r_type2600

Good choice ! Big Kung Food fan here (and I stand up to that - I know it regularly appears on the worst games list ), and I found Fat Bobby to be in the same vein (at least graphically).

Great art pieces and very nicely framed. Some mat color choices are a bit weird though (in particular - a cream mat for Xenophobe?) The reuse of the Asteroids ship is awkward indeed - always thought that this cover was a rush composition made by an art director, surprised to see that it was an actual painting. Odd they went so blant with this on. Gates of Zendecon might not have been a sensation, but it was solid enough to deserve a more memorable cover. A pity about the smear in the Ms Pac-Man painting - one of my favorite Lynx covers!

Please add me to the list as well.

The list almost exactly corresponds to the proto reproductions dealer BEST was offering for a long time, so I suspect the original owner had indeed acquired the set from Best Electronics and then slapped on his selfmade labels.

Congrats for your first VCS assembler game! Any new assembler game is a welcome addition to the 2600 library, especially as 98% of assembler homebrews showcase a high level of commitment and bear a basic playability that generally only the best bBatari efforts can attain. This is no different with this game :-) However I must admit that for some reason the game did not manage to excite me for too long. Despite the remarkable upbeat pace and the basic gameplay that does work smoothly. Unfortunately it lacks spice, as was already remarked by others. But maybe there's another reason why it does not motivate long. After all, we've seen hundreds of games that did manage to hook people despite very basic gameplay. So I was tinkering about this and came to a conclusion, which I hope does not come over as too harsh. The game setting/story simply does not make sense! A Jet zipping through the skies dodging walls? or clouds? neither makes sense, nothing any player could really identify himself with. Thus no motivation, and no lasting excitement. But that upbeat game pace. What was it reminding me !? This!: Run Lola Run Wouldn't that setting feel more natural, a fugitive on an eternal run, flashing down alley after alley, gap through gap? And it wouldn't require too much changes, mainly to change the player character. A modestly animated human (female to stick with the inspiration) character instead of the current static jet. That change of setting would also allow to introduce a couple of gameplay refinements that should add more punch to the gameflow: - the character has now a limited number of "jumps" per level/alley (triggered by the fire buttons). Starting with say 3, he could pick up more jumps via the bonus items, with a set maximum. Let's call those bonus items "shirts" to pep up the story. The number of available jumps could then be indicated through a pattern of colors. - the levels (alleys) can be differentiated simply through color cycling of the background and walls. Level design to be based on increasing speed, but also decreasing gaps. Maybe also thicker walls. - scoring incentives on the basis of used up "shirts" at the end of levels. Any remaining ones would be counted as bonus points. Etc. Just thinking loud, the game in any case has a lot of potential !

How about Boulder Dash II ? Would give the ones who missed out with the first their chance to grab a physical Boulder Dash cart, yet still attract a lot of buyers since it would be an all new game. That shall justify a large enough production run (eventually larger than for the first) to cover the licensing costs...

Hey, I don't want to play it to the bones now. Want to preserve that excitement for when I have the physical cartridge release! I gave the game several more runs on the emulator, yet with all the points you raised, I still can't really find any notable weaknesses. Menu, controls - work great Sound effects - seem to be spot on, as far as the 2600 allows. Gameplay - smooth and fast. Difficulty levels, ramp up, replay value - 3 levels seem to be sufficient, but ok, I sure would not complain if there were a couple more to warrant longevity. Scoring, Score recording, Bonus lives - seem to follow the arcade original point for point. Don't see what more one should ask for. Differences to the arcade version - I noted the missing stars background. Would be nice, but attributing this to the VCS limitations, I can very well live without it. New features - Scramble is THE classic horizontal shooter, the game that invented the genre, and a well-rounded game experience anyway. Adding features would just detract from the joy of having such a faithful translation of an essential arcade classic on the VCS . If one wants to expand on it (and consequently change it) then give us "Super Scramble". But leave this game experience as pure as it is now. If John can be tempted to work on a follow-up game (such as Sea Dragon or Tail of Beta Lyrae known from the 400/800 or the obscure arcade game Scorpion from zaccaria), that would be the opportunity to suggest new features/ideas/levels and expand on the original game

Funtastic ! So great to see ChampGames back, and with a side-scroller on the VCS, no less! Really unexpected and impressing achievement, would not have expected the gameplay of a classic sidescrolling shooter being so perfectly translated to the 2600. Everything else topnotch as well - graphics, sound, presentation. Can't really see any possible improvements - game appears perfect to me, and am looking forward to its release on the AA store.

