The Video Game Project
A Closer Look At The Prototypes That Became Your Favourite Games!
Unreleased Sinistar Arari 2600 Prototype
It's amazing that Atari managed to capture the action and excitement of Sinistar and convert it to work on the 26000. The graphics are excellent by 2600 standards and the controls are sharp and precise. The only places Atari had to compromise on were the voice (which was impossible to reproduce on the 2600), and the controls which had to be simplified slightly due to the 2600 only having one fire button. In the Arcade there were separate fire buttons for shooting and dropping Sinibombs, but on the 2600 your ship has auto fire, so the fire button drops the Sinibombs instead.
By the time Sinistar was being completed (early 1984), the video game market was in termoil and many new games never got released. In fact Atari had already commissioned artwork for Sinistar, and the game seems to have been nearly completed. An Atari 400 / 800 version was also in the works and nearly complete!
Proto - Front
Proto - Top
