Oystron

Oystron is an action game developed for the Atari 2600 video game console.

Background

Created by Piero Cavina and released in 1997, Oystron was one of the earliest homebrew games developed for the console. The game, Cavina's first, was released by XYPE, an independent group of Atari 2600 homebrew developers.

Oystron was initially released on the Internet as a freeware 4 KB binary file designed for use on the Starpath Supercharger and with Atari 2600 emulators such as Stella and PCAE. It was later released in cartridge form.

Gameplay

Oystron is an action game in which the player controls a ship using the joystick controller, firing at enemies and collecting pearls dropped by "space oysters". The player's ship initially appears on the left side of the screen, and enemies attack from the right. Shooting the space oysters reveals a pearl; the player then collides with the pearl and brings it to the "pearl zone" on the left side of the screen. Other enemies appear that attempt to steal the pearls. Collecting eight pearls earns the player a bomb.