Amazing stuff, so cool that you've injected a new dimension into those games. Other Trak-ball games? Hmm, how about the good old classic Basketball? - the arcade version used them. I guess the big challenge would be to implement simultaneous two players trakball control...

Ianoid !!

Even if indirectly, it's ironic that he's referring to a site called "mogelpower" (=cheating power) to boost his credibility.

I hear you. Same for 2600 Incredible Hulk. Just another take on Pong, IMO.

Having just discovered another cool space shooter in development for the 2600 - Point Zero - it reminded me of this other very promising homebrew, of which we have not heard of for a while. Looks like the author has been taken up by RL meanwhile, but I hope he will resume work on this game sooner or later, it has so much potential and what's there is already very appealing!

Thanks for resurrecting this thread, had completely missed it initially, glad to have discovered this little gem now :-) Great game, feels and plays a lot like an Imagic game, and is very fun and captivating too! Particularly taken by the novel (at least for a 2600 game) power-up elements, shades of Galaga here. And how often have we seen a challenging boss level on a 2600 game? The game might still need a bit of polishing here and there (for instance the Game Over face is a nice idea, but not fitting for such a space shooter game, IMO. Also the game should revert back to the title screen after a while) Really hope this gets the deserved cartridge release, surely belongs into any well-sorted 2600 homebrew library.

That's one great little game, full of gameplay and with a well rounded-up feel to it. Very nice !!! A couple of (cosmetic) suggestions: - for diversity in the long run, it would be neat to have varying background color patterns, say every 10 rooms (think Missile Command, etc.) Should be simple enough to implement. - for variety on the title screen, I thought it would be cool to feature the ninja on it, continuously bouncing off the various sides of the screen and the game logo. You would have to change the color of the background then (since the ninja's also black) - like dark blue for example. - ok, that one may be too much for your targeted 4K, but let me just drop the suggestion anyway. It's always nice to include some kind of Bonus gameplay incentive, which adds another layer to a game. How about some bonus "lampoon" occasionally appearing on a wall that the player can (but doesn't have to) grab for some reward against the risk of delaying his progress/ being caught by the death beam. Not sure what that reward could be for the current version of this game though (the standard would be a score bonus, but since your game doesn't have one...)

I think at this point it is overdue to nominate airgames for the 2600 Collectors Hall of Fame.

Yoda = Hulk dopo "vaffanculo"

November is the new April.

Thanks for the inspiring review (as always), sounds like one movie to check out. Talking about positively weird scifi films - ever heard of "The Quiet Earth"? Stumbled across this by chance, and it really left a lasting impression on me. A New Zealand post-apocalyptic film that carries that typical early 80es vibe and has aged rather well.

Me too prefers the old font (and colors). Great game in any case, and I love how recently 2600 programmers are treating us not only with a steady flow of highly enjoyable homebrews, but also multiple versions/variations (Star Caste, DK, 2048/Three.s) Thomas, if Mondrian's on your mind currently, you might want to check out the following game for the iOS: http://toucharcade.com/2010/01/05/mondrian-a-challenging-puzzler-that-you-didnt-know-you-wanted/

Me too !

Frankly, I was not seeing the point of an updated Circus Atari, but am all converted now - Circus AtariAge promises to become another deeply addicting and immediately absorbing new homebrew for the 2600, joining the likes of Lady Bug, Toyshop Trouble or Lead, to name a few. Really impressed by the love to detail - for example the "living" letters in the "provisional" title screen are a great touch. Of course looking forward how the indicated real title screen can eventually topple this one. But it would be a pity if the demo title screen gets scrapped and lost. Suggestion - how about keeping it as the basis for a series of intermissions, whenever a new gameplay element is being introduced? For variation, the little stickmen could then go through different animations for each succeeding intermission (maybe in two phases: first a celebration, followed by a little sketch introducing the next element)

78 for me please

I would make exactly the same ranking. There are other poorly ported games, but those three are really depressing spots in the 2600 library as the original versions are gems with captivating gameplay and lots of atmosphere - the ports look like early works of Cecilia Gimenez. They really scream for getting the proper treatment on the VCS. Zaxxon sure is a travesty of the arcade version, but it's never really been a fun game anyway IMO, so why bother....

Bumping this extremely promising kickstarter project. Give it a look and also check the abundant updates to ascertain yourself this book author takes his project as well as his supporters very seriously.