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The eternally debated about
game for the 5200 finally surfaces. Now, for quite a long time, it was debated among the 5200 fantics whether or not this
game existed. Neither side of the argument could prove its
existance in either way - yes or no. So the game became
something of an urban legend, with no one knowing the
absolute truth. However, thanks to the generous people at
the CG Expo website, at long last decisive evidence that
Tempest was intended for the 5200 has been
answered... yes, Tempest was in production for the 5200.
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| The long debate is over. With the
release of this ROM, it is quite obvious that Atari
had Tempest 5200 bound. Now, estimates have placed
this ROM at about 75% completion - all of the
gameplay elements are intact as well as all of the
levels, however there is only one type of enemy, collision detection is
inoprative, and
the superzapper is not present in this version. Now,
if you look at what has been done in the game at the
present time, these additions would have been rather
trivial, and probably would have taken only an
additional few weeks. Its a shame this game was
never completed... all of us could have used a
Tempest clone this close to the original in our
homes in the 1980s... but that never came to pass.. |
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View the fan-made label to Atari 5200
Tempest. |
If I had every quarter
that I pumped into the Tempest machine at my local arcade
back in one lump sum, I swear, I would have like an extra
$1,000 in my pocket. As a kid, I played this game
*CONSTANTLY*, considering they had it sitting in the rear
left hand corner of the White Hen Pantry near my
house. Unfortunately, both times and laws changed and the
space where my Tempest machine was at is now a beer
cooler. (which I suppose is not all that bad, but I don't
live there anymore) If only there was a respectable home
version of this game released before Tempest 3000 for the
Jaguar, we might have stuck with Atari instead of letting
them crash and buying Nintendos.... of course probably
not...
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