GAME CLEAR No. 140 -- Phoenix

Phoenix (1980, Arcade/2600)

Arcade Developer: Taito
Arcade Publisher: Various
2600 Developer: Atari
2600 Publisher: Atari
Clear Version: 2600
Clear Date: 7/29/23

Resurgens

A few weeks ago, I had the unexpected opportunity to allow some friends to play my most recent 2600 game King Bee on original hardware on my tube TV. I was pretty pleased to have the chance. It also meant I had to shell out fifty-two more dollars to charity per the final few lines of the linked blog post, but that’s why I put it there! I appreciated their persistence in beating it on the spot like that. It seemed to be much harder than I expected, but that’s what happens when you’re the only playtester of your own game and play it constantly, iteration after iteration.

While they were playing, it came up that I owned a copy of E.T., which I also allowed a friend to play. Understandably, he gave up after a few minutes. I insisted it had merit (because it does), but I also wanted to assure them that there were indeed some cool and genuinely fun games for the 2600. I grabbed Phoenix off the stack of cartridges near my Sears Video Arcade II, put it in, and started it up hoping to show off such a title.

Phoenix is a Taito shooter reminiscent of Galaga. It differentiates itself by having a menacing mothership final boss. A couple years after its arcade release, Atari put out a port for 2600. Many, many years later, I purchased it for $0.95 at McKay’s used media store in Chattanooga. A few months after that, during this visit with friends, I blasted away all the birds and aliens, and I beat the mothership – the final boss – for the first time. I knew, of course, that meant I’d have to write this blog post eventually. After that, I think I maybe showed off Yars’ Revenge or something as well before we moved on to something a bit more engaging for everyone. I did appreciate them indulging me, though.

Anyway, one of the reasons I even made King Bee is because of the 2600 version of Phoenix. It’s a terrific little port of the arcade game that looks, plays, and sounds great. It makes compromises by necessity, but development and understanding of how to really stretch the capabilities of the 2600 had matured enough by this point to make a pretty solid imitation for the home. Comparing this to something like Outlaw or Combat truly staggering. Part of the reason I showed the game to my friends was to marvel at (and point out) some of the technical feats that I couldn’t reverse engineer if I wanted to. The abundance of enemies in each stage and the impressive-looking mothership would take me ages to even crudely replicate. It’s a stunning effort and the kind of thing that makes it difficult for me to stop wanting to make things for the 2600. It’s just so fun to push this thing.

I had hoped King Bee might be half as good as Phoenix. Alas, it isn’t, but I’m still mostly proud of it. Fortunately, there’s more in store for that little bee too. 👾