Tempest 2000

Tempest 2000^[a] is a 1994 tube shootervideo game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar.^[3] Part of Atari Corp.'s 2000 series,^[4] it is a remake of the 1981 arcade gameTempest.

Taking control of the claw-shaped Blaster spacecraft from the original game, the player must survive and travel across multiple levels until the end of an intergalactic war, battling against a variety of enemies that appear on the playfield. Designed by Jeff Minter, it is a remake of Dave Theurer's Tempest, which used Atari's QuadraScanvectorcolor display technology.^[5] Initially an exclusive for the Jaguar, Tempest 2000 was ported following Jaguar's discontinuation to other platforms: MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn, PlayStation (as Tempest X3) and Windows, each with several changes and additions from the original.

Tempest 2000 was critically acclaimed when it was released on the Jaguar, with critics praising the graphics, gameplay and soundtrack. It has often been called one of the best games released for the Jaguar and as of 1 April 1995, the Jaguar version has sold more than 30,000 copies during its lifetime, making it one of the best-selling games for the system.^[6][7][8] Critical reception to the various ports, though still mostly positive, was more mixed than reception for the original version, owing to the aging of the game and differing opinions of the enhancements the ports offered.

Tempest 2000 は、パワーアップ、ボーナス レベル、より洗練された敵の種類、そして大きく変化するウェブ レベルのデザインを追加することで、オリジナルのTempestのゲームプレイを改良しています。ゲームには合計 100 のウェブ レベルがあり、16 レベルをクリアするごとに新しいフレームの色とバリエーションが追加されます。すべてのバージョンで、進行状況は数レベルをクリアすると自動的に保存され、プレイヤーは「キー」を使用してゲームが保存された最後のステージに戻ることで再開できます。メイン ゲームに加えて、3 つのゲームプレイ モードもあります。Tempest 2000で 100 のウェブ レベルすべてをクリアすると、「ビーストリー モード」がアンロックされます。これは、敵がより速く動き、より頻繁に攻撃し、プレイヤーのショットに対してより頑丈になる、より難しい難易度設定です。さらに、プレイヤーのシップの発射速度は、オリジナルの難易度よりも低くなります。

このゲームの主な目的は、画面下部から出現する敵を画面上から排除し、できるだけ長く生き残り、得点を獲得することです。プレイヤーの宇宙船は連射機能を備えており、プレイヤーがいるエリア内の敵を素早く撃墜できます。また、宇宙船にはスーパーザッパーというスマート爆弾が搭載されており、これを使うと画面上の敵をすべて破壊できます。スーパーザッパーをチャージして2回目に使用すると、画面上のランダムな敵を1体破壊できます。

Tempest 2000の新要素として、敵や敵の弾丸を一定数破壊するとカプセル型の多角形オブジェクトとして出現するパワーアップが登場します。パワーアップをキャッチすると、パーティクルレーザーなど、段階的に強力になる機能が発動します。パーティクルレーザーは、機体の火力を強化し、敵やスパイクレイヤーが残したスパイクをより速く破壊できるようにします。ジャンプを使うと、ウェブから飛び降りて敵の攻撃や、フューズボールやパルサーの電撃攻撃など、プレイフィールドの端を移動する敵を回避できます。AIドロイドは、ウェブの上に浮かんで敵を攻撃する自律型ベクトルシップです。さらに、新しいレベルにワープ中にパワーアップをキャッチすると、女性の「Yes! Yes! Yes!」という叫び声が徐々に高くなり、次のレベルに到着すると、最初にAIドロイドがプレイヤーに与えられます。

Also new to the game are Warp Bonus tokens, which allow the player access into any of the three types of bonus stages after collecting three tokens and completing the level. Completing the bonus level grants 25,000 points and the player skips five levels ahead, but failing will warp the player to just one level. Outta Here! is a power-up that appears randomly and collecting it will destroy all enemies on-screen and warps the player into the next level. However, spikes left by Spike Layers will not be eliminated, so it is possible to lose a life by hitting one as the ship warps down the web. Between certain power-ups, players can also gain 2,000 point bonuses as well.

Other modes include Traditional Tempest, which is a recreation of the original arcade game; Tempest Plus, which is a mix between Traditional and Tempest 2000 modes and Tempest Duel, a two-player versus mode where players compete in a series of matches against each other. In addition, this mode includes an exclusive Mirror power-up, which deflects shots from the rival back at him, alongside other objects to use in the playfield and regular enemies from the main game.^[9]

At a gaming convention, Atari held a conference with prospective developers for the Atari Jaguar where they listed off arcade games that they were considering having converted to the Jaguar, asking them to raise their hands at ones they wanted to work on.^[10][11][12] Jeff Minter volunteered to do Tempest as it was one of his favorite games.^[13][14] At the launch party for the Jaguar in New York, the creator of the Atari Jaguar took Minter aside and told him that he felt Tempest 2000 was a poor demonstration of the Jaguar's capabilities. Though discouraged, Minter continued to work on the game until it was finished and also regarded the Jaguar hardware as easy to develop for.^[13][15]Tempest 2000 was developed in Wales.^[16][17][18] Carrie Tahquechi, wife of ex-Atari producer Ted Tahquechi did the female voice work in Tempest 2000.^[19]

The most common criticism with the Jaguar version of Tempest 2000 was the lack of a rotary controller similar to the controller on the Tempest arcade machine.^[20][21] In fact, the game was programmed with an option to use just such a controller, even though Atari never released one.^[22] Such a controller was planned for development and release by Atari, but no prototypes exist.^[17] However, several homebrew options exist by using parts from a Jaguar controller and either an Atari 2600 Driving Controller or new, higher-precision rotary encoders. The one used by Jeff Minter during testing was made from a hacked-up 2600 driving controller.^[17]

The original Atari Jaguar version's music was created by Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay and Kevin Saville of Imagitec Design (a.k.a. Dream Weavers),^[23][24] who also created the music for Jeff Minter's Defender 2000 on the Jaguar as well.

