How to play Tempest online
- Move your blaster: left and right arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar
- Super Zapper: hold the up arrow and press Space
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
Gameplay
The 2600 could not draw the arcadeās 3D tubes, so the prototype shows a flat shape instead: enemies come up from one side and you move along the other, firing down the lanes. You face four enemy types from the arcade game. Flippers are the main threat once they reach your end. Tankers split into two Flippers when shot. Pulsars electrify a lane, and Fuseballs travel up and down a single lane.
Expect rough edges. The positions your blaster can stop at do not line up well with the shape on screen, and they are spaced unevenly. Enemies climb the short lanes very quickly, your shots leave from the side of the ship rather than the centre, and bullets can vanish when too many objects flicker on screen. There is no working title screen.
The story of the prototype
Carla Meninsky is often credited with 2600 Tempest, but she has said this prototype is not her version, which is lost. Atari apparently gave the project to another programmer after she left, and nobody knows who that was. Michael Kosaka is credited with the graphics. The cartridge is roughly half finished. A later build from February 1984 with more features was reviewed in a magazine, but that version has never been found. The January prototype was shown at Classic Gaming Expo 2000 and has since been re-released on the Evercade console.
