Freeware Archon Remake, 20 Years On

c64cryptoboy writes "It's been 20 years since Archon first came out for the Atari, shortly followed by ports for the C64, Amiga, NES, and DOS. Now it looks as if a new freeware version is in the works, one that promises to be true to the Atari/C64 versions' gameplay. The developers are apparently working with one of the original Archon creators, Jon Freeman. Here's a development screenshot." Nothing to download yet, but polls and development diaries galore for this interesting remake.

One of the best games ever...

[neostorm]

I spent hours playing Archon and Archon 2. I still have the original packaging from the first game. It's about time someone revived this fantastic game.
Penny Arcade recently pointed out the similarities between the original Archon and this up and coming title:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/wrath unleashe d/news_6026702.html

I can't wait.

Re:One of the best games ever...

[torpor]

I remember the days of Archon ... my friend had it for his C64, but I ignored games like that for my Oric/Speccie setup because I'm an arcade junkie and ... to an arcade junkie, Archon just looks like fancy chess. I was too busy playing JSW or Elite, most of the time, to care about Archon and its ilk... but, one thing is clear, Archon had a *huge* following in the 8-bit gamer days.

I never did get to the bottom of what was so good about Archon as a game - perhaps you'd care to elucidate?

Re:One of the best games ever...

[DLWormwood]

I'm an arcade junkie and ... to an arcade junkie, Archon just looks like fancy chess.

Then you missed out on a game you may have liked... When two pieces meet on the game board, the players engage in an arcade/action sequence to see who wins the square. Archon was not like the later Battle Chess where the animations were pre-scripted. Each of the pieces had a distinct fighting style, involving differing missile, melee, or area-affect attacks.

I'm surprised that there was never a later version of this game that used a Soul Calibur-style combat resolution system...

Re:One of the best games ever...

[torpor]

Well, there were already plenty of games I liked, and I didn't need more, heh heh ... but yeah, sounds good. I'll go hunt down an emu, and fire it up, just for the sake of clarity and fun.

Re:One of the best games ever...

[edbarrett]

I'm surprised that there was never a later version of this game that used a Soul Calibur-style combat resolution system...

You may or may not like The Unholy War for PS1 ("From the creators of Star Control I & II and the co-designer of Archon", the packaging says). It works a lot like Archon on a hex grid, and the fights are in 3D.

X-Archon

[sICE]

No update since last year, but still worth a look... http://xarchon.seul.org/ [seul.org] have fun!

easy karma!

[Anonymous Coward]

since i dont know the game, and dont really want to go around looking for infromation about it, does anybody want to quickly explain what archon is, and what makes it special?

Gameplay without digital joystick

[UPi]

I wonder how well it would play without the digital joystick of the C64. The game used to be one of my favorites on the original platform, I played it with my cousin for hours. Recently I tried the emulated version, and some of the PC clones, but they all sucked because of the controls.

The keypad sucks when you go up and down and try being unpredictable, and the new analog joysticks are too slow.

How do other archon players work around this?

Re:Gameplay without digital joystick

[WWWWolf]

Game Pad. On an USB. Adequate results with the Linux version of VICE, with both Microsoft and Logitech pads. =) Still not as good as 64 digital sticks in some cases though.

One day I'm hoping they'll make an Atari to USB adapter so I can plug in a real TAC-2 =)

Wheel of Grammar

[Wrexen]

..., but polls and development diaries galore for this interesting remake

Pat, I'd like to buy a verb please

Re:Wheel of Grammar

[david duncan scott]

Try an adjective instead: "implicit"

Nothing to download yet, but polls and development diaries galore for this interesting remake.

which is to say

[There is] Nothing to download yet, but [there are] polls and development diaries galore for this interesting remake.

Sure it's sloppy and conversational, but that's the tone arond here. It's not terribly different from imperative statements, like "Go there", which at first glance lack a subject, but which implicitly have the subject "you".

I'm surprised that on

Archon intro music

[c64cryptoboy]

If you had a C64, the intro music sounded something like this:

Archon (midi) [digitpress.com]

Archon II (mp3) [kwed.org]

Archon!?!?!

[jvalenzu]

Archon was good, but why can't someone remake Mail Order Monsters? Talk about a classic.

They're all talk

[chriso11]

Really, I don't see anything there but some pretty pictures. In the forums, a guy posted a question on when they expect to have anything. They haven't answered in a year.

If they were serious, they would at least let their preliminary versions out. And even though they say it will be release open-source, they don't say which license, and they might even back-track from that latter.

Oh well, it's a shame, 'cause Archon was one of the great all-time games. Don't get me wrong - if this is legit, I will be stoked when it comes out. But until then, I will maintain a solid dollap of skepticism.

Re:They're all talk

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't state anywhere that it will be open source, only freeware. Where did you read that?

ARQ

[Idolminds]

For those people with Quake 3, you can try out ARQ [planetquake.com]. The board is the same, with Q3 models reprisenting different pieces. When you fight over a square, you both get transported to the arena to fight it out. Of course, different pieces have different weapons and damage ratings.

It can be played on any Q3 map, which becomes the arena you fight in. Pretty cool.

Sacrifice?

[ronfar]

I always felt that Sacrifice was a sort of a version of Archon II: Adept, as it had a lot of the same basic ideas. (I always like Adept better than Archon, anyway.)