New Atari 2600 games are becoming more and more common as indie developers get a firm grip on the available programming opportunities. One interesting title that caught my eye is Dasher, I am not going to lie, at first I thought oh cool, someone made a Doordash, delivery game for the 2600. I was wrong but not disappointed. Dasher is an interesting single screen style action game that requires thinking and planning to progress.
Stop and Think About Your Next Step
If you approach each room with a Contra style thought process, then you are going to lose. Lose often even. Unlike most Atari 2600 games, Dasher requires you to stop and analyze the dangers of the room you are in. No need to worry about the next room, no need to think about anything but the obstacles in front of you.
Considering some of the most popular titles on the Atari 2600 are arcade affairs (Space Invaders, Pac-Man, etc) it is nice to see thinking action games. Sure, arcade ports are great, action games are fun, and everyone loves blowing things up but sometimes, you just want to slow things down a bit and think. Plan your moves.
According to Atarius Maximus on the AtariAge forums, the difficulty of the rooms is random. Looking at the total number, 96 of them, this is not going to be a game you beat in your first sitting. Every 16 rooms you hit a checkpoint and respawn there.
That may sound harsh but once you dial in each room you will be breezing through them.
New Method of Scoring Success
Most Atari games, outside of E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a few others, equate your success to the higher scores you set. Dasher is going the other way. You start with a set number of points but as you play, they count down.
Success in Dasher is beating the game with the highest number of points left.
Does that make Dasher a speed run game? Kind of.
Nothing negative happens if you run out of points, it is not a timer or anything, just a measurement of success. You can beat Dasher with zero points, or points left over without losing anything other than bragging rights.
The Controls
Dasher’s controls are on point and add to the challenge a bit due to your character being slightly floaty when jumping. This gives you a bit of challenge trying to line up falls for the most part. I was not able to beat the game but what I did experience; I saw very little “unfair” death due to the floaty jump. When dropping to a lower level, I saw A TON of unfair deaths though. Probably a signal that what I was trying to do was not going to work, go another way.
I was hardheaded in a few spots but eventually realized a better route.
Dasher is available on the AtariAge forums for free. The version used for this review is noted to be about 98% complete.