The Atari 5200 version of Sega‘s classic arcade game, Zaxxon, was programmed by Ronald J. Fortier and first released in 1984.

Mr. Fortier – as some may know – was the creator of the classic Bruce Lee by Datasoft. He also programmed the Atari 8-bit version of Zaxxon and this Atari 5200 port is almost identical to that game.

Zaxxon on the Atari 5200 is fast-moving and challenging, with smooth scrolling and solid, non-flickery graphics, but it does lack colour variation (too much blue).

It’s also arguably too easy. I got to Zaxxon himself on my first try and destroying him took three or four shots, which surprised me.

Overall, this is an okay port, but it’s nothing special. It could have been better, with more colours and difficulty levels.

More: Zaxxon on Wikipedia