Atari Mr Run and Jump

[Goochman]

Any pics of the 2600 version out there?

 

https://www.engadget.com/mr-run-and-jump-will-be-the-first-official-cartridge-for-the-atari-2600-since-1990-110010790.html 

[Mockduck]

There are some pics in the Facebook post by Atari here: https://www.facebook.com/atari/posts/pfbid02cUFMihGapWHvAs452oFoxv1FK7VN919q2bfpDeVcA8at59mfWNZBZKCQ9hMCyYyFl

[MateusSolo]

Any idea on who is the programmer?

[tremoloman2006]

Thank you for the post Goochman! 

I downloaded the screenshots from the facebook post so AA members can see them here.

Edited June 13, 2023 by tremoloman2006
resized pics

[Mockduck]

Here is the text from the press release, although I've removed sensitive contact information for press to schedule interviews and ask for a pre-retail cart:

TITLE: Atari is Releasing a 2600 Version of Mr. Run and Jump — The First New Atari Game on a Cartridge in 32 Years
 

Arcade platforming action returns to its roots with an exciting announcement: the unveiling of an Atari 2600 version of the recently revealed adventure-platformer, Mr. Run and Jump from Atari. This official release marks a significant milestone steeped in retro history: the first cartridge launch for a new Atari title since 1990!
 

Mr. Run and Jump was created in 2021 by John Mikula, a talented developer at the St. Louis-based indie studio Graphite Lab. Its meticulously crafted platforming mechanics showcase the enduring capabilities of the 2600 hardware, even four decades after its initial release. 

Made in the United States with high-quality materials, each Mr. Run and Jump cartridge comes sealed with a high-quality box, 2600 game cartridge, and an instruction manual. Cartridges are manufactured to exacting standards from all new parts and materials, with beveled edges to prevent pin damage, strong gold-plated connectors, and identical power draw to the originals. 

Preorders for the collectible cartridges will open on atari.com on July 31, 2023, for $59.99 USD. Additional distribution will be announced at a later date. Sign up for updates from Atari to be the first to know when preorders open.

About Mr. Run and Jump 2600: a simple-yet-challenging 2D platformer originally developed for the Atari 2600 video game console. While it was built to run on older hardware, Mr. Run and Jump is a brand-new game designed to be approachable to all players. Leap, the dog, has begun wandering toward the Dark Realm, and if he ventures too far, he’ll never be able to find his way back! It’s up to Mr. Run and Jump to save his best friend before it’s too late!

Key Features:

• Over 80 screens of platforming action across six colorful worlds
• Bound over obstacles and dodge five distinct enemy types
• A unique scoring system: you start with 25000 points. For each second that elapses, your score will decrease by one. Colliding with an enemy will decrease your score by 100.
• Compete with your friends to see who can get the highest score!

Mr. Run and Jump for PC and Console: The teams at Atari and Graphite Lab were so enamored with the 2600 title that they joined forces to create a modern rendition of Mr. Run and Jump. The modern version is a glowing explosion of color, action, and personality, with challenging levels, collectibles, and hidden rooms. It includes more than 30 hours of gameplay and added Time Trials make it a speedrunner's paradise!

Developed by Graphite Lab and Heavy Horse Games, the modern Mr. Run and Jump launches later this summer on Windows PC via Steam and Epic Games, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and Atari VCS. To learn more please visit: https://atari.com/products/mr-run-and-jump 

[tschak909]

Oh goody, Atari gets credit off the backs of decades of homebrew programmers.

 

[+Stephen]

Have I been living in an alternate reality?  I sure as hell have bought new 2600 games on cart in the years between 1990 and 2023.

[+5-11under]

5 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Have I been living in an alternate reality?  I sure as hell have bought new 2600 games on cart in the years between 1990 and 2023.

You've bought new Atari games since 1990, but not new Atari Atari games since 1990.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Looks pretty primitive to me. But collectors will bite.

[Dionoid]

Luckily for me, they probably won’t release a PAL version, so I don’t feel the urge to collect it

[Atarian7]

They are calling it the first "official" game since 1990.  I guess all those other games weren't considered "official"?

[BillDMatt]

4 hours ago, Goochman said:

Any pics of the 2600 version out there?

 

https://www.engadget.com/mr-run-and-jump-will-be-the-first-official-cartridge-for-the-atari-2600-since-1990-110010790.html 

https://atari.com/products/mr-run-and-jump-2600-limited-edition   has a mini video play through,   looks fun. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by BillDMatt

[Thomas Jentzsch]

4 minutes ago, BillDMatt said:

https://atari.com/products/mr-run-and-jump-2600-limited-edition   has a mini video play through,   looks fun. 

It's flickering a lot though. Looks a lot like a simple bBasic game, where the kernel doesn't allow to reuse the sprites.

[BillDMatt]

31 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Looks pretty primitive to me. But collectors will bite.

Looks primitive but in homage type of way,  play looks smooth and with 80 levels  it could be a solid game.   

