| 6/15/24 |
Of Banks and Worms
Today we
have two new prototype reviews for the 2600.
First up is Bank
Heist which is a relatively unknown 20th
Century Fox game that's actually a lot of fun and
went through a variety of names before it was
released. Next we have Worm
War I which was one of the earliest efforts
by David Lubar who had a fairly prolific career on
the 2600.
|
| 6/12/24 |
While
everyone knows that RealSports Soccer was released
on the 5200, did you know that it was also ported
to the Atari 8-Bit computers? Atari even made
a few upgrades to the game before deciding
not to release it. Check out the new Atari
8-Bit RealSports
Soccer page for more details.
|
| 6/4/24 |
Thanks to
the tireless efforts of Ken Van Mersbergen, we now
have two WIP versions of Gremlins for the Atari
5200. These new versions were recovered from
programmer John Seghers own development disks and
provide an interesting peek at the development
process for this amazing game. Check out the
updated
Gremlins page for more details.
|
| 6/3/24 |
Today we
have not one, but TWO versions of Tarzan.
Best known from its release on the Colecovision,
Tarzan was also planned for the Atari
2600 and Atari
8-Bit computers. Although the Atari
8-Bit prototype has been floating around the
internet for a long time, the Atari
2600 version was still missing (although
rumors said that it did indeed exist). Now
it appears that two different copies of the 2600
version have been found! The first copy was
auctioned off on ebay back in February of 2023 and
the second one turned up in January of 2024 (this
one complete with a production style label).
So are either of these long lost prototypes worth
playing? Read the reviews to find out!
|
| 5/25/24 |
It's not
often you see a 2600 Coleco prototype, especially
one that turns out to be different from the
final. Today we present a late beta for the
2600 port of Roc
n' Rope that was recovered from some
development disks. While the gameplay is the
same as the final version, there are some small
differences in the level layouts. Check out
the brand new Roc
n' Rope page and tell them Tempest sent ya.
|
| 4/30/24 |
Thanks to
fellow prototype historian Ken Van Mersbergen
we've successfully compiled and archived four
different demos for the Atari 5200. While
some of these demos were already archived, they
were not compiled properly due to the lack of
proper tools and had missing features.
The first two demos (Galaxian
and Pac-Man)
were made for the Atari 5200 kiosk unit and are
the same as their home version counterparts minus
the splashy kiosk splash screen and the fact that
they reset after each game.
The other two are both personal demos made
by Atari programmer John Seghers. John made
Space
Race (based on the 1973 Atari coin-op) as a
learning exercise on how to program the
5200. He also made the 3-D
Asteroids demo as an example of how the 5200
might still be able to compete in light of the
then upcoming Atari 7800. Be sure to read up
about these interesting pieces of Atari history.
The Barroom
Baseball page has also been updated to
reflect information found on internal memos about
the project. A new
version for the game was also discovered but
it appears to only differ in some formatting on
the title screen.
|
| 4/14/24 |
It was a
tough job, but somebody had to do it. Well
ok, technically no one HAD to do it, but done it
was. Thanks to the generosity of AtariAge
members Shadow460 and Ianoid, we have a wealth of
Starpath/Arcadia prototype reviews.
Shadow460 first released his prototypes back in
2009, but somehow we missed them (those
responsible have been sacked), while Ianoid
released his today. Between these two finds
we now have prototypes for 11 out of the 12
released games (only Party Mix is not covered),
and two unreleased games (Going-Up?? and
Sweat). A third Starpath prototype cache was
found several years back containing tapes marked
as 'incomplete', but sadly not these were not
dumped at the time. We have included links
to the pictures of these tapes on the appropriate
pages.
Please enjoy these reviews... Or
don't. I'm not the fun police.
Phaser
Patrol
Communist
Mutants From Space
Fireball
Suicide
Mission
Escape
From the Mindmaster
Dragonstomper
Killer
Satellites
Rabbit
Transit
The
Official Frogger
Sword
of Saros
Survival
Island
Sweat
Going
Up??
|
| 2/12/24 |
Hobos & Spiders & Tanks, Oh
My!
Ianiod is
at it again! This time he has very
generously shared the roms for three previously
unknown Atari 2600 games by UA Ltd. Some of
you may already know of UA Ltd.'s three other
games (Cat
Trax, Pleiades,
and Funky
Fish) that surfaced as prototypes back in
2003 and were released by AtariAge. As it
turns out UA Ltd. had three more games lined up
for the 2600: Hobo,
Spiders,
and R2D
Tank. Interestingly all six titles
have now been found as production cartridges
complete with boxes and manuals. It would
appear that UA Ltd. was much closer to releasing
these games than previously thought. Are
they any good? You'll have to read on to
find out.
|
| 11/23/23 |
Cross
another one off the list! A prototype for
the Atari 2600 version of Choplifter
has been found. Long rumoured to exist
somewhere, a working copy finally surfaced in the
collection of a former programmer. The game
looks amazing, but only appears to be around 50%
complete. Still, what's there is very
impressive. Head over to the brand new Choplifter
page for more info.
|
| 11/13/23 |
This
actually isn't a new proto, in fact the rom has
been floating around the net for over 13
years. The problem was that while the code
tested differently, no one wanted to actually play
Airlock
to find out what was different about it.
