Panic! Rooms - Defeat your enemies within your mansion in this upcoming Atari 2600 game

We haven't featured any Atari 2600 homebrew games for awhile so to change all that here's a game that's in development by Generation2 called ' Panic! Rooms ', which is coming to the Atari 2600 very soon. In this game you play as a rich and ruthless Texan oil tycoon who, after crushing his opponents to dominate the market, has ended up having to defend himself and his home in a labyrinth of Panic! Rooms after the same opponents have escaped their jails and come after you in revenge.

New game arrivals on the AtariAge store for the Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 consoles!

Do you have a stash of cash to spend and are a bit bored of playing the same old games on your 80's consoles? Then you might be interested to know that AtariAge is selling a bucketload of new games for the Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 consoles. Games such as Anguna, Assembloids, Drive, The Gizzle Wap : the Strange Red Tree, LEM, Panky The Panda, Ratcatcher, Crystal Quest, Super Circus Atarage, T:me Salvo and even our personal favourite which we mentioned before 'Scramble'.

Space Invaders - A highly recommended PC remake of an Atari 2600 hit is now available

If you've been following Richard Langford of Langford Productions, you would've known that throughout these last few years he has released a number of remakes of some well known classics that many have grow up with, games such as PSSST, Cookie, and even The Hunch. But that isn't all that has come out of Langford, as after previously releasing the retro inspired hit of Project ZX, he has now made available the remake of the classic arcade 1980's Atari 2600 shooter 'Space Invaders' for the PC.

BOSS - A brand new Atari 2600 game gets an Indiegogo campaign

Get ready to do some blasting 70's style as a new game has been announced for the Atari 2600 called 'BOSS' which is currently aiming for a successful funding through Indiegogo. Developed by industry vet Jason Santuci of Gemintronic and project lead Dave Vogt who worked on the classic Doom and Wolfenstein 3D mods, this is a single player shoot em up with a powerful ship at your disposal that must be used against mighty bosses, each varying in size, strength and behaviour.

Pac_Man Eat n Run - An unusual take on 1980's Pacman for the Atari 2600

One of the many different variants of the 1980's Pacman has appeared on the Atari 2600, and this one is an in-development homebrew called ' Pac_Man Eat n Run ', programmed by Lewis2907. In the original classic you took control of Pac-Man through a maze, eating all the pac-dots, avoiding ghosts or eating them with a special pick up and moving on to the next stage. Pac_Man Eat n Run however is a homage to the more varied mini table top version and adds in a much more fruity twist.

Cat Quest - In development Atari 2600 homebrew looks to impress

With all the games that come and go through Indie Retro News, there's always one that amazes us. This is especially true of ' Cat Quest ' developed for the Atari 2600 by Alp, which started as an idea to port a cancelled NES game of his to the Atari 2600, just for fun. Currently at an early work in progress state, Cat Quest uses a ' Venetian Blinds ' Interlacing Technique that according to him, potentially minimizes sprite flickering and the overall graphical quality of the game.

Zippy The Porcupine - Sonic The Hedgehog on the Atari 2600? WOW!

In the early 90's I had the pleasure of playing the mind blowing platformer Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Megadrive. A game by Sega which featured a ring collecting blue hedgehog that could spin, run, jump and roll about at the fastest of speeds in a battle against the main antagonist Doctor Eggman, plus a number of other menacing enemies throughout each level. It even had a number of spin offs too which made it such a hit with so many people across the world! So you may be pleased to read of a Sonic The Hedgehog clone, which in 2013 was announced in development on the Atari 2600 by Sprybug.

The Year Video Games Died - An interesting look back at our retro past

Trawling through the big internet looking for that great retro update to pass the time of a boring week, I came across a fascinating video by Ahoy that takes a look at a time when the gaming industry nearly died a slow painful death. Yes many years ago before the time of the great 8-bit machines such as the Amstrad CPC 464, the C64 and the ZX Spectrum, there was a great era of gaming with the Atari 2600 that almost ended as a complete disaster, and it is that system where this story begins!

Balloon Girl - Tap your way through an endless loop for the Atari 2600

Another homebrew mention for this week but this time it's from theloon for the Atari 2600, is an in development homage to Balloon Fight on the NES called ' Balloon Girl '. This game looks closer to Flappy Bird rather than Balloon Fight as you must avoid obstacles in a constant side scrolling loop with only a one button control method at your disposal. By simply tapping this button this keeps your girl in the air while obstacles and enemies come at you from the right hand side. The further you travel, the higher your score!

StarBlitz - Defender inspired homebrew for the Atari 2600

In the early 1980's an Arcade game released by Williams Electronics was to become one of the most important titles of the golden age of video arcade games selling over 55,000 units. That game was Defender; a side scrolling shooter featuring 2D graphics as you defend astronauts against wave after wave of alien enemies. In fact it was so popular that we have seen many Defender style of games and even clones released throughout the years and it's why we are also mentioning Mr SQL's ' StarBlitz ', that is in development and available for download.

