Here's a new platformer called No Quarter by ArugulaZ for the Atari 2600. The game brings back the character Byron—now affectionately dubbed Kid Kodiak—who has traded his classic craving for fruit in pursuit of cold, hard arcade cash. Players must navigate four fully playable levels of intense, hole-hopping action, dodging a deadly downpour of acid rain that rapidly intensifies as they scramble to collect $1.50 in coins to advance. Falling through gaps in the floor or succumbing to the toxic deluge spells a fate worse than death: an eternity trapped at the Earth's core listening to Rick Wakeman concept albums.
ArugulaZ built the title from the ground up using Random Terrain’s comprehensive Batari BASIC web guide and dedicated sprite editor, utilizing a "vibe-coding" approach reminiscent of the sound generation tools used in the developer's later ColecoVision and Master System projects. The creator emphasizes that No Quarter is an entirely human-crafted project made without the assistance of artificial intelligence (wooo!). Atari 2600 owners who manage to conquer the brutal difficulty of the fourth and final level are jokingly promised the ultimate badge of honor—a bear patch, even if they have to swindle it from a local Cub Scout.
Thanks for the coverage! I should clarify that I don't use AI, but the people who make the utilities I use do. It's an annoying "six degrees of fourteen-fingered Kevin Bacon" kind of situation. I've asked around in coding circles about it, and they seem to think it's kosher so long as I'm the one doing the actual work. And I am!
ReplyDeleteAnyway! I'm proud of this game. It's nowhere near as good- or weird!- as Fate of a Bait, but I'm happy with how it turned out. For an 8K game written in Batari BASIC, it swings well above its weight class.