Well wonder no longer as your prototype master
extraordinaire has 'bit the bullet', so to speak,
and found out what the changes were. Was it
worth the torture of having to play Airlock
over and over again? Check out the new Airlock
page and found out.
|
| 10/25/23 |
Thanks to
AtariAge member Thomas Jentzsch we now have an
understanding of how the debug code in Rush
Hour works. Although many people know
the Rush Hour was a unreleased Commavid game for
the Atari 2600 that was finally released at CGE in
2002, they may not know that three different
prototypes for Rush Hour also exist. These
three prototypes have some very strange debug code
running in them that takes a little
explaining. Head on over to the Rush
Hour page for more info on these three 'new'
prototypes.
|
| 10/21/23 |
Thanks to
AtariAge member Kr0tki we have discovered that the
Atari 5200 version of Jr.
Pac-Man which was always assumed to be the
final version, is in fact a late
WIP with several differences. While it
plays well enough, it has some rough sounds and
has a bug that can soft lock the game. It
was always assumed that a genuine bug fixed
version of the game didn't exist but a few years
ago an Atari 8-Bit prototype of Jr.
Pac-Man was found with a much
later date turned up. This prototype
was not thoroughly investigated at the time for
some reason. As it turns out, this prototype
appears to be the complete and final bug free
version! Be sure to check both of these
prototypes out.
|
| 10/10/23 |
Dare you
delve into the mysteries of the human mind?
What if I said the inner workings of the human
mind played a lot like Robotron? Psyclotron
is a Robotron inspired game developed by former
Atari programmer Jeff Milhorn, but was never
released due to poor market conditions at the
time. Not only is Psyclotron
a blast to play, but it's a graphical and
technological marvel as well. Go take a
look, your mind will thank you.
If action games aren't your thing, then you may be
interested in a new non-game prototype for the
Atari 2600 called Bicycle
Trainer. This program was meant to be
used in conjunction with an exercise bike and
measured the users speed, heart rate, calories
burned, and many other stats. Check out the
Bicycle
Trainer page for more information.
|
| 7/3/23 |
5200 Prototype Extravaganza!
Thanks to
the generosity of AtariAge member Ianoid, we now
have nine
twelve new Atari 5200 prototypes to explore.
While many of these protos are late stage WIP
versions with tiny differences, they're still
interesting to examine. The best of the
bunch is a mid-level WIP of Dig
Dug which has many interesting
differences. The other prototypes include: Asteroids,
Berzerk,
Joust,
Qix
(new page), two versions RealSports Baseball (2-11-83
and 7-6-83),
RealSports
Soccer, Sport
Goofy, Moon
Patrol, Spitfire,
and Robotron.
Be sure to check them all out.
|
| 6/11/23 |
Once again
thanks to John Hardie we now have a disk image for
a completely different version of M*A*S*H*
than what was released for the Atari 8-Bit
computers. This version is was developed by
programmer Frank Cohen (of Clowns and Balloons and
Ghost Chaser fame) and plays rather differently
than the 'Dallas North' Atari 2600 game. Be
sure to check it out on your way to surgery.
|
| 5/30/23 |
Thanks to
the tireless efforts of John Hardie we now have a
rom for a rare educational prototype game called Factorman.
Do you love simplistic and poorly constructed
games? Do you love to discuss joint injuries
at length? Do you have a unquenchable desire
to 'Get Factor'? Well then, Factorman
is the game for you!
|
| 5/10/23 |
Thanks to
the efforts of AA user Kr0tki, we now have a
fairly definitive list of all the changes for the
Atari
5200 and 8-bit
versions of Super Pac-Man. I'll look the
other way while you go and check them out.
|
| 5/5/23 |
Thanks to
the generosity of John Hardie, we now have new WIP
versions of several Atari 5200 games. All
these prototypes are very late WIP versions, some
dating to only the day before the final
version. What changes were made at the
eleventh hour? AtariProtos is busy trying to
figure that out! Until then, check out the
following new prototype pages. The roms for
these protos can be found on AtariAge.com
Choplifter
1-13-84
Gremlins
5-15-84
Millipede
1-4-84
Stargate
1-13-84
Asteroids
4-1-81 (Atari 400/800)
Missile
Command (Atari 400/800)
|
