Permadeath. Puzzles. Portals. Pong

April 9, 2013 8:56 PM

2x0ng (and its predecessor, Xong) is a hybrid roguelikes that has the appearance, sound and mechanics of Atari age games. Levels are randomly generated, and the rules are up to you to discover. Here is a video review for your elucidation. Available for PC, Mac and Linux.
posted by boo_radley (6 comments total)

I couldn't get past level 6. And I think I might be done trying.
posted by aubilenon at 9:38 PM on April 9, 2013

Cool. This is what Krull should have been like on the Atari.
posted by XMLicious at 12:02 AM on April 10, 2013

Yeah, this is like the best Atari 2600 game I never played, except that the 2600 wouldn’t have been capable of looking, sounding, and playing like this (number of and complexity of sprites, resolution, etc.). The feel of a 2600 game is captured in this nevertheless. The “ball” throwing and returning is similar to Tron Deadly Discs.
posted by D.C. at 7:56 AM on April 10, 2013

Yeah, I'm not really sure I should have described them as 2600-era graphics. They're definitely lo-fi, but not the terrible chunky-style resolution of the 2600 (192x168, I think?).
posted by boo_radley at 8:23 AM on April 10, 2013

The 2600 graphics and sound systems are total marvels when you look at how limited the hardware is. And yeah, way more limite than this. I think if 2x0ng's screen size were limited it'd be roughly in the realm of Atari 5200 graphics and sound. The gameplay is also too smooth and fast for a 2600; I never played a 5200 so can't compare.

I like the game itself. It's an interesting mix of early console game mechanics. I gave up on level 3 though, there's a reason the industry moved on past early console game mechanics :-P
posted by Nelson at 9:21 AM on April 10, 2013

Well, I had both a 2600 and 5200. Without regard to the real capabilities of the systems, this still feels more like a 2600 game, both in style and gameplay.
posted by D.C. at 6:12 PM on April 10, 2013