Unreleased Atari 8-bit: Blaster

Blaster is a 3D shooter designed by Vid Kidz in 1983 for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. (think 5200 with a keyboard) The game was scrapped around the time of the crash of 1984 because the geniuses at Williams didn't think a game that wasn't a port of an arcade game would sell. Which is a shame, because this is a genuinely good game, if a bit hard to read. It was eventually released in arcades and ported to the PC, albeit significantly changed from this form.
The game has four phases:
Phase 1 has you flying over the surface of a planet, shooting at robot guys and missiles and trying to go through gates.
Phase 2 has you flying through this tunnel thing rescuing stray astronauts.
Phase 3 has you flying through space, shooting down TIE Fighters, Hubble Telescopes and kamikaze skeletons on missiles.
Phase 4 has you dodging asteroids, rescuing stray astronauts, shooting UFOs and collecting the seizure-inducing E.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• beta
• unreleased
• prototype
• game
• atari
• 5200
• xl
• xe
• 800
• 400
• williams
• robotron
• defender
• vid
• kidz
• kids
• video
• games

[gamein60seconds]

Dug this out and played it again for the first time in years

forgot how much fun it was

:)

[CommodoreKulor]

So wait, you're telling me this was released for the Atari 8-bit?

[ms3bani]

pretty good conversion of the arcade, considering the limitations of the atari.

[leerees]

I had this game, just goes to show how imaginative and creative people were with the atari 800 computer. These graphics are ground breaking compared to other micros of the time.

[GeneralsAlert]

classic

[Casanuda]

Since the enemies firing doesn't seem to have a very threatening sound effect, I just imagine that you're an evil overlord with a doomsday weapon who cruises around the universe capping bitches in the ass.

Atari games make so much more sense than Halo.

[ZylonBane]

Since Minter ripped off so many of his game designs from Williams games, it makes a perverse sort of sense that you'd think that.

[Yarkie]

Now this is a game!

[PaulUmbarger]

It's amazing how much fun some of those old games can still be. In todays super wonderful high quality graphics, four and five pixel characters still rock in a weird sort of way. I still have a working Atari 2600 and have even pulled it out from time to time. It's always good for a few days!

[linkthemain]

this gave me a boner

[CommodoreKulor]

You can download it from Atarimania, I won't link 'cuz it's kinda a ROM site...

But yeah, the arcade version doesn't have the flying through tubes, or most of the enemies from the space assault. It's more like a 3D Space Invaders, really.

Also, you can rarely trust copyrights from unreleased games, they tend to project out to when they think a game is going to be released.

[AtariAndre42]

Actually the start screen says 84 so I still think it was a port from the Arcade version. Still very nice !!!