Galagon
Galagon brings the hit arcade game to the Atari 2600! Champ Games continues their excellent track record of bringing remarkable arcade ports to the Atari 2600. Their previous titles include Wizard of Wor Arcade, Mappy, Super Cobra Arcade, Scramble, Lady Bug, and Conquest of Mars. Galagon features one and two player modes (including two-player co-op and challenge modes), several skill levels, the ability to enable auto-fire independently for each player, pause functionality, AtariVox support to save high scores, and QuadTari support to allow two-players and AtariVox use at the same time.
How to Play
Galagon is a one or two player game using the joystick controllers. Use the joystick to move your ship left and right to avoid incoming fire and to line up your shots to destroy the enemy. Press the fire button to fire up to two missiles (or four missiles when your ship is doubled). Destroy all of the enemies to advance to the next stage. There are 99 levels to complete.

The Enemies
- Bees (blue): These enemies fly in a loop pattern towards your ship when attacking. Be careful when they loop around to return back to the formation!
- Butterflies (red): These enemies fly in more of a zig-zag pattern towards you and wrap around the screen when they pass your ship.
- Flagships (cyan/blue): These flagship enemies fly alone or in packs protected by butterfly guards. The flagships require two hits to destroy them; after one hit they turn from cyan to blue. Hitting them when they are blue will destroy them.
- Split enemies (multiple): Starting on level 4, at some point during the level a bee will flash and split into three other enemies! They will swoop towards you and circle your ship; destroy all three for bonus points.
- Captured ship (red or blue): When your ship is captured by a flagship (see below), he is forced to fight for the opposition until he is freed. Although he can be destroyed, you should instead try to rescue him so that he may fight for your cause once again!
Tractor Beam
Occasionally during a level, a flagship will fly to a particular spot on the screen and emit a tractor beam attempting to capture your ship. If your ship is captured in the tractor beam, it will turn red (or blue for player 2) and join the enemy! When he takes off from formation, shoot his captor to free him and double up your ship (and double your fire power!), but be careful not to shoot the captured ship. With double fire, your two ships will each fire a missile at the same time (up to two each).
Challenge Stages
Starting on level 3 and every 4th level after that is a CHALLENGE STAGE. In this stage, the enemies do not fire and your ship cannot be destroyed. The object is to shoot as many ships as possible (up to 40) to increase your score. Shooting all 40 will result in a 10,000 point bonus.
Gameplay Video
Game Options
- Novice, Standard, Advanced, and Challenge Modes
- One and Two Player support (including two-player co-op modes)
- Use Difficulty Switches to Enable/Disable Auto-fire for each player
- Built-in Pause Feature using Color/BW Switch
- Supports QuadTari Adapter for simultaneous two-player and AtariVox support
- High-Score Tables stored using AtariVox or SaveKey (if present)
Screenshots




Choose Your Galagon Label!
We've created two different label designs for Galagon, featuring Dave Dries' artwork. "Style A" is the artwork on the front of the box, and "Style B" is the artwork featured on the back of the box. Please choose above which label style you want! If you don't make a choice, you will receive "Style A" by default.


Galagon Poster Included
Dave Dries' beautiful artwork for Galagon is featured on a double-sided 10" x 14" poster and is included free with the game!

QuadTari Support
Galagon has built-in support for the QuadTari, which is a device that allows you to plug up to four controllers into your Atari 2600 or 2600-compatible system. In the case of Galagon, you can connect two joysticks and an AtariVox or SaveKey into your console at the same time. This allows two players to enjoy the game while being able to save your high scores and other data to the AtariVox. You can see all the games in the AtariAge Store with QuadTari support here.
AtariVox Support
If you have an AtariVox or SaveKey plugged into joystick port 2, up to five high scores are saved for each skill level. The current skill level, game mode, and number of players are also saved. To reset all scores on the AtariVox/Savekey for Wizard of Wor Arcade, press and hold RESET while powering on the game.
Get a Galagon Box!

