Developer: Tod Frye
Tod Frye programmed at Atari from the early 1980s and later worked at Axlon, a company founded by Nolan Bushnell. His best-known game is Pac-Man (1982), the 2600 version of Namco’s maze game. It had to fit into 4 KB, and its flickering ghosts drew heavy criticism, yet it became the console’s best-selling cartridge. He also wrote two of the Swordquest adventures, Fireworld and Waterworld, tied to comic books and a prize contest that was never finished.
Several of his games stayed unreleased. Xevious was cancelled as the market collapsed, and Save Mary!, a block-stacking rescue game finished in 1989, first came out in 2005. Shooting Arcade, made for the light gun, cannot really be played here. He also wrote the display kernel for Aquaventure.
Pick one below and play it in your browser.
Swordquest: Fireworld
Swordquest: Fireworld is the second of Atari's three Swordquest adventure games for the 2600, programmed by Tod Frye and released in early 1983. You explore ten rooms laid out like the Kabbalah Tree of Life, collect and drop…
Play ▸Swordquest: Waterworld
Swordquest: Waterworld is the third and last of Atari's Swordquest adventure games for the 2600, programmed by Tod Frye. Like Earthworld and Fireworld, it asks you to place magical objects in the right rooms to reveal clues that…
Play ▸Shooting Arcade
Shooting Arcade is an unreleased Atari 2600 target-shooting game made for Atari's light gun. It was developed in Mexico by Agustin Ortiz of the company Heuristica, with final changes by Tod Frye, and the last builds date from…
Play ▸Save Mary!
Save Mary! is an unreleased Atari 2600 puzzle game. Tod Frye programmed it at Nolan Bushnell's company Axlon, and Atari planned to publish it as CX-26178. It was finished in 1989, but Atari closed down its 2600 business…
Play ▸Aquaventure
Aquaventure is an unreleased Atari 2600 prototype from 1983, programmed by Gary Shannon, with Tod Frye writing the display kernel. It never appeared in any Atari catalogue or press material, and nobody knew it existed until a copy…
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