Fat Albert (Atari 2600)

JELLO Presents
FAT ALBERT for the Atari 2600

Fat Albert is a hack of the Atari 2600 game Fast Food that was done way back in 2000. I set out to brush it up a little and fix a few things that I never liked.

It bothered me that Fat Albert's head was left as several shades of purple and knowing that it is an easy fix I went ahead and corrected it it. As most people know a typical Atari sprite can only be one color per horizontal line. That left a problem with the original head sprite since his hair goes down the back of his head. In order to have his face and hair different colors they can't be on the same horizontal line. With a little optical trick it looks like we have two colors on one line, but as you can see in the detail below it is still only one color per line. I added an ear to fill up the big blank space.

I always have to start tweaking other things once I start on something. The next thing I did was change the title graphic at the bottom of the screen. I added Jello Presents to do a tie-in with Jello Pudding Pops. A What If back in the day Fat Albert was really made for the Atari 2600 instead of Fast Food and it was sponsored by Jello.

The original game you had to avoid a Purple Pickle, I guess it was spoiled. With Fat Albert it seemed better to have something else. How about a dog?  The dog was quickly added but something was missing, it was not animated. Now it is. Don't get chomped!!!

 In the original game you lose a life/chance every time Fat Albert eats a Purple Pickle. You get 6 lives before the game is over. Each time Fat Albert eats one it is displayed under the score so you can keep track. I added a line of 6 hearts that are replaced one by one with a dog as you lose lives. Not really needed but I thought it was cool. Also changed the color from purple to red.

The next thing was to try to improve the items that Fat Albert eats. Here are the original items and my changes.

Fast Food:                              Fat Albert:
Purple Pickle                           Dog
Green Pickle                           Coke
Root Beer                               Hamburger
Cola                                        French Fries

Soda Pop                                Pizza
Hot Dog                                  Ice Cream Cone
Hamburger                              Coffee
Ice Cream Bar                         Pineapple Cake
Milk Shake                              Pudding Pop
Ice Cream Cone                      Astro Pop
French Fries                            Banana
Pizza                                       Cherry
Cheese Burger                         Roasted Pig

 The Intermission screens were already pretty much perfect and basically unchanged. I did do a few tweaks here and there but nothing of note.

 There is a possibility that voice may be added for the intermission screen and the Game Over screen. It would be "Hey Hey Hey" and "Game Over" in Fat Albert's voice.

To go with the Jello Pudding Pops theme I made up a fake comic book advertisement for the game from 1985. Where for 5 UPC codes from Jello brand Pudding Pops and $19 you could order a cartridge of Fat Albert for your Atari 2600. I will post an update with any changes in the future. Remember, Buy Jello Brand Pudding Pops!!

 

Malaysian Death Beetle

Malaysian Death Beetles can be yellow, brown or orange and have stripes or blotches instead of dots. The Death Beetle is often mistaken for harmless Lady Bird Beetles (Lady Bug) but the Death Beetle is more oval then round and the stripes are a good indicator of a Death Beetle. They can be found in tropical and sub-tropical climates.

This tiny little killer from Malaysia is a tiger in the insect World. Measuring less than a centimeter in length, the Malaysian Death Beetle incapacitates its victim then injects them with a venom that liquefies their insides. Once the bug has sucked out all those delicious innards, he discards the carcass exoskeleton by dropping it to the ground. The carcass pile can be several inches deep on the ground whenever a Death Beetle is living in the area.

When bitten or stung by a Death Beetle, a person will feel a sharp pain at the site, followed by redness and swelling of the area affected. It causes swelling in the face, breathing difficulty, nausea, abdominal pain, an itchy body rash, and loss of blood pressure and circulation (shock). This is a life-threatening situation and requires immediate emergency medical attention. Without medical attention the mortality rate is over 20%.


This is for my daughter Britteny who hoped this was a lady bug that landed on her. Yes Britt, it was a lady bug. It was completely harmless but it probably taste bad so I wouldn't eat one. The Malaysian Death Beetle does not exist.

Hunger Shark (Atari 2600)

HUNGER SHARK (Atari 2600)

Eat people to avoid starvation, but watch out for that pesky Coast Guard!


