Rescue from Poseidon’s Gate

Audacity Games

Atari 2600

Action/Adventure, 1 player

2025

Created by David Crane

Rescue from Poseidon’s Gate for the Atari 2600 wasdeveloped and programmed by David Crane, best known as the creator of Pitfall!and co-founder of Activision. It is the newest release from Audacity Games, acompany formed by Crane along with Garry Kitchen and Dan Kitchen, dedicated toproducing fully packaged new titles—“probrews” as some have called them—forvintage Atari hardware. Like earlier Audacity releases, the game includes aprofessionally printed box and manual, a scannable QR code for uploading scoresto an online leaderboard, and a physical cartridge that works on both originalAtari consoles and modern clone systems.

I picked up my Collector's Edition review copy (thanks,Garry!) this past weekend at the Houston Arcade Expo, where I once again caughtup with my friends from Audacity Games. I’ve known the group for years, havingspent time with them at various gaming conventions and events at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas where their passion for preserving andextending the legacy of classic gaming always shines through.

In the game, players assume the role of a deep-sea diveron a mission to rescue the Amphitrite mini-sub, which has become trapped on theocean floor 100 fathoms below the surface. The adventure unfolds across fivesequential phases, each with distinct objectives and hazards. It begins with acontrolled descent, during which the player must manage air supply whileavoiding or shooting dangerous sea creatures.

Upon reaching the bottom, the diver explores the seafloor in search of Poseidon’s Gate, the grotto where the stranded mini-sub islocated. Movement here involves short, floaty hops reminiscent of lunargravity, requiring careful timing. The third phase introduces the Shark Grotto,where the diver must fend off waves of sharks with a harpoon to free themini-sub. After the rescue, the player retraces their path toward the ship’sanchorage, conserving air and avoiding familiar threats, before reaching the finalphase—climbing the ship’s anchor chain to the surface. Success depends onbalancing ascent speed with limited oxygen, all while evading additionalunderwater dangers. Throughout the journey, air management remains central togameplay, with emergency air tanks available to replenish supply. Running outof air before reaching safety results in failure.

The game unfolds at a slow and methodical pace, which isone thing that makes it so absorbing. The deliberate movement heightens thetension, forcing you to think carefully about each action—this is not an easygame. The graphics are gorgeous, among the best ever seen on the Atari 2600.The player character is large, detailed, and smoothly animated, while thebubble effects and recognizable sea creatures lend the underwater world asurprising sense of depth (so to speak) and personality. It’s a technicallyimpressive showcase for the 2600, reflecting Crane’s mastery of the hardwareeven decades after his original breakthroughs. While it’s not my favoriteAudacity release (that honor belongs to Casey’s Gold), it is a qualitytitle.

The undersea world is filled with both hostile andhelpful creatures, as detailed in the game’s colorful manual. Among the threatsare Red Crabs that steal small sips of air when touched, Electric Eels thatattack aggressively on sight, and three species of Jellyfish—blue ones fast anddeadly, purple ones sluggish, and orange ones drifting cooperatively to blockmovement. Even brief contact with a jellyfish drains air and stuns the diver.Rock Crabs are instantly fatal, easily recognized by their bright orange shellsand black-tipped claws, while Sharks, the apex predators of the sea, can drainabout a third of the diver’s air with a single bite. Yet not every creature isdangerous. Goldfish are harmless and worth 150 points each, with all 150needing to be touched or harpooned for a perfect score. Sunfish, which arearmor-plated and not to be shot, can buoy the diver up or push him down. TheGold Crab provides small sips of air when touched and may also hold treasure,though killing it to claim its riches forfeits its life-giving benefit. Theelusive Seahorse is rare but required for a perfect game.

Treasure plays a major role in scoring. Gold Crabsscavenge valuables dropped by careless tourists, and the diver must choosebetween harvesting treasure or preserving a source of oxygen. Thetreasures—rings, watches, necklaces, money bags, and gold coins—are worth from1,000 to 5,000 points, with an extra life available for certain totals. Notreasures appear in Practice Mode. Points accumulate across all five phases,and a Status Screen accessible via the Select button displays elapsed time,lives remaining, air tanks collected, and total score. Achieving a perfectscore requires completing all phases, collecting every treasure, touching all150 Goldfish and three Seahorses, and finishing without missing any items.

Players who complete the rescue of the Amphitritemini-sub while achieving at least 50,000 points gain entry into the “Deep SeaDaredevil Club.” By uploading their qualifying score to Audacity Games’ onlineleaderboard via smartphone, players become eligible to receive an embroideredmembership patch (available for a small shipping and handling fee). Those whoachieve a perfect score earn the right to receive an additional “Perfect Game”patch, commemorating their accomplishment.

Rescue from Poseidon’s Gate continues Crane’s longand influential career in game design, which began in the late 1970s with Atariand Activision. Like other Audacity Games projects, it fuses new gameplay ideaswith the technical and aesthetic limitations of the original 2600 hardware. Themanual, filled with diagrams, cute illustrations, and plenty of information, evokesthe charm of early Activision instruction booklets while adding modernenhancements such as QR-enabled score tracking. The result is a carefully createdblend of classic Atari/Activision style and modern production values—a deepdive into nostalgia that shows how the retro gaming spirit still thrives todaythrough Audacity Games’ commitment to keeping that legacy alive.