Atari XP is a publisher of collectible, physical games beginning with never-released and rare Atari games from the 1970s and 1980s. The name is a tribute to the Atari Program Exchange (APX), which sold software through a mail-order catalog in the 1970s and 1980s. The first three games part of this new initiative that are available to pre-order are Yars’ Return, Saboteur, and Aquaventure. All of the game cartridges are newly made in the United States of high-quality materials and manufactured to exacting standards. There are limited-edition versions which cost $149.99 that include premium packaging and extras that will delight collectors and fans of the titles. Each standard edition costs $49.99 and comes sealed with a high-quality box, cartridge and manual.
These unreleased editions of Atari collectible game cartridges are games that were completed but never received an official release, or were only released in very limited quantities. These games are physical media, which has become extremely rare and is hard to find. This new collection will include a wide variety of classic games that would benefit from small improvements to graphic rendering on modern devices and the smoothness and accuracy of controls. These games will be carefully ‘reconditioned’ and then re-released.
Yars’ Return is the sequel to 1982’s Yars’ Revenge, the best-selling original game for the Atari 2600. It takes the gameplay from Yars’ Revenge – invading alien incests that shoot at you from behind a barrier, and periodically dash across the barrier to nibble at your defensive shield – and extends it. Yars’ Return features enemies attacking from three directions instead of being strictly horizontal in Yars’ Revenge.
Saboteur is a creative, multi-level shooter developed by Howard Scott Warshaw in 1983. Players take on the role of a robot named Hotot who fights back against a race of blue aliens with the help of a yellow birdlike race. Together, they have to destroy a rocket, disarm a galaxy-destroying warhead, and prevent the planet’s destruction.
In Aquaventure, players are tasked with diving into an undersea cavern and retrieving a treasure before running out of oxygen. Along the way, you’ll have to either avoid menacing sea creatures or take them out with your speargun. Killing the creatures spawns replacements that are faster and stronger. After reaching the creature, a mermaid advances you to increasingly difficult levels where you have to dive for treasure against faster enemies and with less air.