14 replies to this topic

[PitfallHarry77]

There are many amazing home-brew games at the moment that i am trying to track and I was just wondering if I had missed any. I am super excited about the Wizard of Wor Arcade game. I had a go at the WIP rom with my kids and we had an absolute blast. I already was a fan of the original but this blows it away. I rate it as one of the best two player games out there on any system. It got my kids and their mates off the modern consoles. I am really impressed with Chaotic Grill as I like the Burgertime arcade but was never keen on the Atari 2600 version. I had a go of Chaotic Grill and it plays really well. Finally, I was thrilled to see that it looks like a version of Zookeeper will be released for the Atari and video footage surpasses all of my expectations of what I thought was possible. I have never seen an original cabinet of it here but play it on the PS2. The new version looks just as good so it looks like I will be switching to Atari for Zookeeper. I think I have more fun on the Atari now then back when I was a kid because the games that I have are just so much better. It is the main machine I go to for an arcade experience at home. When I was a kid I had Barnstorming, Skyjinks and Human Cannonball. The Atari Video Critic ranks all of these poorly and I think he said that Human Cannonball barely qualified as a game.

 

Anyway, here is a rundown of what I am following and I am really interested in what I am missing:

 

Fairly recently released (but still exciting!!!):

 

Mappy - an incredible port that continues to push the boundaries and redefines everyone's expectations (and a great game)
Super Cobra Arcade - an amazingly accurate arcade port that just plays so well

Draconian - a superb port with great graphics, sound and playability based on the different strategic approaches that can be taken

Assembloids - a top drawer puzzle game that all my family enjoy and always entertains the crowds if you leave it on at dinner parties

Space Cactus Canyon - played the rom and it looked good unfortunately there is no PAL release for this one

Sheep It Up!! - a fun little game that has an addictive quality

Balloon Run - looks to be a good game but no PAL version for this one either

 

Upcoming homebrew releases that I am following:

 

Wizard of Wor Arcade - looks like it will be released very soon and a must buy!!  

Chaotic Grill - another arcade experience coming to the Atari, correcting the original version which really wasn't a lot of fun to play and looked terrible

Zookeeper - early days but game footage already looks great and all the levels seem to be in place

Frantic - Spiceware is working on this so we know it will be great and another quality homebrew release

Pacman 8k - this looks ready for release and I would really love to get it on cartridge. The 4k version I own is already good but this surpasses it and is a favourite version of Pacman for me on any system. I definitely think it has more character than the old NES version and I like it equally to the arcade. Will it ever be available to buy?

Donkey Kong VCS - another one I am looking out for the release as it is fantastic and looked to be completed

Donkey Kong Arcade - would love to see this released on a cartridge. Looks really good with only some work needed on the jumping mechanic for the elevator level to be a very accurate port

A Better Mario Bros - the graphical upgrade on this looked fantastic but I haven't heard anything about it in a while

Circus Atariage - like a lot of others, I love Circus Atari but it would benefit from some graphical improvements. This looked pretty much done except the clowns needed to bounce off the balloons a little more rather than just going through them. Anyway, it looked super impressive but I haven't heard anything.

Rally X - this looks another fantastic port on the Atari but has been quiet for a while. I enjoy the rom but would love to see a PAL cartridge release. I think they were working on the smoke that comes out the back of the car as it was just blocks initially. 

 

These are the games I am interested in, along with the many great homebrew games that have already been released over the years in a list that is lengthening rapidly. I was wondering everyone's thoughts were and if there are any games coming up that I have missed that are looking good and there is growing anticipation for.

 

 

 

[Muddyfunster]

You seem to have excluded all bB games from your list (from what I can see).

[SpiceWare]

You seem to have excluded all bB games from your list (from what I can see).

 

 

Donkey Kong Arcade is tagged as bB.  Sheep It Up is bB as well, at least per the 2018 Atari Awards Nominations list.

 

That said, he should check out your Tyre Trax and Dare Devil games.

[Muddyfunster]

 

 

Donkey Kong Arcade is tagged as bB.  Sheep It Up is bB as well, at least per the 2018 Atari Awards Nominations list.

