Atari is continuing its lineup of newly produced Atari 2600 cartridges with a more obscure title: Dark Chambers.
Dark Chambers was released in 1989, extremely close to the end of the 2600’s lifespan. Hah! Except, not it wasn’t, because Dark Chambers is actually just a rework of Dandy, a game originally released in 1986 on early home computers. But wait, it gets stranger.
Going back to the beginning, Dandy was developed by John Howard Palevich. It’s a dungeon crawler inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, the name is based on the abbreviation D&D. Dandy plays like a prototype of the popular arcade Gauntlet, and that’s because it basically is. A perpetuated gaming myth (as in, I can’t find an authoritative source) is that Palevich sued (or threatened to sue) Atari over Gauntlet taking Dandy’s basic gameplay, and according to the rumor, this was settled out of court.
Regardless, Dandy wasn’t initially released on the 2600, so the game had to be scaled back for Dark Chambers to fit the stricter hardware limitations. How much? Well, it’s actually kind of an impressive attempt. 2-player co-op was retained, as was 8-directional shooting. Its graphics are fairly charming in a vintage way. Is it any good? Depends on your mindset. It’s a classic dungeon crawler, so you either have to be really good at memorizing layouts or will need to make a map.
It’s a neat addition to the Atari XP lineup. The limited edition comes with a manual and is packaged in a silverbox. It also has a new cover featuring “reimagined artwork by Brazilian pop artist Butcher Billy.” I dig it.
Here’s hoping that a non-limited edition is in the works. Especially since it doesn’t ship to Canada because Atari probably hates maple syrup and poutine. For that matter, since the Atari 2600+ will be able to play 7800 game, maybe we can see a reissue of that version as well. Oh gosh, while we’re on the topic, Atari should reproduce the Atari XEGS so we can play reissued Atari 8-Bit cartridges.
Anyway, Dark Chamber’s Limited Edition is available for preorder on Atari’s site. The store page says it will ship in 3 to 4 months.
