Atari has revealed that they’re bringing Save Mary to their Atari XP cartridge line. This one is a bit more special because it was an unreleased title by Tod Frye, who would go on to program the N64 cult classic Battletanx. He uh… also programmed the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, which is attributed as a major contributor to the 1983 crash of the video game market.
It’s honestly a pretty fantastic Atari 2600 title. Or, at least, I like it. Your goal is to use a crane to drop bricks on a platform that is slowly being submerged in water. Mary is stuck on this platform and is relying on you to stack these bricks so she can escape. Also, don’t drop them on her because she’ll die a lot quicker from that than she would from drowning.
Save Mary was apparently in development for a very long time and eventually canceled when Atari discontinued the 2600 in 1990. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell was quoted in Atarian saying that he was eagerly anticipating the title. Years later, eight of the prototype cartridges were unearthed and dumped onto the internet. Homebrew cartridges would later be sold using the prototype ROM. However, this will be the first time it has been officially released
The Limited Edition version is available for pre-order right now and is only having a 500-cartridge production run. It comes in a box based on the silver box format of 2600 packaging. It also comes with a manual. Neither the site nor the press release states if there will be a standard edition of Save Mary.
Save Mary Limited Edition is up for pre-order right now. It’s estimated to ship 3 to 4 months from now.
Published: Oct 6, 2023 09:30 am