If you'd like a boxed copy of Galagon, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Galagon to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Galagon cartridge in place. We want you to play our games, so we have not sealed or shrinkwrapped the boxes in any way, allowing you easy access to the game cartridge and manual.
These boxes are the same size as boxes Atari produced for their games "back in the day". They look great sitting on a shelf with your other boxed homebrew games, or alongside games from the classic Atari 2600 library. We only have a limited number of boxes for each game, and there is no guarantee they will become available again once our supplies are exhausted. Click on the images to the right to see larger photos of the box.
Additional Information
Galagon is a Melody-enhanced game that takes full advantage of the CDF mode in the Melody.
Galagon includes game cartridge and full-color, 12-page manual, and a double-sided 10" x 14" poster featuring Dave Dries' Galagon artwork! You can optionally purchase a professionally printed box (see above)
Available in NTSC and PAL60 television formats--please select above. If you do not select an option, you will receive an NTSC cartridge by default.
Number of Players | 1 - 2 |
Controller | Joysticks |
Cartridge Size | 32K CDF |
Code and Design | John W. Champeau |
Graphics and Design | Nathan Strum |
Music and Sound Effects | Ross Keenum |
Packaging Illustration and Design | Dave Dries |
With a nice variety of enemies, fast scrolling star sprites and explosion frame sound on your ship is all very close to the arcade. Double fighter is there too with the Boss ship's tractor beam to suck you in. Extra modes like the 2-player Co-Op is actually really cool with both ships on the same screen which you can save the highscore if you have a Quadtari accessory.
Challenge mode really changes things up as its basically going through 99 challenge stages where you shoot all 40 enemies in each round to keep your double ships. Miss a couple and you might lose a ship in process making this port fresh and interesting to keep on coming back for more. Champgames has outdone himself with this unofficial arcade port which I highly recommend to pick it up when you have time to kill.
I'm in the UK and import taxes make this far too expensive to buy a physical copy plus I am unable to play this on a real 2600.
Here's a link to my full review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRXA0d9ZwcQ
That being said, this is an EXCELLENT port. No need to repeat all the great things people have already said. They are correct, it's amazing.
Now, I hear a few (minor) complaints about the limitations of the Atari (spacing, etc) but that's a good thing and also what makes this game great! You see, it's different enough to NOT be the same old version of Galaga you have played a MILLION times and already own on multiple systems! It's refreshing to have something a little different! Makes it fun all over again!
I would have gave 4 joysticks but the option to do the "challenge stages" ONLY is a HUGE plus and has added many hours of gameplay for me. I'll admit it, there are times when I play Galaga where I am just mindlessly going through the motions, eagerly awaiting the Challenge stage (which is my favorite part of the game) Now I can play a quick game of ONLY challenge stages (or make an entire Sunday morning out of it, I have!!) and for that, plus the atarivox high score save, this game gets a coveted 5 Joystick rating from me.
Pick it up, It's worth it guys, and the packaging is top notch too (I even hung the poster on my wall just like I did back in the 80's)
This puts the 7800 version to shame in every way.
The gameplay is fantastic, and so are the graphics. It's as close to the real thing as I've experienced on any 8-bit platform!
The hi-score table is saved too if you have a save key or Atarivox, which I think adds to the replay value, trying to beat your highest score!
Superb packaging and artwork too. A must have in anyone's collection!
I think Galagon on the Atari 2600 is excellent. There's a fairly small, but nice variety of enemies that attack you in numerous ways and formations. Whilst the way the game looks and sounds is first class. A sign of a good game is one that you keep wanting to come back to and Galgon provides that for me. It's not easy, but I keep wanting to return to it and get past my previous best which is stage 12. Very addictive.
It is as close as you can get to the arcade on the 2600. The graphics and sound are both great and true to the arcade. Both are better than you would expect on a 2600.
It comes in professional, quality packaging with beautiful artwork.
If you are a Galaga fan, this is a MUST get. Even if you aren't, this is probably a must get just for the quality of it.
One of the best games for the 2600.
If you're not bothered by the enemies' spacing (a true limitation of the VCS that can't be helped) than yes - Galagon is damn near arcade 'perfect'. Another top notch production from Champ Games and one of the very few VCS games that actually tires out my thumb while playing! Time to dust off the Starplex controller. :-)