Mortal Kombat Tech Demo release by Jinroh for the Atari 2600

This above image may not look like much in the grand scheme of things, but this is actually a 2015 Atari 2600 Tech Demo from a fan based developer of ' Mortal Kombat ', which was a hard hitting fighting game originally by Midway Games in 1992 for the Arcades and ported home systems. This 2600 version was actually made in May/June, with a single frame Raiden sprite by Darry11970, and after sitting around on the hard drive for far too long, was finally released pre-Christmas.

Dark Chambers - A Gauntlet Conversion for the Atari 2600 gets an update!

I've said this before and I'll say it again, the 1980's Arcade game of ' Gauntlet ' was very good indeed, it was so good in fact, that I could pick it up today and keep playing it for hours on end. Well you may have read our big article for Dark Chambers - A Gauntlet Conversion HACK for the Atari 2600 by CDS Game , which also appeared on BoingBoing (Thanks guys), but that same game has now been given another big update and is now available as a lovely 32k version download.

Scramble - Impressive detail for a classic Shoot em up Atari 2600 port!

In June of this year Thomas Kite, with source trainer by Laxity, released a very nice side scrolling shoot em up C64 port of a much earlier game which was originally released way back in 1983 as Skramble developed by Darrell Etherington. The actual release name was ' Scramble ' which was also the original name of the game released in February 1981 developed by Konami and distributed in North America by Stern Electronics. A game that is a joy to play with lots side scrolling action, has now been given the Atari 2600 treatment by johnnywc with very impressive graphics as a port of Konami's Scramble.

Dark Chambers - A Gauntlet Conversion for the Atari 2600 by CDS Games!

Arcade Version

Of all the games I remember growing up with, is the 1980's Arcade game of ' Gauntlet ' which is a fantasy hack and slash game by Atari Games that gave you the choice of playing as four different characters against a horde of ghosts, grunts, demons, sorcerers and thieves in multiple themed levels. It was such a brilliant game in fact, I just had to have it on both my Amstrad and Amiga. But now a developer by the name of CDS Games is converting the Atari 2600 game of Dark Chambers into Gauntlet, as an Atari 2600 hack.

CrackBats (Halloween) - Batman is back for a Halloween Atari 2600 release

Halloween may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean we wont give a quick mention to Omegamatrix's latest Atari 2600 game of ' CrackBats '. That's right gamers, Batman is back and this time Penguin has unleashed an army of evil spiders upon Gotham City! Can Batman stop these evil Spiders in this cool arcade release for the Atari 2600? That's down to you!

Links : 1) Source & Download

Upp! - Breakout for the Atari 2600 but with a difference

Another great find by Retro Video Gamer is the recent release of the Atari 2600 homebrew game of ' Upp! '; which takes the breakout styled gameplay but adds their own special twist. Unlike the ball bouncing antics of similar games, in Upp! you must escape the space barrier by thrusting upwards towards the gap at the top. The problem is, you not only have to destroy the blocks, but you must obtain the energy pods (the round objects with an exclamation mark) to blast openings while also avoiding hitting your own ship.

Atari in the 21st Century

One thing is certain, if you are reading this, you have heard of Atari. The granddaddy of gaming, where it all started many years ago. Fast forward into the 21st century and Atari as we used to know it no longer exists, having been bought out and sold more times than Pac-man has gobbled yellow dots. Now they exist as a publisher, just a name to add a touch of Panache to a game cover. Just because Atari as a company died, it's fan base certainly lived to tell a tale or two. The two main classic consoles 2600 and 7800 are being given a whole new lease of life by "bedroom" programmers all over the world.

Mailbag Mayhem - Staring Ryan Davis & The Bomb Crew : A simple homage to the Atari 2600 Keystone Kapers

Game Type : Arcade

Developer : mutenmiller
Game Quote  : The game itself is a simple homage to Keystone Kapers which was an Atari 2600 game - and a number of dumb Giant Bomb related jokes. Use the arrow keys/joypad to move and duck, and the space bar/A button to jump. Dodge stuff, collect stuff and get to the finish!

Release : Now, Free
Systems : PC

Thrust - The latest remake of the hit retro classic from 1986

Game Type : Arcade, Retro Remake

Developer : pj_crozza

Game Info  : I'm sure many retro gamers will remember Thrust, which was first published by Firebird Software Ltd and released in 1986. It also originally came on a multitude of systems including the Atari 2600, Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 16, Plus/4, Commodore 64, Electron, Vectrex, and ZX Spectrum. Well now you can play the latest remake of Thrust for free, thanks to pj_crozza! Your task? To tractor the Klystron Pods out into space with a rather handy tractor beam, but watch out for the enemy guns and of cause the cave walls!

Release : Now (Free)
Systems : PC

Javatari - A multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java.

If you're old enough like me, you may well remember the Atari 2600, which was an 8-bit game console released in September 1977 by Atari, Inc. It had a fantastic list of games for it's time and one such game I fondly remember was California Games. I mean come on, who did not like the skateboarding or bike riding down the mountainside, such great fun. Well now you can relive those days with Javatari, which is a multiplayer Atari2600 emulator written in pure java. It looks very well made and there is also a two player option. However you will need the roms, which are searchable but we wont provide!