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Tempest vs. Tempest: The Making and Remaking of Atari's Iconic Video Game

This project is a free, exhaustive book titled 'Tempest vs Tempest,' offering a deep dive into the 6502 and 68K Motorola assembler source code of Atari's classic 'Tempest' (1981) and Jeff Minter's 'Tempest 2000' (1994). It meticulously explains the technical 'how' behind the games' mechanics in digestible, chapter-sized morsels. This appeals to Hacker News's love for low-level technical analysis, retro computing, and the preservation of gaming history.

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Apr 23, 2:00 AM
Last Seen
Apr 23, 12:00 PM
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The Lowdown

The 'Tempest vs Tempest' book provides an unparalleled technical dissection of two seminal video games: Dave Theurer's original 1981 Atari 'Tempest' and Jeff Minter's 1994 'Tempest 2000'. Authored by mwenge, this free resource goes beyond simple retrospectives, delving into the very assembly code that powered these iconic titles to explain their intricate functionalities.

  • The book focuses on the specific implementation details, exploring the 6502 assembler for the original 'Tempest' and the 68K Motorola assembler for 'Tempest 2000'.
  • It's structured into many small chapters, each designed to be a