Exploring the Atari
2600’s Homebrew Arcade
Capturing the feel of classic arcades has been an elusive goal for 2600
programmers and developers for close to thirty years. While they don’t
always succeed, there are several recent homebrews that have come close to
this goal. Not all of them are arcade perfect in terms of graphics, but most
of them capture the essence and feel of those golden-age cabinets to a
fairly impressive degree. Join us as we take a look at three of the best
titles we’ve played recently.
Pac Man 4K
Atari 2600 - Homebrew
Developed by: Dennis Debro
Atari’s original Pac Man conversion wasn’t terrible, but its blocky
graphics, flickering ghosts and lack of detail made it disappointing for
many players. Now, thanks to the efforts of its talented developer, gamers
are finally treated to a version of the game that lives up to the 2600’s
potential. The original release’s block design and clunky animation were
some of its biggest problems. In the new version, everything has been
changed for the better with Pac Man 4K. Atari’s original
conversion played on a blue background, but players will find that
Pac Man maze has reverted to its original blue on black design, with the
flashing power-pellets in their proper place. Pac Man himself looks better,
with his standard design, not that eye-filled weirdo from the original. He
also closes his mouth when stopped, another huge improvement. The ghosts
have their own colors once again, and chase in familiar patterns that mimic
the arcade game. Players will even hear the famous siren as the game
unfolds, which adds to the game’s arcade authenticity. The game’s immediate
appeal lies in its easy to understand gameplay, which captures the arcade
feel flawlessly. The controls are smooth using a standard joystick and the
game mechanics and AI are excellent. There’s a high degree of ‘polish’
immediately evident in this version and 4K lives up to the arcade game’s
reputation instead of tarnishing it.
On the down side, Pac Man 4K’s pellets still look like dashes, but the maze
layout more closely resembles the arcade game. Instead of the single square
block at the center of the screen, you finally have different fruits for
each stage. The game plays much smoother than the original conversion, with
a flowing gameplay that matches the speed and tempo of the original arcade
game. A small improvement is the scoring, which now follows the arcade
system exactly. From an animation standpoint, the game play is much
smoother. While the ghosts and pac himself still suffer from some minor
flicker, its far less noticeable than it was in the original release. You’ll
also hear the original theme song at the beginning of the game, instead of
the random bleeps from the first conversion. Overall, these changes make for
a far more authentic and accurate translation. Taken together, the game
looks and sounds much closer to the arcade game, and its sound effects are
outstanding. These improvements make this a worthwhile title for anyone
interested in what might have been had Atari not rushed their original game
to market. Pac Man 4K manages to successfully squeeze most of the elements
from the original game into a small space, making this both an impressive
technical achievement that shows what the 2600 is capable of, while also
being fun to play.
Juno First
Atari 2600 – Homebrew
Developed by: Chris Walton
Most 2600 arcade conversions are usually exercises in compromise where the
game’s visuals and mechanics have been scaled down and simplified due to the
console’s hardware limitations. Recent homebrew titles have pushed the
boundaries of the system and have come much closer to the arcade experience.
A prime example of this is the outstanding port of Juno First. The first
thing you’ll notice is the game’s high degree of polish, with an elaborate
title screen, music soundtrack and even a high-score table. Interestingly,
your scores can be saved if you have the Atarivox adaptor.
This Konami title originally came out
in 1983 and offered an interesting take on the space shooter. Instead of
attacking you from a fixed position, as in contemporary games like Space
Invaders or Galaxian, Juno First’s enemies attack in waves and fly at your
ship. You aren’t in a fixed position either, and can scroll either forward
or back to avoid their shots and attacks. Its open-ended playfield gives the
game a unique feel that makes the action seem more intense since foes can
fire at you from almost any direction.
Each wave of foes presents a different set of challenges and there are
several types that you can destroy. You can see which ones are heading your
way by looking at the radar on top of the playfield. In addition to your
main mission, you’ll also see astronauts flying around sporadically.
