• Tag Archives Atari 400

  • Jumpman

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Jumpman

    Jumpman was an early action platform game released in 1983. It was released initially for the Atari 8-bit then ported to the Commodore 64 and a little later to the Apple II, PC (DOS) and ColecoVision (never released?). It was somewhat similar to and inspired by Donkey Kong which is even mentioned in the ad.

    Jumpman was written in an age where it was still common for some guy to write a game in his basement (or wherever) and take it to a publisher. This was the case with Jumpan. Epyx, at the time called Automated Simulations, was transitioning from publishing strategy games to more action oriented games. They were branding these action games under the Epyx label. With Jumpan’s success, the company changed its name to Epyx and published a number of awesome games over the years.


    Atari 8-bit

    The idea of the games is that you are progressing through various floors of a building diffusing bombs. Jumpman can jump (of course) and climb up and down ladders and ropes (though ropes are one-way). Hazards include bullets and other obstacles unique to each level. The biggest threat always seems to be falling though.

    Both the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions of the game were very good. The Apple II version was inferior and that’s somewhat ironic given that the initial development of the Atari version was done on the Apple II. The PC version is somewhere in between. The ColecoVision version is supposedly based on the Commodore 64 version but I don’t think it was ever released. Instead it got the ‘lite’ version, Jumpan Jr.


    Commodore 64

    Jumpan was one of the best games of its type (far better than Donkey Kong in my opinion). If you are fan of classic games then this one is definitely a must play. Track down the Atari or Commodore 64 version. Original disks aren’t too hard to find but given the age you may want to stick with emulation. Make sure you have an appropriate controller though as its more fun with a proper classic style joystick.


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  • Popeye

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Popeye

    Popeye was an arcade game released by Nintendo and licensed by Atari in certain regions based on the cartoon and comic strip of the same name. Popeye never became a franchise and is not quite as well known as other iconic video game figures but it was a pretty big deal at the time.

    In an interesting twist of fate, Donkey Kong was originally planned to be a Popeye themed game. However, Nintendo did not get a license to use the characters in time for that game so it became Donkey Kong instead and a new Popeye game was developed a little later. Popeye was one of the first three games released for the Famicom in Japan.

    Parker Brothers ported the game to a wide variety of systems including the Atari 5200, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and others. Oddly, the ad mentions the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Atari 400/800, and VIC-20. However, the game was never officially released on the VIC-20 but it did come out on the Commodore 64 and a few other systems that aren’t mentioned. I can only assume changes were made after the ad went to print. However, despite the lack of an official VIC-20 port, a nice homebrew port was made in 2015 proving that development on vintage systems is alive and well.

    The game itself, unsurprisingly given its lineage, shares some similarities with Donkey Kong. The only actions for Popeye are climbing and punching, your goal being to rescue Olive Oil from Brutus. The only other recent port besides the VIC-20 port was an enhanced remake released for mobile phones in 2008.


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged