Xevious [Model CX2695]

Unreleased prototype. The programmer is rumored to have wrote part of Xevious while under the influence of drugs.

When Ray Kassar was fired as CEO of Atari in 1983, James Morgan was hired to take his place. Morgan put all projects on hold for 30 days while he reviewed what had been going on during Kassar's leadership. It was originally assumed that Xevious was one of the Atari 2600 titles that were killed off during this time, but recently a nearly complete version of the game was found proving that it survived at least until early 1984. Unfortunately, the 2600 version along with the 5200 version were eventually canceled with the 7800 version being the only one to see the light of day. Had it been finished, the Atari 2600 version of Xevious probably would have been a mainstay in the 2600 library and a big hit, but it appears that Atari wasn’t willing to wait.

A promo box of Xevious was shown at the Winter 1983 CES.

Programmer: Tod Frye

OTHERS:
"Atari Flashback Portable Game Player" (sept.22, 2017) by AtGames