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Wow, just when you think you've looked at a game
for the last time, someone finds out something new and exciting about it! Discovered in
1996, Alligator People was released in 1999 by the Atari 2600 Nexus
in ROM format for all of us to try. It turns out however, while the ROMs on the prototype
were labled "Alligator People," it turns out that this game is actually Planet of the Apes!
Thanks to a discovery by Tempest, the real name of this game is now known... This review
has been updated accordingly. One of the
major sticking points of this game is the lack of
instructions on how to play it - in fact, most sites that
post the ROM call it "Virtually Unplayable." Through
quite a bit of experimentation, I think I finally have
figured everything out about how to play this game. Read
on to find out for yourself... |
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The picture above depicts
the beginning of the game. You start in the small forest
with apes running at you from left to right. There
are three different types of apes - the small ones,
which just run across the screen, the medium size ones who
can capture you if they touch you, and the large, dark
ones who shoot at you as well as being able to capture
you. You do have a single method of defense against the ape onslaught -
a big freaking gun which will splatter an ape in a single shot.
Now, the basic concept of the game is to keep running toward the bottom
of the screen while shooting as many apes for points as you can. Now,
the screens will repeat a few times before you move onto the next one, but
after a few forest scenes, you will come to the river pictured to the
right. Don't worry about drowning, just run accross - as an exception to
a usual video game rule, your character can actually swim in this game.
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If you happen to get grabbed
by an ape, you end up in this screen - jail. Unless you
get captured, this screen does NOT appear, which may
possibly point at an unfinished game - however this cannot
be proven. To escape from jail, just press the fire
button. You will lose a life for being captured (your E
count will go down by one) but you will be free and appear
at the TOP of the jail screen. Be sure there are no
apes in the spot you're going to escape to or you'll
end up right back in the slammer and need to use another
life to get out again. Run off the bottom of the screen
three times from your initial cell and you'll be back on
track towards your goal. |
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Now, after the river scene,
or the jail scene if the apes got you, you will run
through a few screens of desert - which look very
non-descript so they will not be pictured on this
page. After the desert, you will arrive in screen you see
to the right - the caves. There are no apes here to
bother you, so this is easy going from here to the
goal. There are a couple of different routes however. If
you were captured, just head downward for three screens
and you will find the goal. However, if you were not
captured, head down for two screens, head left one screen,
and then down a third time to reach the goal. |
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This is your prize for
making it to the goal... an Atari 2600 rendition of the Statue of Liberty!... When
you reach the goal, the screen will start flashing with
this... pattern (for lack of a better word) in the middle
of the screen, with all the screens you passed through
flashing in the backround. Following this, the game
deposits you back at the first forest screen, where you
have to do it all over again with faster apes.
It should also be noted that in the forest screens,
there are pits that you can fall in. Hit the button as
soon as you can to preserve your life (your L
counter). Other things that can bring your life counter
down are the small apes as well as the large dark
apes shooting you. |
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The ironic thing about this game turning
out to be The Planet of the apes is the fact I've been calling these enemies "Monkeys" ever
since I first put up this page. Many thanks to Tempest to proving the title of this
game!! It is not known why
this game was not released - it could be the lame, crappy
gameplay or the Crash like lots of other unreleased Atari
games. I suppose unless the programmer ever takes credit
for the game and lets us know, the mystery will
remain. This game isn't too bad comparitively to many of
the unreleased - or even released games, but it's probably
a good thing that the crash happened - or companies would
still be releasing crap like this...
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