Sirius Software was best known for Apple II games when, in 1982, it signed a deal to make Atari 2600 cartridges for Fox Video Games, the game label of 20th Century Fox. Fox wanted to turn its film catalogue into games, which explains the movie titles on some of them. Fantastic Voyage really adapts the 1966 film, while Spacemaster X-7 and The Earth Dies Screaming borrow film names but none of their stories.
The designers behind these cartridges included Mark Turmell (Fast Eddie, Beany Bopper and Turmoil), David Lubar (Worm War I, Fantastic Voyage, Spacemaster X-7 and Flash Gordon), Ed Hodapp (Deadly Duck) and Dan Thompson (The Earth Dies Screaming). Lubar later became a children’s author. Sirius also developed The Challenge of Nexar, published by Spectravision. A few to start with:
Fast Eddie: jump for floating prizes while the Sneakers patrol each floor.
Deadly Duck: a duck defends its pond from crabs that drop bricks.
Worm War I: drive a tank through a city of giant worms, watching your fuel.
Fantastic Voyage: pilot a shrunken submarine through a patient’s bloodstream.
Flash Gordon: rescue spacemen in the tunnels of Spider City.
The Earth Dies Screaming: a first-person hunt for alien ships above a rotating Earth.
Pick one below and play it in your browser.
Atari 2600: The Challenge of Nexar Instruction Manual For Atari and Sears Video Game Systems Welcome to a journey beyond the realms of known galaxies and the constraints of time, to the crucible of inner strength and future…
Play ▸Beany Bopper is a 1982 Atari 2600 shooter developed by Sirius Software and published by 20th Century Fox. You fly a purple eyeball called the Bopper around a field of blocks, stunning and then catching the Beanies, little…
Play ▸Flash Gordon is a 1983 Atari 2600 shooter based on the comic-strip space hero. David Lubar designed it at Sirius Software, and Fox Video Games, the game division of 20th Century Fox, published it. You fly a rocket…
Play ▸Worm War I is a 1982 shooter for the Atari 2600, developed by Sirius Software, programmed by David Lubar and published by 20th Century Fox. You drive a tank up the scrolling screen through the city of Teriyaki,…
Play ▸Spacemaster X-7 is a 1983 space shooter for the Atari 2600, published by 20th Century Fox and made by Sirius Software, with David Lubar as the programmer. You fly an assault ship against enemy bases, each wrapped in…
Play ▸Fantastic Voyage is a 1982 vertically scrolling shooter for the Atari 2600, based on the 1966 20th Century Fox science fiction film. It was programmed by David Lubar at Sirius Software and published by Fox Video Games in…
Play ▸Fast Eddie is a 1982 platform game designed by Mark Turmell at Sirius Software and published for the Atari 2600 by 20th Century Fox. Eddie runs along the floors of a building, climbs ladders and jumps to snatch…
Play ▸The Earth Dies Screaming is a first-person space shooter for the Atari 2600, designed by Dan Thompson at Sirius Software and published by Fox Video Games, the game label of 20th Century Fox. It borrows its name from…
Play ▸Deadly Duck is a 1982 shooting game designed by Ed Hodapp at Sirius Software and published for the Atari 2600 by 20th Century Fox. You play a duck whose bill doubles as a gun barrel, defending your pond…
Play ▸
