Atari’s new ownership is hellbent on not only resurrecting old games but giving old, long-forgotten games another chance. Save Mary is one of those games, only it never released 46 years ago.
Save Mary was in development for the Atari 2600, which released back in 1977, forty six years ago. Save Mary had a notoriously long development time, two years – much longer than the several months most games cooked for back then.
Originally developed by veteran Atari staffer Tod Frye (Pac-Man for the 2600, as well as the Swordquest series), Save Mary was eventually put on ice when the 2600 led to the infamous 1983 collapse of the games industry.
Preordering Save Mary for $60 gets you a real physical cartridge of the game that was never released, plus a collector’s box and a full-color manual. Quantities are limited to only 500 copies, and orders can be placed on the Atari website.
This is the latest classic Atari physical release from the company, with other forgotten titles like Aquaventure or Mr. Run and Jump having also received a physical release.
Here’s a brief blurb on the game:
Another victim of the 1983 game crash, Save Mary never got an official Atari cartridge release until now! This fantastic work from Tod Frye will keep you on your toes as you build a platform that Mary can use to escape the flooding canyon.Use the crane to carefully lower the different blocks and piece together a platform that Mary can safely stand on — but be careful! If you swing or drop a block carelessly, you may end up crushing poor Mary.