The Atari 2600+ is here and it’s great to see that but only have Atari released a new version of their most famous console, but that they’ve put in the effort to release a few new cartridges with the console.
The most exciting of these is Mr Run and Jump, which is a 2D platformer about a man called Mr Run and Jump searching for his dog called Leap. That’s the whole story.
The game is incredibly basic visually, even by Atari 2600 standards. The game has six worlds (or levels to most people) and each one is made up of around ten to fifteen screens of play forming action. Each world is themed by a different colour and has a lighter colour tone in the background and a darker tone to show the platforms and obstacles. Mr Run and Jump is well animated considering he’s just a white silhouette and you have to dodge and jump over various enemies.
There are only a few different enemy types, and they cannot be killed or defeated. They can only be avoided. A single hit will send you back to start of the current world and you have to get to the exit ladder at the end of each world to go to the next. The enemies include spikes, and what look like Thwomps from Super Mario and big Diglets from Pokémon.
The first level is fairly simple, and these eases you into the controls, but from level two onwards, the game is super challenging. Enemies can move incredibly fast at times and you have to be exact with your timing.
It’s not a super long game, but in old school fashion, your ability to progress will be dependant on you learning the exact timing and positioning for when to jump and how to dodge certain enemies. This can be frustrating as you’ll find that you have to replay screen after screen just to get another attempt at a place you went wrong. Then it is usual for you to mess up again at the same spot without learning how to do it better the next time.
The good news is that the game gives you unlimited lives to try again, and instead of a number of lives you have a continually decreasing score which drops one point at a time for every second you play, or drops by a bunch of points if you get killed. Getting killed also means you have to replay the stage from the start again and that in turn takes up more time and lowers your overall score.
The final level is insanely difficult as you play on a black stage with black platforms and a black background. It’s like you’re jumping around on an invisible level and still need to figure out where to go.
It’s only on the last section of the game that they introduce backtracking of any kind which is a shame. It was surprising and cool to see some areas on a screen that you could only get to by going through another to reach it a higher area. The game could have done with more sections like this.
Some enemies flicker if you have too many on screen at once for the 2600 to handle. This is typical of Atari games and by the time you get to the ted stage is a bit of an eyesore.
The game is a lot of fun and I’m sure many will spend hours learning the levels to perfect speed runs. I think it’s just a bit too difficult for many casual players and so multiple play throughs will be mainly for the hardcore players. It’s a shame, because if it was a little less challenging the true focus could be on speed runs rather than just survival.
Conclusion
It’s one of the best games I’ve played in the Atari 2600 and is a great launch game for the 2600+. I really hope this leads to more original Atari 2600+ games. It’d be cool to see a 7800 level sequel come out at some point to bridge the gap between this and the Mr Run and Jump game that is made with more modern graphics on the likes of the Nintendo Switch and Atari VCS.
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