 

That said, he should check out your Tyre Trax and Dare Devil games.

 

I stand corrected sir! and didn't mean to sound like an accusation against the OP! (and thanks for linking my games).

 

That will teach me to check before quick replying from my phone

Edited by Muddyfunster, Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:46 PM.

[Karl G]

Space Cactus Canyon is also a bB game.

The one that I'm most looking forward to that hasn't been mentioned yet would be Aardvark (not a bB game).

[sramirez2008]

Check out Aardvark and Avalanche! 

 

<edit> Karl G beat me to mentioning Aardvark.

Edited by sramirez2008, Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:48 PM.

[Muddyfunster]

I would add "Spies in the Night" and "Space Game" - two of my favourites and both worth taking the time to check out.

 

Amoeba Jump is great to play with the kids too.

[PitfallHarry77]

My apologies, I just tried your Dare Devil game and it is looking great with an addictive quality in trying to get a top score.  There are plenty of games where you are dodging things as you move up the screen so it is refreshing to be moving down in this case and I like the premise. The mechanics work really well as you can speed up or slow down as required, with the wind adding further complications. I should also have added Space Game to games recently released (which I think is a Batari Basic game). I played that and enjoyed the bonuses element to it. I think it has a bit more to it than some of my favourite games such as Megamania, Phoenix and Demon Attack. I am sure that there are plenty of great games currently in progress which I am unaware of. Which other Bb games do you recommend? 

[Karl G]

Sword of Surtr is quite excellent, IMO.

[sramirez2008]

I would add "Spies in the Night" and "Space Game" - two of my favourites and both worth taking the time to check out.

 

Amoeba Jump is great to play with the kids too.

 

Spies in the Night 2 (WIP) is looking good.

[PitfallHarry77]

Thank you for all the suggestions and I have enjoyed checking them out. Sure enough, although I try to keep up with things there were quality games that I had missed. I was particularly impressed with Aardvark. I have never seen the arcade but looked at some footage of it and it seems a very accurate port. It is perfectly suited to the Atari with the maze element to it but this is a very unique take as I have never played anything like it. It is incredibly tough and I died quickly a lot of times before getting past the first level but it is also addictive and I hit the reset button repeatedly to have another go. I am not sure why I missed this one as there is a lot of material written on it and it has made enormous progress through the development stages. The first shot I had was an old build and it was looking good in the early stages but fantastic now. I also enjoyed Tyre Trax which I had missed. It is good to see a game like this as you don't see many home-brews based on racing or involving bikes or cars. I also enjoyed Drive which I really should add to my original list above. I really like the original Pole Position port and think it is still a lot of fun. I just hope that one day someone has a go at improving the look of the cars and adds roadside obstacles as that is all I can see that is missing from the arcade. Then you could play a close to perfect version of Pole Position in the comfort of your home on Atari. Spies in the Night is really clever but I can only play it on Stella and not on my Atari. I am not sure if there are plans for a PAL release of this one. Avalanche looks really good as I am a fan of both Kaboom and paddle games in general. Arkyology was not on my list as it isn't a home-brew but it is a pretty exciting discovery nevertheless and I think it would have been released when originally planned. Finally, Amoeba Jump is a fun little game which is super addictive and I think my family will really enjoy. Thank you for the suggestions and also for helping me discover Zero Page Homebrew during my searches. 

[Lillapojkenpåön]

All the ones that has been mentioned

 

+

 

Ballblazer

Spaceman Splorf: Planet of Doom

Two player tetris

The bus-stuffing Bomberman game

The Nyan Cat game

Tower of Rubble

Unreal Tournament

Amoeba jump

Stripes of Terror

Edited by Lillapojkenpåön, Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:11 PM.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

+ RoboMechanik

[Brian O]

+ RoboMechanik

Yeah, this game is a lot of fun and looks great.

[NostAlgae37]

My top 3 (in alphabetical order, just to not display any favoritism ):

 

Aardvark

Carrot Kingdom

Dare Devil

 

I intentionally left out Chaotic Grill because I don't think it's good form to plug one's own stuff (I made all of the sprite graphics for this game).