 2600) by John Van Ryzin @John Van Ryzin WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Did I dream this or did it really happen? I swear I heard on a video, maybe an earlier ZPH, that this was going to get a physical release from AtariAge and I even think I saw it listed on an AtariAge flyer as a future release in the same video. But they declared on the latest ZPH, that it's going to be released by Audacity. If I didn't actually dream that first video and it really happened, and ZPH are correct that Audacity are now releasing it, I'd be interested to know how a planned AtariAge release moved to Audacity. Did Audacity steal it? An audacious move if so. See what I did there? Is there now bad blood between AtariAge and Audacity as a result? Genuinely curious to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Some mysteries are best left alone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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