Atari 2600 Zoo Keeper Character Animation Video

[Chewchilla]

Too bad a complete version was never released. I would have loved to have owned a console version of Zoo Keeper since I never got to play it very much when it originally hit the arcades.

Atari 2600 Zoo Keeper Character Animation Video Found!

[BydoEmpire]

Very cool, I never knew it was in development for the 2600. I played it on Mame after listening to Shane talk about it on RGR, but none of my local arcades ever had Zookeeper. It's a great game, though.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I think they PLANNED to make it on the 2600, but then realized something to the effect of "No friggin' way possible"

[Chewchilla]

Very cool, I never knew it was in development for the 2600. I played it on Mame after listening to Shane talk about it on RGR, but none of my local arcades ever had Zookeeper. It's a great game, though.

Indeed. My local Putt-Putt "back in the day" was the only place that had a Zoo Keeper. I think it was there for only two months.

[TechMaster]

We had one at the Cumberland Farms. It was there forever. My little brother always had high score, I hated him for it.

[Bill_Loguidice]

I think they PLANNED to make it on the 2600, but then realized something to the effect of "No friggin' way possible"

I bet it could be done today and I wouldn't be surprised if someone doesn't take on the challenge (though I've seen discussion that the sprites in this case use too many colors per scanline and would need to be simplified). After all, there's an in-progress version of "Ballblazer" of all things. It's simply amazing what's being done using modern development tools and years of accrued knowledge across a large number of classic platforms, and certainly the Atari 2600 is at the top of this in terms of active modern day developers.

[Chewchilla]

I'm assuming it was never finished because of the video game crash. The game was announced for the Atari 2600 in the March/April 1984 issue of Atari Age - the last issue of Atari Age. Since the character animation and the source code for the audio exist, maybe we will see Zoo Keeper for the 2600 in the not too distant future.