Just like the arcade games from yesterdecade, it takes lightning-fast reflexes to defend your ship and your hard-earned energy pearls from the oncoming hordes of enemies. But you won't find a game like this in any arcade. It's completely original, though veteran arcade players might notice elements taken from such games as Rip Off and Sinistar.
You can now buy Oystron on cartridge! Play it on any real-life 2600-compatible system, or just show it off to all of your friends. It comes with its own label and instructions.
Within the United States, the price is $16 per cartridge shipped within two weeks. This price applies whether you're buying one or one hundred cartridges. To order, send a check or money order to:
Randy Crihfield P.O. Box 1332 Pepperell, MA 01463
Be sure to enclose some indication on which game you're ordering, since Oystron isn't the only game that Randy manufactures. For prices on orders outside the US, or information on other new games, contact the distributor directly at randyc@east.sun.com.
Or, download the free zip file, which contains the BIN file and documentation.
You can play the BIN file on an emulator like PC Atari (
),
or you can play it on a real 2600 using a
Supercharger and
Makewav.
Oystron is Piero Cavina's first game, written over the course of most of 1997. It started out as an experiment to display multiple sprites on the Atari with a single player object. This was known simply as PCMSD, or "Piero Cavina's Multi-Sprite Demo". Over the following months, several bells and whistles were added and it eventually evolved into the incredible game it is today.
Here are a few of the prototypes:
You can contact the author at p.cavina@mo.nettuno.it.
Send your reviews of this game to nickb@io.com so I can put them up here. Also send any problems you have with the page.If you'd just like to see what other new Atari games are available for playing or testing, look here.
If you're interested in programming your own 2600 game, visit the Atari 2600 Programming Page to find out how to get started.