Those ET cartridges must be rolling in their grave
June 13, 2023 8:09 AM Subscribe
Atari announces the first official cartridge, since 1990, for the venerable Atari Video Computer System2600.
Also coming in a flashier version to more modern platforms (Switch, PS4/5, and PC), Mr. Run and Jump is a 2d platformer in the vein of Celeste. The Atari 2600 version will be playable both on the recent Atari VCS and original Atari 2600 hardware.
Developed to highlight the "enduring capabilities of the 2600 hardware, even four decades after its initial release", this is the first time in 32 years that Atari has released a 2600 cartridge. The console, originally released in the US in 1977, still has a thriving homebrew community producing new games.
Also coming in a flashier version to more modern platforms (Switch, PS4/5, and PC), Mr. Run and Jump is a 2d platformer in the vein of Celeste. The Atari 2600 version will be playable both on the recent Atari VCS and original Atari 2600 hardware.
Developed to highlight the "enduring capabilities of the 2600 hardware, even four decades after its initial release", this is the first time in 32 years that Atari has released a 2600 cartridge. The console, originally released in the US in 1977, still has a thriving homebrew community producing new games.
OK, but I would love to see the game play on the 2600.
Considering how much computing power can be put nowadays into something the size of a 2600 cartridge, it would be a kinda cool thing if the game system was contained in the cartridge and used the consul as a pass-through interface, but that would also be cheating
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:31 AM on June 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
Considering how much computing power can be put nowadays into something the size of a 2600 cartridge, it would be a kinda cool thing if the game system was contained in the cartridge and used the consul as a pass-through interface, but that would also be cheating
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:31 AM on June 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
Even back in the day, they were putting processors inside the cartridge. Pitfall II had a secondary processor inside the cartridge to assist both with the video display and the sound.
posted by notoriety public at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by notoriety public at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
Pi in a NES from the amazing Tom7: Reverse emulation on the NES
posted by rh at 8:46 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rh at 8:46 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Pitfall II had a secondary processor inside the cartridge
Nerds (like me) who are fascinated by how the 2600 manages to do what it does might like reading this comment from Dave Crane himself explaining how the Display Processor Chip in those Pitfall II cartridges does its thing.
posted by hanov3r at 8:50 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Nerds (like me) who are fascinated by how the 2600 manages to do what it does might like reading this comment from Dave Crane himself explaining how the Display Processor Chip in those Pitfall II cartridges does its thing.
posted by hanov3r at 8:50 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I would be remiss not mentioning that Crane and Garry Kitchen released their own 2600 game Circus Convoy recently.
Heavy Horse Games created the 2600 version of Mr. Run and Jump in ... err, copyright 2021? I guess the reanimated corpse of Atari bought the rights and then made a version for modern consoles.
posted by credulous at 9:04 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Heavy Horse Games created the 2600 version of Mr. Run and Jump in ... err, copyright 2021? I guess the reanimated corpse of Atari bought the rights and then made a version for modern consoles.
posted by credulous at 9:04 AM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm really curious to see the native 2600 gameplay. Did I miss it? Good catch on the 2021 site, credulous, definitely the same game with John Mikula credited. The screenshots there give an idea what each screen will look like at least.
The jagged death floors on the modern game look straight out of VVVVVV.
posted by Nelson at 9:11 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
The jagged death floors on the modern game look straight out of VVVVVV.
posted by Nelson at 9:11 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
>OK, but I would love to see the game play on the 2600.
> I'm really curious to see the native 2600 gameplay.
Same. Turned up this page which embeds this video.
posted by genpfault at 9:26 AM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
> I'm really curious to see the native 2600 gameplay.
Same. Turned up this page which embeds this video.
posted by genpfault at 9:26 AM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Well done! But oof, the flashing when there's more than one hazard. Big Pac-Man 2600 vibes. The dog is really cute though.
posted by Nelson at 9:39 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 9:39 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
As a proud owner of a 2600, an awesome Sony CRT, and a 6yo kid, I am *here* for this!
I don't always watch game news closely so I really appreciate this post, thanks :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't always watch game news closely so I really appreciate this post, thanks :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Maybe it plays well but as usual the Activision folks have better graphics, as do plenty of other homebrew games. But I guess collectors will buy the box sight-unseen, and everyone else will buy the modern console version on a lark. Or maybe the cart release is just a checkbox that they had to complete for some nefarious reason.
posted by credulous at 10:39 AM on June 13, 2023
posted by credulous at 10:39 AM on June 13, 2023
Life just keeps kicking Bally Astrocade buyers in the teeth over and over!
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 11:14 AM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 11:14 AM on June 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
And just like in the ‘80s, no release for the Atari 8-bit ecosystem.
posted by hwyengr at 11:14 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by hwyengr at 11:14 AM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
> Same. Turned up this page which embeds this video.
The atari 2600 is capable of so much more, though. Lode Runner is just one example.
Looks like they barely put in effort on the Atari 2600 version.
posted by milnak at 12:33 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
The atari 2600 is capable of so much more, though. Lode Runner is just one example.
Looks like they barely put in effort on the Atari 2600 version.
posted by milnak at 12:33 PM on June 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
For reasons no one can fathom, McDonald’s has released a new Game Boy Color game
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:41 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:41 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
The Grimace thing is a whole McD summer promotion. There's also a meal you can order with a ready-to-Instagram purple shake. It's not random.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:04 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:04 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
[raising head after 40 hours of ToTK] can I pet the dog? All I want to do is pet the dog.
posted by General Malaise at 4:33 PM on June 13, 2023
posted by General Malaise at 4:33 PM on June 13, 2023
I'm surprised that I have to mention this, but I don't see it mentioned in the original article. It has to be noted that this is not the classic Atari, which expired ages ago now. The current Atari basically just uses the trademark to get people to confuse them with the old Atari. Saying this is an "official" cartridge is rather tenuous.
