Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Big news.  Please read the article here:

https://gamehistory.org/atari-2600-tarzan/

Special thanks to AtariSpot for sharing this find and all involved with getting it working again. 

In the link, you'll find some really interesting background information about the game, Coleco, the crash, and finding this lost game.  Highly recommended.  The videos of the game are awesome.  And the rom files themselves can be found at archive.org. 

 

 

Posted

It is pretty cool! I was playing it quite a bit last night after putting the new F6 version onto my Harmony. I've always been impressed by multigame screens that were on the 2600 and this is right up there. I've only a few criticisms of the game but given that it isn't a final version that we know of, I can't be that harsh on it.

My main issue is that once you get past the game on the first 3 sets, then the enemies really become crazy ruthless in their speed. That said, I'm able to get past them okay. Except for the Hunter. In the earlier levels he is not really much of a threat as you can just move on a different plane of the field than he is until you run past him. But after the 3rd set, he fires his guy a lot more often and will follow the player on the same plane nearly as quick as you move. What usually happens is that right as I'm about to pass him, he will end up on the same plane as me and fire a shot knocking me down. And now the issue rears its ugly head. Due to the timing between the shots and your knockdown, he will now fire as soon as you get up. This makes it near impossible to get past him once this is happening. Twice only was I able to luckily get in a punch by mashing the button ahead of time and was able to stun him so I could get past. But otherwise...ugh. I lost a lot of time at that point.

My other issue is the color palette choice on the last screen of the level. I'm still not quite sure what is happening on this screen or what to do, but it seems you jump on the chain and have to move up and punch the first ape looking thing that comes down and then quickly jump back off the chain. Rinse and repeat until you have done this a few times and the level ends adding your remaining time to your score? I did find I could jump above my ape buddy and get a punch in on the dude above them. But then I always got knocked down trying to climb back down to free my buddy before being able to jump back off the chain.

So honestly, that is the only screen that really needed more work as the color palette makes it kinda hard to see the details on the right hand side (On modern TVs anyway), and it doesn't seem to really get any more difficult on that screen as compared to the rest of the game. Simply wait until you ape buddy is about the same level as you, jump onto the chain and punch to free them and jump off. Wait a few seconds for the next ape buddy to come down and do it again.

But this was the highest I was able to score last night during my best play session. I started on game 1.

2600_Tarzan_highscore.jpg.6efa8c6102099c266211fd2b2dd4e39b.jpg

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

Posted

Yeah, it's a pretty fun game. I really like how the designers made a colorful screen out of the 2600's playfield graphics like other Coleco games such as Smurfs Rescue, purposely made bad my A-double-S!

It took me a while to get use to the single button controls (not move the stick to punch) and jumpiong from tree to vine but after that it's very good.

Glad it got a public release, I'll try out the CV and Atari 8-bit versions now...

Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, DegasElite said:

Thanks for sharing the manual PDF. It's appreciated.

You're welcome.  I was going to create it using the images from AtariMania, since they have scanned images there, but then I found it already made.  Much easier!  😁

Edited by TrekMD

🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...