The music was composed in the Commodore AmigaMOD file format, although non-Jaguar releases of the game played music from a CD.^[25] At the time of its release, the music soundtrack could also be purchased on CD directly from Atari. The CD was also bundled with the short-lived Atari Jaguar CD to demonstrate the system's Virtual Light Machinemusic visualizer.^[26] It became the basis for the audio for all conversions of the game to come including the PC, PlayStation and Saturn versions. Several tracks, however, were not used in the Jaguar version due to cartridge space constraints.^[27]

Tempest 2000 was originally released for the Atari Jaguar in 1994 in all regions including Japan, where it was published by Mumin Corporation^[28][29] and came with an exclusive Japanese manual for the region. The game was ported to MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn and PlayStation, the latter version with several changes to the design under the name of Tempest X3. The Jaguar version was included as part of the Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, and Xbox One, marking the game's first re-release.^[30][31]

Tempest 2000 received general critical acclaim when released for the Jaguar.^[63][64]GamePro praised the graphics and high speed, said the music included "the best techno-rave tracks anywhere", and deemed the two-player competitive mode "well worth the price of the cart."^[20]Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it their "Game of the Month" award, citing the "superb" techno soundtrack and "graphics that surpass the arcade version".^[21]GameFan also gave the Jaguar version a positive review.^[47] In a 1995 overview of Atari's history, Next Generation said of Tempest 2000 that "This single game probably did more for Atari's reputation than anything the company's marketing team had managed in the last five years."^[65]Tempest 2000 sold more than 30,000 copies, making it the second best-selling game on the platform behind Alien vs Predator, though it is unknown how many were sold in total during its lifetime as of 1 April 1995.^[8]

The PlayStation version was much less well received. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot and Scary Larry of GamePro both said that it offers too few enhancements or additions over the by-then more than two years old Jaguar version.^[49][66] Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly questioned why the Jaguar game had received such acclaim in the first place, opining it was simply an outdated arcade game with some extra "glitter" which has no bearing on the essence of the game, and that the PlayStation version was essentially the same. Sushi-X felt that it paled against the Jaguar version, lacking the smoothness of the original release.^[46] Gerstmann, Hsu, Boyer, and Sushi-X also complained that the game suffers from poor control in the absence of a rotary controller like the original Tempest's.^[49][46] However, a Next Generation critic gave it a positive review, opining it retained the elements which made the Jaguar version great and that the enhancements were strong enough to make it fresh.^[51]

Reviewing the Saturn version, Paul Glancey of Sega Saturn Magazine recalled the impact of the game's original release on the Jaguar: "... Jeff Minter had pepped up the gameplay with a barrage of eye-warping pixel explosions, swirling, smearing colour effects and a 'banging' ravey soundtrack. ... Turn down the lights, turn up the colour, run the sound through your hi-fi then jam up the bass and the volume and you could enjoy a gaming experience so hypnotic as to be almost mind-altering." He concluded that the Saturn port, though slightly inferior to the Jaguar original, effectively recreated this experience for Saturn owners.^[57]

Entertainment Weekly gave the game an A− and wrote that "An update of the arcade shooting classic, Tempest 2000 is multimedia in the truest sense, with psychedelic graphics, a CD-quality soundtrack, breathy voice samples (the words superzapper recharge have never sounded more erotic), even text that scrolls past at dizzying speeds. The one weakness is the often-unresponsive Jaguar control pad."^[53]

In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 17th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."^[67]Tempest 2000 was also awarded Best Jaguar Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.^[59]

In 1996, the game's Melt-O-Vision trademark was abandoned,^[68] while the trademark renewal for the title was also cancelled in 2006.^[69] It was cited by Ultra/United Games as an influence during development of Battle-Girl.^[70] VM Labs licensed Tempest for their Nuon DVD system and hired Jeff Minter to produce a sequel, Tempest 3000.^[71] Minter also produced the unofficial "inspired by" follow-ups Space Giraffe and TxK on the Sony PlayStation Vita.^[72] On 24 August 2008, the source code of Tempest 2000 was released by the defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection.^[73][74] Also, two unofficial clones of Tempest 2000 named Typhoon 2001 and Cyclone 2000 were launched for PC and Android devices, by Thorsten Kuphaldt and NoCrew Mobile respectively.^[75][76] Another sequel, Tempest 4000, was released in July 2018. The title was a reworking of an earlier clone by Minter titled TxK, that incorporates classic Tempest 2000 music and enemies, alongside other enhancements.^[77]

• Tempest 2000 at AtariAge
• Tempest 2000 at GameFAQs
• Tempest 2000 at MobyGames