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Champ Games has done it again! After bringing us Mappy, Super Cobra Arcade, Scramble, Lady Bug and Conquest Of Mars, they return with the biggest surprise for the Atari VCS/2600... Galaga - er, I mean, Galagon!

John Champeau and his team of expert programmers have given gamers a video game port that no one would have expected to see possible on the 2600. Back in 1997, John ported a PC version of Galaga that he called "Galagon", and has reused the name for this game. Galagon is a one or two player game that uses the joystick controllers. Use the joystick to move your ship left and right to avoid incoming fire and to line up your shots to destroy the enemy.

Press the fire button to fire up to two missiles (or four missiles when your ship is doubled). Destroy all of the enemies to advance to the next stage. There are 99 levels to complete.

John has added Novice, Standard, Advanced and Challenge levels of gameplay which are chosen on the title screen. Novice starts with double ships, and is intended for beginners. The arcade did not have this; Standard or Advanced are meant to be more like the arcade. The Challenge mode skill level is where you try to clear as many challenge stages as possible. This is intended to be used as a practice mode for the challenge stages. There are the typical one and two player game options as in the original arcade game, but Champ Games has added a two player co-op option to Galagon! Two ships at one time on the screen gives this game a whole new twist!

All of the enemies from the original arcade game are in this port. Bees (blue), Butterflies (red), Split enemies (multiple), and Flagships (cyan/blue) are all represented in this game. Even down to the tractor beam capturing your ship and having the ability to get double ships. The challenge stages are included, starting on level 3 and every 4th level after that. The object is still to shoot as many ships as possible (up to 40) to increase your score with a bonus. Shooting all 40 will result in a 10,000 point bonus.

Features of Galagon include:

1. Novice, Standard, Advanced, and Challenge Modes.
2. One and Two Player support (including two-player co-op modes).
3. Use Difficulty Switches to Enable/Disable Auto-fire for each player.
4. Built-in Pause Feature using Color/BW Switch on the 2600.
5. Supports QuadTari Adapter for simultaneous two-player.
6. Supports AtariVox.
7. High-Score Tables stored using AtariVox or SaveKey (if present).

The game will also work in Stellarator, Stella emulator (v6.0.1 or higher) and on real hardware with the Harmony or Harmony Encore. Galagon is available for purchase from the AtariAge store. There are two different cartridge label designs for Galagon, featuring Dave Dries' artwork. "Style A" is the artwork on the front of the box, and "Style B" is the artwork featured on the back of the box. It is also available in both NTSC and PAL60 television formats.

It is an incredible feat that this game was developed in just over six weeks by Nathan Strum (graphics, game design), Ross Keenum (music and sound) and John Champeau (design and programming). Galagon is an amazing port of a game that is as timeless as the Atari VCS itself.

While Galaga has been one of the most popular video games of all time setting the standard for every shoot 'em up game from the 80's to follow, gamers can really appreciate what's gone into this conversion. Beautiful graphics, colors, animation, sound effects, background sounds, bonus stages, animated star field, doublefighters, frantic gameplay - all of the arcade original game can be played right here on the 2600 (it's world class coding by Champ Games to produce such an outstanding game for the 2600 - Ed).

If you're not bothered by the enemies' spacing (a true limitation of the VCS that can't be helped) than yes - Galagon is damn near arcade 'perfect'. Another top notch release from Champ Games that will blow your minds. This is the leading candidate for the "Best Homebrew Game" award from the "Atari Awards 2019" award show!