THE BIG CHRISTMAS 2600+ GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!

[Gamemoose]

A 7800 version of "The Dreadnaught Factor" would be fun.

 

I could see an arcade port of "Timber" for the 7800 as well.

 

For those that mentioned "E.T.", why not get a re-release of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"? That game fasinated me as a kid as I had no instructions and had no idea what to do. It took an article in an issue of "Joystik" that I checked out from the library to get me on track and I was absorbed!

 

Heck, can we get HSW to make games based on the rest of the original trilogy for the 2600?

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

8 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

Nope - the 2600+ is not compatible with Zeviouz.

Yet?

[+sramirez2008]

2 hours ago, Warboss Gegguz said:

Specifically, it was an unreleased game by Ed Logg (Asteroids, Centipede, Gauntlet, and basically 1/2 of Atari's classic arcade library) which is why I think it would be cool to see.

Buuuuuut I'm also kind of a fanboy for him, so it's a very biased nomination. Lol.

I love all things Asteroids and met the maker at PRGE (2019). Good luck everyone. 🙂

[drludos]

Thanks for this contest, it's a nice idea and it's cool to read everyone's suggestions for new official releases!

 

On my end, any new games (homebrew) for the 2600/7800 and thus the 2600+ would be wonderful. If I had to pick only one for each machine, I'll go for two entries that have already been named:

 

For 2600, the fixed version of E.T. would be awesome (http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/). I know it's a wild dream due to licensing issues, but it would be a great way to do justice to a pionneering game that could have had a very different destiny with a few more weeks / months of development time back in the day. And I know this one is not a homebrew but more of a "romhack", but the fixes are made by a passionate amateur so let's say it still counts ;).

 

For the 7800, Rikki & Vikki really deserves an official Atari release, as it's arguably the best (gameplay-wise and art-wise) title on the machine. Or even better, offer a publishing deal to its creator to fund the development of a new 2600 or 7800 game (I mean, after Zaku and Rikki & Vikki, I'm eager to see a new game by Osman Celimi).

 

Last but not least, besides publishing homebrew games made by fellow AtariAge members, being able to publish new games from original developers of the era would be very cool too (it looks like many of them are still interested in making games for the 2600 and are still top-talented, such as David Crane).

Edited December 7, 2023 by drludos

[+brianchilders]

I would love to see Quadrun released by Atari in the future for the 2600+

Thank you for your consideration!

 

-brian

[+Nathan Strum]

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Yet?

Still.   

 

 

Here's what I'd like to see: Man Goes Down completed and released. Cart + box + printed manual, available through AtariAge. (If Atari wants to do a foil-stamped, embossed, limited collectors edition thing, that's great - but make the game available and affordable in a standard edition for the rest of us, please.)

 

The programmer - Alex Herbert - had some health issues years ago, and disappeared from the scene. While we've never been able to contact him, Atari might have the resources to do so. Packrat still carries his Vectrex titles, but I don't know if they're in contact with him, or if their agreement with him is just pre-existing from a long time ago.

 

Atari would need to get Alex's blessing (or that of his family, if necessary) to complete the game on his behalf, then pay another homebrew programmer (or team of them) to finish the game. Ideally, this would be an established homebrew programmer with attention to detail and a commitment to quality (I'd recommend Thomas, for starters).

 

Reasons for this particular game:

• Man Goes Down is an excellent, fun, original game. On its own merits, it deserves to be finished up and released. It very nearly made it.
• It would speak volumes about Atari's commitment to the homebrew community by celebrating Alex's work and going the extra mile to see it properly completed (and compensating him for it).
• It has consistently been requested more than any other homebrew game that I can recall. Despite it now being nearly 20 years, people are still asking about it (including earlier in this thread).
• This July, it will be 20 years since the game was originally announced. I can't think of a better tribute than completing it for its anniversary.
• Alex contributed a great deal to the early work done on the AtariVox, and Man Goes Down makes terrific use of it. This would be an opportunity for Atari to add support to the 2600+ for the AtariVox. Maybe even design and sell a little external companion speaker for it.
• The label artwork is already finished (selected by Alex as part of the contest linked earlier). I was lucky enough to have my work chosen, and I'd be glad to work with Atari to provide the necessary files for the printed materials. The manual is about 75% complete.
• A disassembly of Alex's Vectrex game Spike Goes Down, might offer some guidance for completing the game.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

4 hours ago, PowerDubs said:

Same thing most people want when they think Atari.

 

Pitfall

 

...and a modern Jack Black commercial to go along with it's re-release!

You know, I could see Jack being totally up for that honestly, considering he’s still into gaming that would be pretty cool and he could totally go crazy with it.

[+sramirez2008]

31 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

Here's what I'd like to see: Man Goes Down completed and released. Cart + box + printed manual, available through AtariAge.

This please. Pretty please with sugar on top.

[Warboss Gegguz]

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

I love all things Asteroids and met the maker at PRGE (2019). Good luck everyone. 🙂

BRO! Nice! jealous!

Yeah, Ed Logg and Eugene Jarvis are probably my favorite 80s game designers (at least from the US).

I'd have so many questions...

