Homebrew developers are a unique lot, they do things that the professionals claim is impossible.  Homebrewers also do it without official development kits, most of the time, and are at a severe disadvantage compared to the professionals as far as standard education on how the hardware works.  That lack of education just may be what sets homebrew developers apart.  Take a look at this latest improvement to a classic Atari 2600 title.  Galaxian is now nearly arcade perfect (work continues to complete this feat).  Fans of the classic overhead shooter are already scrolling down to get to the download link, everyone else- enjoy this look at a near arcade perfect port.

Using the original release of Galaxian on the Atari 2600, Atari Age forum member, “espire8” has taken things farther than Namco or Atari’s programmers probably ever thought possible.  It is well known that the Atari 2600 has trouble displaying a lot of detail, either on a scanline or onscreen at all.  Back in the day tricks were employed to get around this and we got games like Galaxian.  While a good game, the original Galaxian was nowhere near arcade perfect- sure the “feel” was there but graphically it was not very close.

Espire8 has improved the graphics quite a bit, added or maybe redistributed colors and redrew nearly everything to better match the arcade version.  While there was a lot more color in the arcade version, the colors in the Atari 2600 version of Galaxian now better match them.  Some things probably will never be arcade perfect due to the lack of detail on the Atari 2600, such as the ships remaining in the bottom left corner.  Those little things are just that, little things, and they don’t effect the amount of fun you can have playing Galaxian on the 2600.

Head over to the Atari Age forums to say thanks to espire8, download the game and follow the development as it improves.

Carl Williams

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