Final Legacy

Information

Genre

Shoot'em Up! - Miscellaneous

Language

Machine Language

Controls

Joystick, Keyboard, Trak-Ball

Players

1, Demo

Programmer(s)

Horseman, Chris, Oliver, Dan

Graphic Artist(s)

Horseman, Chris, Oliver, Dan

Sound

Fuller, Brad

Cover Artist(s)

[unknown]

Year

1984

Publisher

Atari

Developer

[n/a]

Country

USA

License

Commercial

Medium

Cartridge

Rarity

5

Serial

RX8067

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 7.9/10 · Votes: 118 · Downloads: 4,199 · Hits: 19,279

Additional Comments

Screenshots (7)

Cover Art (3)

Instructions (8)

Ads (1)

Trivia (1)

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

• JT — 22 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 Davison — 18 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 Stilphen — 17 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."