PRGE Homebrew Releases Now Available

[Albert]

The four new homebrew games we released at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo earlier this month are now available in the AtariAge Store. These games are Space Rocks, Seaweed Assault, IXION, and Frenzy.

 

• Space Rocks (Atari 2600) - A mix between Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe, Space Rocks brings the arcade action home in a way never before seen on the 2600! Created by experienced Atari 2600 developer Darrell Spice, Jr., this is the version of Asteroids Atari could only dream of producing back in the day!
• Seaweed Assault (Atari 2600) - In this original homebrew game by Duane Alan Hahn, you must wield your Manatee submarine against highly aggressive seaweed before it clogs up your sector. Don't let the seaweed strangle your civilization to extinction!
• IXION (Atari 2600) - This previously unreleased prototype (itself based on an obscure arcade game) finally sees the light of day in cartridge form! We've even created a more challenging version of the game titled IXION ULTRA with all new levels, with both versions available on the same cartridge.
• Frenzy (Atari 7800) - Atari 7800 veteran Bob Decrescenzo brings arcade classics Frenzy and Berzerk home to the 7800, complete with all the details you'll find in the arcade games. Each game even includes the speech from the arcade!

You can find more detailed information about each of these new games and other recent releases here!

 

 

 

 

[+FujiSkunk]

Buy now and get seven games for the price of four!

[Lucky Man]

Thanks Al! Will Space Rocks be available loose with manual at some point?

[Dr Manhattan]

Already have Space Rocks and Frenzy / Berzerk, plan on picking up Seaweed Assault and Ixion early next month.

[Rhomaios]

Thanks Al! Will Space Rocks be available loose with manual at some point?

 

This is also what I'm looking for.

[+Omegamatrix]

 

Why is the image backwards, but the published by AtariAge.com forwards?

[mkiker2089]

Must be the back of the box. Like some t-shirts I've seen where they do that as a joke.

[Albert]

Must be the back of the box. Like some t-shirts I've seen where they do that as a joke.

Yes, it's the back of the box.

 

..Al

[Cankerwurm]

Hey Al, what about some other reproduction carts I saw at the Expo, like Activision's Kabobber and Combat II? Are they going to be available too?

[Jess Ragan]

Ha! You've done a nice job of reproducing the Sega box art style, right down to replacing the icky Paramount logo with AtariAge's. I do wonder if Ixiom would have been released during the Bally/Midway days, since it was so late to the party, but Bally had a boring box design anyway.

 

What's going to be done with Zippy the Porcupine? I hope that if it's ever released as a cartridge, it would ape the old Genesis style for its box art. You know, an image set against a black and grey grid, metallic logos... none of that red stripe, "Welcome to the Next Level" crap.

[+Nathan Strum]

Ha! You've done a nice job of reproducing the Sega box art style, right down to replacing the icky Paramount logo with AtariAge's. I do wonder if Ixiom would have been released during the Bally/Midway days, since it was so late to the party, but Bally had a boring box design anyway.

 

 

Thanks. I did the artwork for Ixion (collaborating with Dave Dries on the main illustration) and spent a lot of time trying to match the details, probably to the degree that some of them won't even be noticed. But I know they're there. Fortunately I have a pretty-good assortment of CIB Sega games for reference.

 

Based on the existing part numbers, and the visual similarities to Thunderground, I figured Ixion was probably slated to be released after Congo Bongo. That's where the transition from Sega to Bally/Midway occurred, so I could've gone either way, but the Sega boxes are much more distinctive (we couldn't match one detail though - the height).

 

We had to get an all-new label sheet made for the game, which was a little tricky since Sega did a pretty poor job with making their labels consistent.

 

The manual was an interesting challenge since Sega varied each manual's design, so I had to come up with a tacky 80's style that fit in with what they might have done, but wasn't a direct copy of any other manual. But I took elements and cues from those manuals, despite some of their questionable design choices.

 

Anyway, I hope people enjoy it. Besides the work that went into making the artwork and packaging, there's a really good game at its core. And Thomas did a great job making the "Ultra" version that's on the cartridge, which will give any gamer a good workout.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Nathan Strum

[Sprybug]

Ha! You've done a nice job of reproducing the Sega box art style, right down to replacing the icky Paramount logo with AtariAge's. I do wonder if Ixiom would have been released during the Bally/Midway days, since it was so late to the party, but Bally had a boring box design anyway.

 

What's going to be done with Zippy the Porcupine? I hope that if it's ever released as a cartridge, it would ape the old Genesis style for its box art. You know, an image set against a black and grey grid, metallic logos... none of that red stripe, "Welcome to the Next Level" crap.

YES! In fact it's combining the 1st generation Genesis style with last generation Atari 2600 style. So it's basically red label with a grey grid with the picture in the middle and the title of the game on the bottom. I also replaced the Sega Genesis logo with "Atari 2600" and the "16-bit Cartridge" with "64k Cartridge". Here's an example of the art. There's still some altering I'm going to do, but this will give you an idea:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/214639-sonic-the-hedgehog-aka-zippy-the-porcupine-demo/page-4

[Jess Ragan]

Can I make a suggestion? Take the AtariAge logo and give it that same golden sheen as the Sega Genesis seal of approval. It'll be more faithful to the box artwork of actual Genesis games. Using a red grid is a brilliant choice, though... that really does merge the Atari and Sega eras!

[+Darrin9999]

Wish I had some extra cash!