Tempest 2000

Discuss all things console related

Tempest 2000

Postby RabidYak on Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:42 pm

So I went nosing around the llamasoft message board today looking for info about the new game that Jeff Minter is making for XBLA (http://stinkygoat.livejournal.com/85730.html - scroll down for pics) and much to my interest I found that somebody there was pimping a stripped down Jag emulator specifically for Tempest 2000. Since both the standard Jag emus died before they got to a decently usable state, I thought i'd have a look as T2000 is the only reason that I wanted one in the first place.

Getting to the point, it runs the game at full pelt without any noticeable issues so far short of the 2 player mode not working. The emulator itself its reasonably featured and its only really lacking remappable controls, which hasent bothered me much as it plays fine with my pads and I can program the layout into the XA if I want to use it. I'd usally gripe about the lack of scanline effects in an emulator, but its a bit of a non issue in this case since its a mostly vector game.

For the benefit of the folks who havent played the game or can't remember it much, theres not much to say about it beyond the fact that its a hotrodded version of the original Tempest. Its got fancier graphics, power-ups, bonus stages, dodgey 90s techno music and some different stages to the original. Milage may vary depending on how much you like Tempest in general, but I think its great and its one of those rare examples of an early 80s classic getting remade into a game thats actually worth playing.

Once again i'm too lazy to make screenies when there are plenty on the net already, so you can see some here - http://www.mobygames.com/game/tempest-2000/screenshots

If you want to give it a go, you can find the ROM in the usual places and you can grab the emulator at http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?t=41691.
User avatar
RabidYak
PCB King
PCB King
 
Posts: 1238
Joined: Tue May 15, 2001 6:01 am
Location: England

Postby Silverhaze on Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:14 pm

Thanks Yak thats useful!

So Tempest from what I can see is a flying down a tube killing things game?

I think I may actually have a disc of arcade games somebody gave me for the Xbox. I have a strange feeling Tempest might be on there.
Image
For the people who are still alive.
User avatar
Silverhaze
Master Of The Universe
 
Posts: 5195
Joined: Tue May 15, 2001 6:01 am
Location: #obfuscation on efnet (occasionally)

Postby RabidYak on Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:02 pm

You sit at the top of the playfield and move around the outside edge, the enemies climb up towards you and you have to shoot them before they get to the top. Once you kill all the enemies for that stage you move onto a different shaped playfield with increased difficulty, which range from regular shapes to awkward ones that can either be joined up so that you can go round or lines with ends that you can't.

The original was a vector arcade game produced by pre-split Atari, which was one of the best shooters of its time. Its been ported to more platforms then you can shake a stick at, althougth 2000 and 3000 are the only actual sequels. 2000 was made for the Jaguar and had rougth ports to the PC, PS and Saturn. 3000 was only done for those batshit Nuon DVD players, which bombed so hard that they made the Jag look sucessful.
User avatar
RabidYak
PCB King
PCB King
 
Posts: 1238
Joined: Tue May 15, 2001 6:01 am
Location: England


Return to Console Games

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

cron