Killer Apps for the 2600+?

[John Stamos Mullet]

I'm talking about games that don't already exist for 2600/7800 that Atari could do to bolster sales:

 

Crystal Castles 7800 w/ trak-ball support. This could/would be a fairly killer app for the 2600+.

 

It's an Atari title, so no complicated licensing. There really aren't any "great" home ports of it back in the day, not including when actual arcade roms came with a retro compilation disc for a modern system.

 

Other options:

 

Paperboy 7800 could be another great port, along with marble madness. Maybe even I, Robot 7800?

 

 

[Sean_1970]

A new trackball with a multi-cart has been suggested in another thread and I agree that would be pretty awesome. I, Robot is a game I quite enjoy which should be doable - Cloak and Dagger for 7800 with dual-stick support would also be groovy. I think Paperboy was after the Atari Corp sell off (also Marble Madness) but I feel like the Atari Games arcade titles should have been licensed for Atari 50, so any of those would be cool, if possible.

[MikeM_]

40 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I'm talking about games that don't already exist for 2600/7800 that Atari could do to bolster sales:

 

Crystal Castles 7800 w/ trak-ball support. This could/would be a fairly killer app for the 2600+.

 

It's an Atari title, so no complicated licensing. There really aren't any "great" home ports of it back in the day, not including when actual arcade roms came with a retro compilation disc for a modern system.

 

Other options:

 

Paperboy 7800 could be another great port, along with marble madness. Maybe even I, Robot 7800?

 

 

I wonder if Bentley Bear could be Atari’s Mario?

 

I heard great things about Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest so I ordered that last month. Really looking forward to a new 7800 platformer.
Perhaps they could put him in more (the metroidvania I suggested in another thread would be a good candidate for Bentley Bear 3). 
 

My mind goes towards the kinds of games that made the NES the powerhouse it was, which should be well within the capabilities of the 2600+:

Metroid

Castlevania

Legend of Zelda

SMB

I feel that the Tengen titles might be a good place to look for inspiration depending on how the rights currently sit. 

 

A 7800 port of Super Sprint (with paddle support)

A 7800 port of Gauntlet

A sequel to Dark chambers

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by MikeM_

[Varanis Ridari]

Personally?

 

A 7800 Secret Quest could be cool, with save states if possible. If not (because of rom dumping), I could live with passwords.

 

Or some "demakes" of later Atari published titles on other systems brought down to 2600 or 7800 (or both)

 

An Alone in the Dark title, a Riddick title, some sort of Driver title, Bullet Witch, so many options from the Infogrames/Atari catalog.

 

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

1 hour ago, MikeM_ said:

I wonder if Bentley Bear could be Atari’s Mario?

I've made that case before  

 

 

Quote

I feel that the Tengen titles might be a good place to look for inspiration depending on how the rights currently sit. 

 

A 7800 port of Super Sprint (with paddle support)

A 7800 port of Gauntlet

A sequel to Dark chambers

All of the rights for everything Atari Games (i.e., post June 1st, 1984) currently reside with Warner Bros. Probably wouldn't be worth it for something like the 2600+, as discussed on another thread about the WB licensing subject, but it would be cool. Also, IIRC, there was a version of Gauntlet in the works on the 7800, but was never released/found. 

 

Quote

A 7800 Secret Quest could be cool, with save states if possible

It is too bad that the 7800 never got a bunch of the late era 2600 releases. Solaris, Secret Quest, Save Mary, would have all made for great releases - particularly Secret Quest. Since it was LoZ, I wonder why they didn't try to put it on the more powerful system.  

Edited March 9 by Shaggy the Atarian

[MikeM_]

34 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

…

All of the rights for everything Atari Games (i.e., post June 1st, 1984) currently reside with Warner Bros. Probably wouldn't be worth it for something like the 2600+, as discussed on another thread about the WB licensing subject, but it would be cool. Also, IIRC, there was a version of Gauntlet in the works on the 7800, but was never released/found. 

 

It is too bad that the 7800 never got a bunch of the late era 2600 released. Solaris, Secret Quest, Save Mary, would have all made for great releases. 

I was afraid of that. 
 

Atari Mania is probably an easy way then to look at the definitive list of what IP the company has ownership of. 
 

I will double down on my Bentley Bear idea then. 👍🏼 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

14 minutes ago, MikeM_ said:

I was afraid of that. 
 

Atari Mania is probably an easy way then to look at the definitive list of what IP the company has ownership of. 
 

I will double down on my Bentley Bear idea then. 👍🏼 

Lately Atari has been gathering up new IP - they recently bought Stern's 80s video games like Berzerk, they also bought Microprose IP. But Warner owns the Atari Games stuff since AG was bought by Midway in the late '90s, then when Midway went bankrupt in '09, WB bought them all back. That's why every new Mortal Kombat has WB as the publisher. Outside of the Midway Arcade Treasures and the 2014 Gauntlet game though, it seems that no one at WB remembers/knows that they have that catalog. 

 

That said, everything pre-'84 from Pong to I, Robot, present Atari has, excepting BattleZone (which they sold off back in 2012 to Rebellion). They also have the Tramiel-era IP, but there isn't much there to salivate over. Except for maybe Ninja Golf  

[Marc Fiorillo]

Where do the rights for STUN Runner and RoadBlasters sit?  Those would be great for the 7800/2600+.

[Sean_1970]

11 hours ago, Marc Fiorillo said:

Where do the rights for STUN Runner and RoadBlasters sit?  Those would be great for the 7800/2600+.

Those will be Warner Interactive as they were Atari Games titles. Xybots, Escapse from the Planet of the Robot Monsters (possibly too many buttons - it’s awkward even with a PS4 pad and MAME). So many good ones in their stable from Atari, Midway and Williams: Domino Man and Timber would be fun too or Bubbles!

[Shaggy the Atarian]

12 hours ago, Marc Fiorillo said:

Where do the rights for STUN Runner and RoadBlasters sit?  Those would be great for the 7800/2600+.

As Sean mentioned it's Warner, but easiest way to remember it is:

 

If it had this logo on it, or Williams, or Midway, or Time Warner Interactive, it is owned by Warner Bros./Discovery (with few exceptions - a game here and there has been sold off over the years, but 98% of the catalog is with WB)