Activision is similar, but in their case I think there is some continuity, however slight and for whatever that's worth, with the original company founded by former Atari employees to make VCS/2600 games without their permission.
posted by JHarris at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Activision is similar, but in their case I think there is some continuity, however slight and for whatever that's worth, with the original company founded by former Atari employees to make VCS/2600 games without their permission.
posted by JHarris at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Calling it “official” feels weird. The current Atari has less to do with the original Atari than my martinis have to do with vermouth.
posted by Ookseer at 4:52 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Ookseer at 4:52 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
The current Reanimated Zombie Corpse of Atari has been doing some interesting attempts to revive what they own. They got a few obscure indie developers to attempt to modernize a few of the titles that either have a ton of name recognition, or actual decent gameplay. None of the ones I tried really quite made it but I did have more than $5 of fun with their remakes of both Black Widow and Yar's Revenge. Which I think is about how much I paid for them each.
They also commissioned Jeff Minter to try and give the Tempest 4k treatment to a super-rare unfinished prototype called Akka Arrh. I don't think he succeeded in really quite finding the fun in it but, hey, I am sure they paid him enough for it that he can afford to spend a while longer hanging out, petting sheep, and making weird-ass psychedelic games.
posted by egypturnash at 5:09 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
They also commissioned Jeff Minter to try and give the Tempest 4k treatment to a super-rare unfinished prototype called Akka Arrh. I don't think he succeeded in really quite finding the fun in it but, hey, I am sure they paid him enough for it that he can afford to spend a while longer hanging out, petting sheep, and making weird-ass psychedelic games.
posted by egypturnash at 5:09 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
The story of Akka Arrh (which is a great name, so fun to say) is interesting. It was a prototype arcade machine of which only like three were made, and they were all in the hands of collectors who were adamant against making dumps publicly available. Then the roms were leaked, reportedly against an owner's wishes. But soon after that an official remake comes out, which is interesting timing considering how obscure it was before. And now you can play the original Akka Arrh on the Atari 50th Anniversary collection.
I'd call Jeff Minter a national treasure, but of course he's in the UK. He could still be a national treasure though, just for a different nation than mine! He's like the only person still making those kinds of arcade games. Or rather, he's the only one making them who seems to do them well, or successfully?
posted by JHarris at 5:25 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
I'd call Jeff Minter a national treasure, but of course he's in the UK. He could still be a national treasure though, just for a different nation than mine! He's like the only person still making those kinds of arcade games. Or rather, he's the only one making them who seems to do them well, or successfully?
posted by JHarris at 5:25 PM on June 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
LGR reviewed a recent newly-made 2600 cartridge a while back: Aquaventure, from the Atari XP collection. I like that companies are doing this. It's not quite my bag; I generally prefer to emulate old consoles & computers on modern hardware, but it's really neat to see new cartridges for the 2600 still being made, some 45 years later.
posted by xedrik at 6:17 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by xedrik at 6:17 PM on June 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
The story of Akka Arrh (which is a great name, so fun to say) is interesting. It was a prototype arcade machine of which only like three were made, and they were all in the hands of collectors who were adamant against making dumps publicly available. Then the roms were leaked, reportedly against an owner's wishes. But soon after that an official remake comes out, which is interesting timing considering how obscure it was before. And now you can play the original Akka Arrh on the Atari 50th Anniversary collection.
That would make for one hell of a video game-themed episode of Leverage. I suppose the original cabinets are still worth something, but I really like the idea of spiting someone by stealing their exclusive rom and having it mysteriously be rediscovered in the original publisher's archives so a bunch of re-releases can be made thereby eliminating the uniqueness of the original.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:09 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
That would make for one hell of a video game-themed episode of Leverage. I suppose the original cabinets are still worth something, but I really like the idea of spiting someone by stealing their exclusive rom and having it mysteriously be rediscovered in the original publisher's archives so a bunch of re-releases can be made thereby eliminating the uniqueness of the original.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:09 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
If anyone's interested in the Atari 2600 and how it worked, I cannot recommend more highly Racing the Beam by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost. Truly fascinating deep dive into the technical limitations of the platform and how developers dealt with them.
Incidentally, Ian Bogost also created A Slow Year for the Atari 2600, which he describes as "a kind of videogame chapbook"
posted by cheshyre at 7:08 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Incidentally, Ian Bogost also created A Slow Year for the Atari 2600, which he describes as "a kind of videogame chapbook"
posted by cheshyre at 7:08 AM on June 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just found GB Studio, and I wonder if they used that to make the Grimace game. It basically looks like Unity for Gameboy, jeesh.
posted by credulous at 11:01 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 11:01 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've seen speculation on the web somewhere that it was. I'm kind of shocked by how much publicity that game has gotten on gaming sites, it appeared almost immediately on basically all of them. Making homebrew roms for old systems seems to be a good way, for the moment, to get your brand plastered all over the internet.
posted by JHarris at 1:53 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 1:53 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
From the Destructoid article about this:
When I recently covered Mr. Run and Jump’s announcement, I mentioned that it originally started as a homebrew project before being expanded to a modern game. In that article, I opined that I’d rather play the original version. I’m getting my wish here, and I’m almost embarrassed about it. Obviously, Atari had this planned before I opened my big mouth, but I’m not used to having a demand actually met.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:55 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I recently covered Mr. Run and Jump’s announcement, I mentioned that it originally started as a homebrew project before being expanded to a modern game. In that article, I opined that I’d rather play the original version. I’m getting my wish here, and I’m almost embarrassed about it. Obviously, Atari had this planned before I opened my big mouth, but I’m not used to having a demand actually met.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:55 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
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