[+sramirez2008]

20 minutes ago, Warboss Gegguz said:

Yeah, Ed Logg and Eugene Jarvis are probably my favorite 80s game designers

I’ve met both and both were true gentleman. Eugene Jarvis signed some items for my son at a local expo. Robotron is my older son’s favorite coin-op. My younger sons is Tron and my wife’s is Centipede. We play 7800 Centipede (track-ball edition) a lot.

 

Game on everyone!

[Warboss Gegguz]

10 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

I’ve met both and both were true gentleman. Eugene Jarvis signed some items for my son at a local expo. Robotron is my older son’s favorite coin-op. My younger sons is Tron and my wife’s is Centipede. We play 7800 Centipede (track-ball edition) a lot.

 

Game on everyone!

Wholesome, and good taste.

[PacManPlus]

Not on topic but kind of on topic, I believe any new carts to be made should use @Nathan Strum for the artwork.  ANYTHING he does is amazing!

[PacManPlus]

31 minutes ago, Warboss Gegguz said:

BRO! Nice! jealous!

Yeah, Ed Logg and Eugene Jarvis are probably my favorite 80s game designers (at least from the US).

I'd have so many questions...

I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Mr. Jarvis regarding Defender when I was working on it for the 7800.  Very cool person.

[Laner]

All the Swordquest games on a single cart!

[Silvio Mogno]

Crystal Castles

[Warboss Gegguz]

2 minutes ago, PacManPlus said:

I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Mr. Jarvis regarding Defender when I was working on it for the 7800.  Very cool person.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of interviews with him and he seems like a chill dude. I mean, he even helped the team making Nex Machina (which is basically a giant robotron fangame) as an advisor.

And I'm glad Raw Thrills is doing well for themselves, especially with the psuedo-Arcade Revival happening thanks to places like D&B, Round 1, and Barcades.

[+sramirez2008]

6 minutes ago, PacManPlus said:

Not on topic but kind of on topic, I believe any new carts to be made should use @Nathan Strum for the artwork.  ANYTHING he does is amazing!

Hear, hear!

[+sramirez2008]

6 minutes ago, PacManPlus said:

I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Mr. Jarvis regarding Defender when I was working on it for the 7800. 

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation.

[AllVintage]

Atari 7800 One on One

Atari 2600 Star Raiders

[macdlsa]

Let me start by saying that it's been a while since I wrote here on the Forum, however I ALWAYS follow it. 

As I had already written previously (and also to Mr. David Crane, in pvt on a chat), it's almost 39 years I hope that someone will come out with the idea of making a 2600 porting of the arcade coin-op version of "Pitfall II - The Lost Caverns" (Sega, 1985). 

 

I'm not a programmer but a friend analyzed the programming scheme of "Pitfall II" for consoles and HC and said that, with today's development systems and the possibility of bankswitching much better than what had been done in the past, an "advanced" hack of the game could be done and even pretty closer, if not "equal", to the "mockups" that I already designed: a full-map, closely related to Crane's original, artworks, sprites, and many, many other things...

 

 

I already played on the SG-1000/ColecoVision version (emulated): it is a good attempt to re-create the arcade game but...
HEH!!! ... but I really can't play on it because it has almost no elements of the gameplay of the Sega coin-operated game.

Believe me, since I think I know almost every aspect, even the "hidden" ones, of this game! And it's since the 1985, when I used to play it in a local arcade, in which I owned the top-score [ I also have a score certified as "World Record" on Twin galaxies.

 

 

Here it is the map of the arcade game.
I made it by editing and putting together hundreds of Mame screenshots... 

 

[ First section ]

 

[ Underground levels ]

Just to show you how "big" is the arcade game...

Now, the full-map development of Crane's Pitfall II is 29 horizontal levels/platforms x 8 "columns", for a total of 232 "locations".

The arcade game's "lost caverns" underground section develops for 28 platforms x 8 "columns", and it also has a first section which is 2 levels x 32 screens, but apart from this last the two games' developments are pretty "near".

Then, if someone would want to "hack" the original Pitfall II he can surely maintain the development of the game area.
He should give up only one of the levels of the arcade in the ''underground section"(I have already made a" full map "and, knowing the game, I realized what platform can easily be removed) and as many as 24 horizontal screens of the "first section", but it is a sacrifice that IT SHOULD BE done ! 

 

This is the original map of Pitfall II

 

"Pitfall II - Arcade" mockup map, taken from the original map and filled/completed with almost all the elements of the arcade version. 

Well.. as you can think, I'd really LOVE to see it on our beloved VCS !!

[chad5200]

5 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Yet?

What do you know that you are not telling us?

[Ben from Plaion]

4 minutes ago, chad5200 said:

What do you know that you are not telling us?

All these issues are being ironed out right now.

[DocRusty]

Demon attack hands down! Loved that game!

[+D Train]

5 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

Here's what I'd like to see: Man Goes Down completed and released.

There are a lot of great suggestions in this thread.  atari could probably suss out a very exciting top five if they wanted to.  it would actually be kind of great for them to pursue a "top five" every year as a way to keep the community excited and engaged.

 

I do think that @Nathan Strum's suggestion is excellent, for all of the reasons mentioned.  seems like it's a sentimental favorite for top spot to me if atari is actually going to do follow up.

[mercury3]

Would love to see some Atari 7800 carts! Midnight Mutants! Pete Rose Baseball!