Shooting the containers they’re trapped in releases them. If you capture
them, they’ll unlock Hyperspace mode where the enemies will stop firing at
you for a few moments. Shooting them in this mode is easier and gives you
higher bonus points. Despite all the complexity, Juno First’s levels end
when you destroy all your opponents. Early stages start off fairly simply
and are easy to clear, but there are some interesting strategies in play.
You can scroll backwards and make enemies appear at the bottom of the screen
and you can also use this technique to avoid their fire. You can also use
the radar to figure out which ones are coming at you, and use this to avoid
them. Some levels also feature waves of enemies flying in formation and
subsequent waves move faster and become more intense.
The game’s visuals are impressive, with the scaling enemies, smooth linear
backgrounds and slick animation giving Juno First a slick, arcade-style
appearance throughout. There are some minor flicker issues when multiple
enemies are on screen, but it doesn’t detract from the game’s
highly-polished appearance. Impressive sound effects and shots are great
with the standard cart and the added music in the opening is quite good and
helps get you in the mood for the action to come. Between its frenetic
action, challenging level design and abundance of varied levels, the game
delivers a solidly entertaining experience with surprisingly high replay
value. The game’s smooth controls and scrolling play mechanics give it a
genuinely arcade feel that’s fast and fun throughout. With its polished
gameplay and excellent visuals, Juno First is a fantastic release, making
for one of the best arcade-translations on the 2600.
Space Rocks
Atari 2600 – Homebrew
Designed by: Darrel Spice, Jr.
Atari’s original Asteroids conversion from 1981 was a decent effort for its
time, but there was definitely some room for improvement. Space Rocks takes
up the banner and delivers a challenging and entertaining port of the arcade
game, though it seems to take more from Asteroids Deluxe than the original.
The first thing you’ll notice when Space Rocks powers up is the opening
menu, which allows you to set a number of options. These include the color
scheme and style of rocks. You can choose from three different powers, such
as hyper-warp, shields when you press down on the joystick. The other
options let you turn of the magna mines and set the extra-ship points
threshold. Once you’re done with these settings, its time to play. Despite
its apparent simplicity, there’s actually quite a lot going on under the
surface. Playing the game through while experimenting with its many options,
Space Rocks offers a surprising amount of replay value. The sound and
visuals immediately impress with its effortless smoothness, the animation of
the rocks is superb and they spin just like the arcade game. Unlike the
Atari version, the rocks here are wire-framed which makes them more closely
resemble the original game’s vector graphics. You can also play with the
rocks in filled-in mode like the original 2600 title, but this isn’t that
good looking and makes the visuals feel mushy, though this is a matter of
personal preference. Players will find the sound effects in Space Rocks
closely resemble its arcade counterpart as well, with thunderous laser
blasts and loud explosions complimenting the action.
Your ship moves smoothly, gliding across the screen quickly. The rocks themselves
blow apart into smaller pieces quickly, but the physics here are much closet
to the arcade game, making the play much more challenging. You’ll quickly
find yourself lost in a sea of small rocks if you aren’t careful, so you
need to focus your fire on a small section of the screen if you want to
survive for long. As in the original game, occasional enemy ships will
appear onscreen and fire shots at you, which are easy to destroy on the
early levels. Occasionally, you’ll have some help when they crash into
rocks. In certain modes, you’ll also encounter a larger cluster of mine
ships, which consist of multiple attackers that are tied together. When you
shoot at them they’ll break apart and come directly at your ship so you’ll
need fast reflexes in order to beat them. As you might expect the early
levels are fairly easy to navigate, but as the later levels add more rocks
that move at faster speeds, things become increasingly difficult. Like many
classic arcade games, the objective is basically to survive as long as
possible and rack up a high score. Extra points are awarded for shooting
down flying saucers and the attacking ships. Players can survive longer by
avoiding clusters of rocks and not relying too heavily on the warp, which
can put you right in the center of disaster. Still, the key is concentration
and skill, where you have to stay focused for an extended period, surviving
waves of rocks in order to gain a high score. Space Rocks effectively
captures the look and feel of Asteroids and does so in a polished and
playable cartridge that makes it one of the more enjoyable cartridges on the
2600.
Note: For authenticity, all games
were played on the original hardware and controllers.
- Michael Palisano
