Tempest 2

Please make sure you read the entire post!


From: Kevin Phillips <kevinp@ubd1.vdospk.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Subject: Tempest 2 found!!
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 22:57:30 -0800
Message-ID: <315CDB5A.51C8@ubd1.vdospk.com>

EVERYONE DROP WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND READ THIS BULLETIN!!!

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I was diggin around in a warehouse that belongs to an ex-Atari employee the other day.

Not much there, but right when I was about to leave, he opened up the office and there it was in all its glory!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------- Tempest 2 ------- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was XY (of course) and had a copyright of 1984. I would say that they made this right around the time of Major Havoc.

THe cool part was that it had a fitting to that you could 'attach' another XY cabinet to it, kind of like the VS. Nintendo games. Or you could just link two machines together via some kind of line in the back of it and remote the other machine. Is this the first ocurance of 'LINKED' games?

It didn't work (dammit!!) but the guy said that, in 2-player mode, it was a 'head-to-head' game where the players are at opposite ends of the tunnel. The opponent in each monitor was at the far end, and the player was in the traditional location. You shoot at each other (odviously) and occasionally a baddie or some kind of blockage/bonus appears in the middle of the tunnel to distract the players, earn them points, shoot at them, etc.

In single player mode, the game was supposedly like the original but with different baddies and different tube shapes. There was also Williams-style clearish RED 'transmute' button. I can only speculate on what that did, because (like I said) the game did not power up. The spinner was there as well as the superzapper.

The cabinet seemed to be an original Tempest cabinet, but the marquee was different. It was almost exactly the same as the original Tempest marquee, but had a big orange-yellow '2' in the appropriate location. Also, there were instructions on the backglass, but otherwise it seemed to be Tempest. My guess is that it was a 'kit' that was installed on an existing cabinet. The side decals were the classic Tempest.

Seems like Atari would have redisigned the marquee graphics totally so it would be more 'flashy' to potential players. Stand out more. I mean really, really advertise that "I'm different than my daddy!!", etc..

--anyway--

I thought that it might have been a prototype machine, or maybe just an unofficial 'hack' by some geeks at Atari on their spare time, but the guy said it was officially manufactured by Atari. And there WAS an Atari logo on the marquee. He daid only very few, like 50 or a hundred were made, however.

He didn't elaborate on anything further. The guy seemed very proud of the machine, and (as my luck would have it) he wouldn't sell it for any amount of money. I'm going to try to get in there and get a picture though!! It'd be awesome on my web page!! The warehouse is in southern Missouri.

I haven't seen any mention of Tempest 2 in RGVAC, and I sure as hell haven't actually seen the machine before this encounter. Me being such a Tempest fanatic, I would appreciate any info anyone has about it. Also, this brings up a deeper problem for me, personally. I only have one more shoulder to use as canvas. Am I going to have to tattoo it with 'Tempest 2', just so I can say I completed the set? This troubles me profoundly.

Anyway, hopefully the problem with the game is the XY monitor. I'd really like to play the game or, better yet, buy the board off the guy and put it in my own machine! I think head-to-head Tempest would be cool!!

Any info appreciated..

Kevin


[Discussion of Tempest 2 on r.g.v.a.c deleted.]


From: Kevin Phillips <kevinp@ubd1.vdospk.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Subject: Tempest 2: MORE INFO!
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 23:41:15 -0800
Message-ID: <315F889B.2D03@ubd1.vdospk.com>

Err, I'm gonna get stoned for this, I'm sure, but:

      ***     ******  ******  ********  **
     **  *    **    * **    *    **     **
    *******   ******  ******     **     **
   **      *  **      **  *      **     **
  **        * **      **   *     **     **
 **          ***      **    * ********  ******


  *******   ******   ******  **     ******
  **       **     * **     * **    **     
  ****     **     * **     * **     *****
  **       **     * **     * **          **
  **       **     * **     * **     **   **
  **        ******   ******  ****** ******



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the energetic email! You've all made my favorite holiday a very special one!

Kevin


[Discussion of removing Kevin's Tempest tattoo with soldering irons and other implements of torture deleted.]


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Created: 15 Apr 1996; Last Modified: 23 Jan 1998