Controls and gameplay:

In Hunger Shark you play as a shark with an insatiable appetite.- To move Hunger Shark, point the joystick in the direction you want him to move.

- To eat people, Hunger Shark must sufficiently overlap them. Doing so gains you points, and replenishes a bit of your Hunger Bar.

- If your Hunger Bar drains completely, you will die of starvation.

- After some time, when the water becomes blood red, the Coast Guard will send a patrol ship and shoot at you.

- Touching a squid collects it for later use. Using a squid, by pressing fire, will replenish your health completely, but will spray ink, thus turning Hunger Shark and the water black for a time. You can carry up to three squids at a time, but touching them will always yield 1000 bonus points.

- Treasure is known to pop at the sea floor from time to time. It may not be nutritious, but it does yield 1000 bonus points.

- Mines will periodically spawn near the bottom of the screen, so be on your guard!

- The game increases in difficulty slightly with each level.

SHARKNADO/THE WALKING DEAD prototypes (Atari 2600)

 SHARKNADO/THE WALKING DEAD prototypes (Atari 2600)

The SHARKNADO and THE WALKING DEAD autograph prototype cartridges are finished and ready to be signed next weekend at Spooky Empire in Orlando, Florida.

SHARKNADO Information:
http://neoclassicgames.blogspot.com/2014/09/sharknado-atari-2600.html

GALACTOPUS (Atari 2600)

GALACTOPUS (Atari 2600)

A work in progress Atari 2600 game from ATARIAGE USER - KaeruYojimbo

Oh &%$@! Either the advance warning satellites are %&$#!@ again or there's a giant %©#&$ space octopus heading straight for earth! Congressional budget cuts have reduced NASA to launching model rockets in the park but never fear, the private sector is here! For six easy payments of just $199,999,999,999.99, Astr-O-Corp has volunteered to send their prototype low orbit fighter to intercept Galactopus. Since it's still in the prototype phase, the laser cannons aren't powerful enough to destroy Galactopus, but they can chip away his Octonuim armor. Collect eight pieces of Octonium and add them to the ship's reactors and the cannon will be powerful enough to finish Galactopus off once and for all!

Controls:
Left and right move the fighter left and right (in that order)
Fire fires the laser cannon
Left difficulty B - laser blasts pass harmlessly through octonium pieces
Left difficulty A - laser blasts destroy octonium pieces
Press the fire button on joystick 2 to use it to control Galactopus

Things to do:
Add sound
Add more to Galactpus death sequence
Progressively increasing difficulty by improving AI and/or weapons
Maybe another game setting with the right difficulty switch
Score jackpot based on the number of shots needed to destroy Galactopus

SHARKNADO (Atari 2600)

SHARKNADO (Atari 2600)

When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature's deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace. As sharks and debris rain around you, fly close enough to the storm to toss bombs in so the explosions will equalize the pressure and neutralize the twisters.

SHARKNADO is a work in progress game for the Atari 2600. There will be two prototype cartridges made that will be signed by Tara Reid at the Spooky Empire Convention in Orlando, Florida, October 24-26 2014. 

I will post more information here as it becomes available.

Tara Reid plays April Wexler in SHARKNADO.

Title Screen

The player controls the helicopter at the bottom of the screen. Fire the bombs up at the tornado moving along the top of the screen. Enough bombs will neutralize the twister. Avoid debris and sharks.

It's Hammer Time. It's a Sharknado!

Double Trouble. A multi-vortex Sharknado!

An F-5 Sharknado! It will take some tricky flying to get out of this.

Future Autograph Cartridges (Atari 2600)

After a very successful release of the STRANGELAND game for the Atari 2600, work has already begun on the next wave of Autograph cartridges. These are all work in progress and it is too early to share more then the label designs. I will share more information as it becomes available.

 THE WALKING DEAD (2010-)

Police officer Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by zombies.

 DEMONS (1985)


A group of people are trapped in a large movie theater in West Berlin and are infected by ravenous demons who proceed to kill and posses the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.

SHARKNADO (2013)

When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature's deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace.