Atari 8-bit - Atari - 1984

Final Legacy

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Genre: Shoot'em Up! - Miscellaneous
Year: 1984
Language: Machine Language
Publisher: Atari
Controls: Joystick / Keyboard / Trak-Ball
Developer: [n/a]
Players: 1 / Demo
Country
Programmer(s): Horseman, Chris / Oliver, Dan
License: Commercial
Graphic Artist(s): Horseman, Chris / Oliver, Dan
Medium
Sound: Fuller, Brad
Rarity: 5
Cover Artist(s): [unknown]
Serial: RX8067
Dump: Download

OTHER VERSIONS WITH THE SAME TITLE (1)

AtariUSA · 1984

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Also exists as a preliminary version entitled The Legacy.

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Cartridge 1

INSTRUCTIONS (8)

AUDIO (1)

Die Story Der Final Legacy

ADS (1)

TRIVIA (1)

You can read more about the game on Steve Englehart's page:
http://www.steveenglehart.com/Games/Final Legacy.html

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Cartridge 1

VOTES / STATISTICS

Rating7.9/10

Hits: 19,279
Downloads: 4,199
Votes: 118

⬇ DOWNLOAD PDF

COMMENTS (4)

Atari A to Z (Pete Davison)4 Jul 2022
Final Legacy is an unusual blend of shoot 'em up, strategy and defense gameplay... and one of the quintessential examples of '80s Cold War paranoia expressed through video gaming. Let's Play! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXZSAC2y4Co
JT22 Apr 2022
The programmers either didn't play or test their own game (at least not anywhere close to thoroughly), or they were mentally damaged. Basically the game is impossible to complete on any level above 3. And even on 3, I would estimate the odds of victory even with perfect playing at around 50%. I would further guess that those who hype and give this game a high score are doing so "blindly" based on first or early impressions, and likely have never even played a campaign all the way through (at least not on any difficulty other than the easiest). It's actually a shame because the game premise and broad design is sound enough to be a great game, but the play tuning and balance is completely out the window (particularly with the endless waves of missiles toward your cities halfway through a campaign). This game and its sales coasted on initial/shallow impressions.
Pete Davison18 Feb 2019
One of my favourite Atari games from the era, bringing something of a "Star Raiders" feel to naval combat. Prioritise your targets, think strategically... then blast the heck out of all and sundry with your devastating death lasers! Horrific music, though. Thankfully you only hear it when you win; the sound effects elsewhere in the game are great, however.
Scott Stilphen17 Mar 2017
I interviewed Steve Englehart back in 2009 and he doesn't remember much about the game, either the Atari 8-bit or ST versions. http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/steve_englehart/interview_steve_englehart.html According to programmer Dan Oliver, the "E" for the E-Beam weapon stood for "Electric" (it's not mentioned in the manual). Also not mentioned in the manual is why your battleship fires torpedos. According to Dan, he wanted it to be a ship but designer Chris Horseman wanted it to be a submarine. From Dan, "The ship view was the second view I did (the map was first). Chris was talking about and or wanting subs, so my graphic looks like what I thought the bow of a sub would look like on the surface, maybe to make Chris Horseman happy."