 

Having said that I wouldn't mind seeing atari take a cue on what people from the likes   champgames..... Jeff Johnson (Venture Reloaded) and some of the many other great homebrew programmers have done, taking advantage of modern technology they can use today go back through their library and revamped them.    I would love to Centipede, keep the  gameplay like the 2600, version but have mushrooms instead of dashes,  etc.    a proper Tempest revamped using the Indy 500 racing controller.    things like that.     

Edited June 13, 2023 by BillDMatt

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

3 hours ago, Atarian7 said:

They are calling it the first "official" game since 1990.  I guess all those other games weren't considered "official"?

 

Definitely the first Atari 2600 game since 1990, every other game is a filthy dirty illegal knockoff. If you own Pitfall on cartridge, you should be ashamed. Atari bravely tried to stop the dam from bursting in 1980 by suing Activision, but sadly they failed to stop the flood non-genuine Atari games from being released.

 

But... a celebration is in order! We can now dust off our old machines that have been in storage since 1990 and play the first Atari 2600 game in 33 years! 🎉

 

/s

 

Sadly the slightly misleading wording in Atari's press release of it being "the first Atari game since 1990" or the "first Atari released 2600 cartridge since the '90s" negates the thousands of games developed and the hundreds released on cartridge since the 1990s by incredibly talented developers keeping the system alive. It's equally disappointing reading all the news articles parroting the press release that ignore or are ignorant of the incredible hard work that AtariAge and the rest of the community have put in over the past few decades innovating new programming techniques, raising the bar on audio and video quality, creating incredible new bank switching techniques and making great new hardware to extend the capabilities of the system we know and love.

 

Keep in mind, this is nothing against the game itself or the developer of the game. It looks like a decent platformer and I'd love to try it out eventually.

 

- James

[+bent_pin]

meh

and it's $60

 

Rather buy 2 carts from @Albert and support a smaller programmer. 

[+bent_pin]

Quote

This item will be available for preorder on 7/31. Final artwork is subject to change and expected ship date is 3 to 4 months.

Really?

I've got teenage students who can write a half dozen fun games in the same time frame. 

 

I shouldn't be so negative though, because it is quite cool that they are paying the OG VCS some love.

[tschak909]

Two words, "cash grab."

 

(sorry, I have way too much animosity against the current management of Atari, for....reasons.)

 

-Thom

[+Stephen]

55 minutes ago, tschak909 said:

Two words, "cash grab."

 

(sorry, I have way too much animosity against the current management of Atari, for....reasons.)

 

-Thom

And with every new move they make, it keeps getting worse and worse.

[+bent_pin]

Well, at least we know they can't sue us successfully if we release games for any of the vintage systems.

 

Perhaps a better version of a similar game could be released before then.

[MrTrust]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

It's flickering a lot though. Looks a lot like a simple bBasic game, where the kernel doesn't allow to reuse the sprites.

 

That's exactly what I thought, which is weird, because there are multi-sprite kernel options in bB, and it's not like they're going for a specific, early 80s style with this.  If they were, well swing and a miss.  Even with the standard kernel, you can just hit NUSIZ1 if you need multiple spikes on the same line.  You shouldn't need to flicker two identical sprites like that unless you need them on different lines, or you want them to overlap.

 

Assuming this was written in bB, and that's the way it looks to me, that's pretty lazy programming.  Nothing against bB; it's a really neat tool, and it's a great way to learn about the 2600 hardware.  There are only certain genres of game that it really works for, though, and platformer is not one of those.

 

2 hours ago, bent_pin said:

I shouldn't be so negative though, because it is quite cool that they are paying the OG VCS some love.

 

Is it, though?  If they were serious about the project, they should have hired one of the known guys from here who actually knows what they're doing and put out a real game.  I'm not a programmer by any stretch, and I could probably bang this thing out in a weekend.  That's love?  Or is just bilking people with more money than sense?

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, bent_pin said:

I shouldn't be so negative though, because it is quite cool that they are paying the OG VCS some love.

On the one hand, new 2600 games from the owners of the first-party name are kinda cool.

 

On the other hand, I really wish that the first-party company releasing them was not this one.

[+bent_pin]

6 minutes ago, MrTrust said:

Is it, though?

Yes, ask me for details on the 4th of July

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

34 minutes ago, MrTrust said:

Assuming this was written in bB, and that's the way it looks to me, that's pretty lazy programming.

And if it was written in bB, that fact should be credited somewhere.  While I generally have no problem with community-developed tools being used to write commercial software, credit where credit is due very much applies.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

4 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

It's flickering a lot though. Looks a lot like a simple bBasic game, where the kernel doesn't allow to reuse the sprites.

 

I did some digging and here's a very short video from 2016 by SamanthaZero with the game developer John Mikula. The interviewer states that the game was written in assembly. Looks like the video was taken at PixelPop Festival 2016 where the developer was giving a talk on programming the Atari 2600.

 

- James