Favorite Atari 2600 homebrews

[socrates63]

I just got the 4th volume of the Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion book by Brian Matherne. I had Amazon ship it to him directly so he could sign it and send it back to me. I won signed copies of the first three volumes last year during the Stella-thon fundraiser organized by ZeroPage Homebrew, back when I knew very little about homebrews.

The original Atari 2600 library has amazing games, but the homebrew community and developers have done some mind-blowing things with our beloved venerable platform in recent years.  Many amazing games have been released -- games that'd be difficult to believe are 2600 games -- and many more are in the pipeline.

Do folks in the I/O play homebrews often? I believe I saw a few entries in the scoring challenges. I probably split my time about 50/50 between homebrews/hacks and official releases. Do you have some favorites?

Some of mine include:

• Amoeba Jump (this is the one that turned me on to homebrews)
• Conquest of Mars
• Draconian
• Jump VCS
• Juno First (my current homebrew jam)
• Space Rocks
• Star Castle Arcade
• Tower of Rubble

I have more than 30 physical homebrew releases from AtariAge alone and several more other homebrew publishers (Good Deal Games, Repentless, Packrat VG), and I haven't played them all yet. And of course there are digital-only homebrew releases.

[HDN]

DK VCS is one I frequently play. Also, Draconian? Is that Bosconian on 2600? Love that game.

[Justin]

I'm sure @Arenafoot would like to chime in on this topic

[socrates63]

42 minutes ago, HDN said:

DK VCS is one I frequently play. Also, Draconian? Is that Bosconian on 2600? Love that game.

Yes, it's essentially Bosconian. It's by Darrell Spice Jr. whose homebrews are simply superb.

I've attached the rom for you to try. I believe this is very close to the release version (I forget what the differences are. I think it may only be lacking the high score save). I actually have the physical release but have been playing this one because I'm too lazy to grab the cartridge 🙂

 

draconian_20171020_RC8.bin

[socrates63]

35 minutes ago, Justin said:

I'm sure @Arenafoot would like to chime in on this topic

Oh yes, totally forgot that Brian "Arena Football" Matherne is a member of the I/O!

[HDN]

Thanks so much for the ROM, @socrates63. I'm putting this onto my SD card just now. I just realized this is a 2GB card. Wow, it sure is crazy how tiny these games are; this thing has hundreds of games from the 2600, NES, SNES, and Genesis on it!

Bosconian is one of my favorites in the arcade. It is a shame it didn't really take off. I have yet to play on real Arcade hardware. Some of my favorite quotes from the game are:

"Cndshn RED! Cndshn RED!"

"Blasht... Ahhfv!"

And who could forget...

"Battle Shpayshion."

[socrates63]

I’m of course old enough to have played Bosconian in the arcades back in the 80s 🙂

The first time I saw Draconian running on a display was at Portland Retro Gaming Expo a few years ago — my first PRGE. I thought it was an Atari 8-bit computer game. I only found out after the expo that it was running on a 2600 😮 

The same developer made Space Rocks, a better Asteroids than Asteroids itself. It was to play Space Rocks that I got my all-button “Asteroids” controller made. I think I have the rom for that if you’re interested. Darrell Spice Jr. posts the rom files himself. 

Edited September 6, 2020 by socrates63

[HDN]

10 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

The same developer made Space Rocks, a better Asteroids than Asteroids itself. It was to play Space Rocks that I got my all-button “Asteroids” controller made. I think I have the rom for that if you’re interested. Darrell Spice Jr. posts the rom files himself. 

I could use the ROM for that, if it isn't too big of a hassle for you. I used to love 2600 Asteroids, but have frankly gotten too good at it! I am able to roll the score over with ease on the default mode and play until my finger hurts from shooting and I get bored. It's better on the later settings and with the difficulty in A for UFOs. I didn't know UFOs were in this port until I read the manual when I first got my 2600 system. I was like, "WOAH!" when I figured that out!

[RickR]

There's an Atari 8-bit port of Bosconian as well, and it's astonishing.  Especially if you have a 128k computer. 

But yeah, that 2600 version is just jaw dropping.  That, "Star Castle", and "Galaga" raised the bar so high, it's unbelievable. 

[TrekMD]

I have lots of 2600 hombrews (and 5200 and 7800 and ...you get the idea).  Those you list are all excellent games. 

[socrates63]

1 hour ago, HDN said:

I could use the ROM for that, if it isn't too big of a hassle for you. I used to love 2600 Asteroids, but have frankly gotten too good at it! I am able to roll the score over with ease on the default mode and play until my finger hurts from shooting and I get bored. It's better on the later settings and with the difficulty in A for UFOs. I didn't know UFOs were in this port until I read the manual when I first got my 2600 system. I was like, "WOAH!" when I figured that out!

Here you go, Harry.

spacerocks20121129_NTSC_encore.bin

[socrates63]

1 hour ago, TrekMD said:

I have lots of 2600 hombrews (and 5200 and 7800 and ...you get the idea).  Those you list are all excellent games. 

Lots, you say? Your collection is more like a homebrew museum ♥️ 🙂 

[socrates63]

1 hour ago, RickR said:

There's an Atari 8-bit port of Bosconian as well, and it's astonishing.  Especially if you have a 128k computer. 

But yeah, that 2600 version is just jaw dropping.  That, "Star Castle", and "Galaga" raised the bar so high, it's unbelievable. 

8-bit port of Bosconian? I'll have to remember to check it out once I get my 800XL set up which I was hoping to do this summer. Oh well, I guess it'll be a fall or winter thing 😆

[TrekMD]

12 hours ago, socrates63 said:

Lots, you say? Your collection is more like a homebrew museum ♥️ 🙂 

Glad you liked it!  Yes, I have plenty of homebrews.  🙂