Aardvark - Atari 2600

Price:
$35.00

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TV Type:  NTSC        PAL60      
Box Upgrade:  No        Yes (Add $15.00)      
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Aardvark

Welcome to Nature!

Welcome to nature! Guide Oscar the Aardvark in his quest for tasty ant eggs and the most delicious ants hidden deep below ground. But be careful with your tongue, you could get an unexpected bite!

How to Play

Oscar will enter the scene and put his tongue down the anthill. Move the joystick left, right, down or up to move his tongue tip and eat all the eggs (10 points each).

Press the FIRE button to quickly retract the tongue. Oscar cannot completely remove his tongue until the level is cleared. Once all eggs in the anthill are eaten, Oscar will move to the next, more dangerous hill. Watch the sun moving across the sky. It will eventually set and night will fall, which will bring out the most deadly enemy, so you better hurry!

Whenever Oscar moves to the next hill or loses a life, the Bonus Screen is shown. Here the worms eaten multiply the bonus score for each ant eaten.

Aardvark

Enemies and Obstacles

  • Ants: These are the most common enemies. Oscar can eat them with the tip of his tongue. But if they touch any other part of his tongue, he will lose one life!
  • Red Ants and Caterpillars: Both usually appear only deeper in the anthill. Like the normal ants, Oscar can eat them with the tip of his tongue only and must avoid them touching any other part of his tongue. But beware – they can suddenly reverse direction, too!
  • Worm: The worm can only be eaten from its back because its head is poisonous!
  • Queens: The queens hide at the bottom of the anthill. They will eliminate all other enemies on the screen when eaten. Use them wisely!
  • Spider: The spider will only appear at night. This is the most dangerous enemy, because Oscar cannot eat it! It will slowly travel down Oscar’s tongue and kill him when it reaches the tip. The only way to kill the spider is eating a queen, but it will reappear very soon after again!
  • Rocks: In WILD modes, the ants have dragged rocks into the tunnels. The rocks are harmless, but they will block Oscar’s tongue, often forcing him to find more dangerous paths down into the hill.

The WILD modes add obstacles which can block your path, and changes are also made to enemy behavior. Try the fun of discovery!

Gameplay Video

Screenshots

Aardvark Screenshot Aardvark Screenshot Aardvark Screenshot Aardvark Screenshot Aardvark Screenshot Aardvark Screenshot

AtariVox Support

Aardvark can use the AtariVox or SaveKey for saving high scores. Each preset mode saves its own high score. If you change the starting options, your custom configuration will be saved in its own unique slot. Your most recently played game option is also saved.

Saved scores can be erased on power up by pressing down on the joystick and holding the FIRE button while the AtariAge logo is displayed.

Get an Aardvark Box!

Aardvark Box

If you'd like a boxed copy of Aardvark, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Aardvark to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Aardvark 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

Aardvark includes game cartridge and 8-page manual. You may optionally purchase a professionally printed box (see above). Aardvark is available in NTSC and PAL60 television formats. Please specify above when ordering or you will receive an NTSC cartridge by default.

Number of Players 1
Controller Joystick
Cartridge Size 32K + SARA RAM
Game Design and Development Óscar Toledo G. and Thomas Jentzsch
Graphics and Animation Nathan Strum
Packaging Artwork and Design Nathan Strum
Tony Morse on 11/27/2023 02:58pm
A great twist on the eat-'em-up maze genre, Aardvark is an excellent translation of an arcade game that sadly gets very little recognition.
Charles Wieland on 05/08/2020 12:31am
One of the best homebrew available. Awesome graphics and game play. Just buy it already!
Steve Webber on 04/04/2020 11:52pm
I absolutely love this game and it is another amazing arcade port that is an essential purchase for Atari 2600 fans!! The animated aardvark is superb and has to be the best animated sprite along with the Medieval Mayhem dragon. I think the game plays to the Atari 2600's strengths. It has the perfect risk v reward mechanic and different strategies on how to approach the game. It is providing a lot of fun for the family, and has brought joy in a difficult time where the world is self-isolating. I knew of the original arcade but had never played it. Based on this, it would have been a favourite!! Some have said this is better than the original. The music is top notch and the art work on packaging also looks to set a high standard. A very impressive game and highly recommended. Thank you very much!!
Arne on 02/10/2020 02:15am
I never played the original Anteater game, but when I saw the preview of Aardvark I immediately knew this is a cool game. The rules are easy, but it's hard to master. Difficulty progression is good and there are lots of options to tweak. The game has superb graphics and sound, considering the Atari's limited capabilities. The box and instruction manual are nicely done.
Even my 4 year old kids liked the game. It's simple enough for them and is free of graphic violence.
Thoroughly recommend it!
Steven Louis Ramirez on 01/25/2020 10:34am
A must have game due to its amazing visuals and fluid gameplay. You have precise control over you're aardvarks (Oscar) tongue, which comes in handy when needing to retract and redirect it. I love watching this game almost as much as playing it. There's a lot of animation occurring at once, like Oscar walking across the screen, slurping his enemies through his snout and into his belly and the sun or moon, moving across the sky. This game is a visual treat with balanced gameplay.
David Sherwin on 12/29/2019 01:51pm
Saw it and played it at PRGE.and then bought a copy on the spot. This is a lovely, lovely port of Anteater, and everything about the game is just top-notch. I know I constantly whine about the graphic limitations of the 2600, but the top-notch visuals look like it could have been coded for my beloved A8.
Lee Kebler on 12/08/2019 09:38pm
I don't know if I have ever said this about a game, but I actually think Aardvark is legitimately BETTER than the original arcade game Anteater.

This game is FANTASTIC! The amount of graphics and the animation on the Aardvark is amazing for a 2600 game. Complete with music and an increasing difficulty that ramps fairly but gets pretty hard once the rocks are introduced. This game is a must have!

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