Lost Atari 2600 Dune Prototype Discovered

Thanks to AtariAge for its new story revealing a long-lost Atari 2600 prototype for a Dune game has been discovered, almost 20 years after it was scrapped. The game is "based on the 1984 movie of the same name [from Frank Herbert's books]" and "was to be an action/adventure style game similar to Atari's classic Adventure", but, according to an in-depth analysis at AtariProtos.com, "only preliminary coding had been started before Jack Tramiel shut down 2600 game development and fired most of the staff." Still, what other game you know depicts Baron Harkonnen as a smiley face?

Comments

Early Prototype

[Lshmael]

This game is so unfinished, it's not even funny. The only enemy *not* to be represented by a smiley face is the "Baron's Guards", who appear in one screen. Add more unfinished graphics (i.e. Fremen also using wonderful smiley face, Princess Chani represented by a square - along with guns, ornithopters, and various other inanimate objects), a thoroughly ugly interface and screen, and you could have a good concept of any unfinished game, whether it be from 1984 or 2003.

Heck, if they did not explicitly tell you the game was based on Dune, I wouldn't have known.

It could have been good.

[AtariAmarok]

It could have been good, you know. Remember the imminently fun Atari 2600 version of "Superman". Compare this to the much better looking for very dull (flying Supes through the deserted city gets old) "Superman" game on the N-64.

Those graphics

[GuyMannDude]

Still, what other game you know depicts Baron Harkonnen as a smiley face?

Yo, peep this: Evil Otto from Berzerk was nothing more than a smiley face and he was one bad ass dope motherfucker that had no problems going all Jet Li down on your punk human ass! You best be showing them smiley face dudes a little more respect, bro.

..."was to be an action/adventure style game similar to Atari's classic Adventure"...

Considering that the dragon looked an awful lot like a chicken in Adventure, I'd hate to think how those Dune worms would have ended up...

GMD

Only one Dune game...

[freeBill]

...will ever matter: Eon's multiplayer board game.

Quite possibly the best multiplayer game ever designed. It did an outstanding job of reproducing the political intrigue that made the book interesting.