Tempest - Atari 5200

Brand new condition
Great price packaging good.

If you own a 5200, you owe it to yourself to buy this game. If you also own a trakball, then why aren't you hitting the checkout right now? THIS is what retro gaming is all about. Fast action, early eighties arcade sounds, great graphics, tight control. This title has it all.

Why haven't I reviewed this already? If Tempest 2000 is the console-defining game to get for the Atari Jaguar, then Tempest is the game to get for your 5200. Keithen Hayenga knocked this sucker out of the park. It's sad that he didn't get to complete it back in 1984 but it's so awesome that he returned and finished it years later. And the game is simply fantastic on the CX53 Trak-Ball Controller. Hell, the game holds up to the arcade original and I can say that because I'm one of the few that's played it with the arcade spinner wired up to a CX53 courtesy of Dan Kramer himself at the last Davis Atari Party that was held. Get this game!

Great port with the Trak-Ball. Love it!

Just a quick update, since last review I acquired a tracball and what a amazing difference! Brings game to a whole new level, the way it should be played.

Game is amazing! Love it, great work! Seems alot harder than I remember!

What a game, one of my favorites! This and Star Castle.

One of my favorite arcade games gets a spot-on, banging port for my favorite Atari console! Tempest looks great, plays great, and sounds great on the 5200, and it makes me wonder why Atari had to shelve what was an excellent port. if this came out back in the 80s, it would've been a killer game for the system!

Man'o'man. . . do I remember poppin' a lot of quarters into this baby at the Dream Machine arcade in Lexingtion, KY; they had 3 of these machines there, and they were usually all occupied. How Atari never made this a priority for their arcade-library for the 5200 is beyond me.

Color and graphics are stellar; but I haven't played it much, basically because player-movement with the CX52 controller is incredibly twitchy. Other reviews indicate it's optimized for the CX53 track-ball; I have 2, but neither work presently. So I guess I'm going to be busy trying to fix those rascals. . . heh.

I suppose I would recommend that Tempest support both the CX52 and the CX53 amply, as was typical with standard titles like Centipede and Missile Command. The whole idea behind the CX52 was to rid oneself of a tangled mess of game-specific controllers.

Still, 5 well-deserved stars! Thank you!

This is a cherished gem in my 5200 collection, I got it boxed. Very interesting that this is the finished version started and completed by the original Atari programmer Keithen, along with newer help from some AA members.

I hope you have a Trak-ball controller if you get this, because its so cool trying this out, and we just don't get Trak-ball games anymore.

For control, I actually pefer the stock CX52. The Trak-ball is fun, but wears me out. :) I remember reading that the developers reworked the control logic to make it more accurate and auto-sync to each unique system setup/pokey calibration. Once they did that, the control became very good in this final version, but the analog can be sensitive until you adjust!

With the stick, you can crawl along slowly or fast once you acclimate to the sensitivity of it. Stop yanking it left and right just barely apply pressure in the direction.

I can't believe how faithful this game is to the coin-op original. It's difficult (just like Atari's original)!