# Is Atari Making a Comeback

# Short Answer: Yes! 

Atari has been a cornerstone of SRC for many years. The Atari speedrunning scene has been growing exponentially over the recent months after user @VyPr announced the community-based speedrunning tournament Project Retro Season #1 in the Farmington Discord server. Project Retro Season #1 was announced to be 4 weeks long consisting of multiple games being speedrun on the Atari 2600. Dozens of speedrunners flocked to Speedrun.com to solidify their places on the Project Retro Leaderboards. Runners like @Captninja6, @DoritoBreath, and @Zir0nic crushed the competition.

# Community

Atari speedrunning history on SRC begins in 2015 with the game, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

# [E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial](https://www.speedrun.com/et)

![](/static/blob/7n6652nq.jpg)

After Atari made its SRC debut many other Atari games began to appear all over Speedrun.com, some games like [Dragster](https://www.speedrun.com/dragster) and [Adventure](https://www.speedrun.com/advt) blew up with hundreds of runs in those 2 games alone. Some Atari runs can be dated back to 2006 even predating Speedrun.com itself.

Example: Adventure Difficulty 1 in 33.60 by @SadisticMystic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE6MSXqouSk

More games continued to appear on SRC over the course of the following years and the community came to life.

In 2017 the SRC Atari community was left abandoned and deemed obsolete compared to the newer games like [Super Mario Odyssey](https://www.speedrun.com/smo) at the time.

# Project Retro 

Project Retro was announced in August of 2023 by user @VyPr. Project Retro consisted of 4 weeks of gameplay, containing the following titles.

## Project Retro Game List & Highlights

### Week 1

- [Dragster](https://www.speedrun.com/dragster)
- [Tron: Deadly Discs](https://www.speedrun.com/trondeadlydiscs)
- [Enduro](https://www.speedrun.com/enduro)
- [Halo 2600](https://www.speedrun.com/halo_2600)
- [Tennis (Atari 2600)](https://www.speedrun.com/tennis_atari2600)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t9M9OXaxew

### Week 2

- [Grand Prix](https://www.speedrun.com/grand_prix)
- [Juno First](https://www.speedrun.com/juno_first)
- [Sky Jinks](https://www.speedrun.com/sky_jinks)
- [Q*bert](https://www.speedrun.com/qbert_atari_2600)
- [Commando](https://www.speedrun.com/commando_)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_upNRtIvH8?t=3

### Week 3

- [Defender II](https://www.speedrun.com/Defender_II_Atari_2600)
- [Centipede](https://www.speedrun.com/ctp)
- [Donkey Kong](https://www.speedrun.com/donkey_kong_atari)
- [RealSports Boxing](https://www.speedrun.com/RealSports_Boxing)
- [Midnight Magic](https://www.speedrun.com/midnight_magic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_rQL2W9Qs?t=1

### Week 4 (Final Week)

- [Mario Bros. Arcade](https://www.speedrun.com/mario_bros_arcade)
- [Joust (Atari)](https://www.speedrun.com/Joust_Atari_2600)
- [Pressure Cooker](https://www.speedrun.com/Pressure_Cooker)
- [Pole Position](https://www.speedrun.com/pole_position)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULnVLC7ywd8

# What's next?

After the end of Project Retro Season #1, the SRC Atari community has continued to regrow - a new chapter of Atari speedrunning has begun and the Atari community is asking for you to help us grow and thrive. Help us rewrite the history of Atari speedrunning and become a part of something bigger than we had ever thought possible.

Special Thanks To @VyPr,  @Captninja6, @DoritoBreath, @Act_, @Akuretaki and so many more for reviving this AWESOME community!

Congratulations to @Zir0nic the champion of Project Retro Season #1

[Atari Speedrunners Discord](https://discord.gg/3NJAx2yyjK)

[Official Project Retro Leaderboard](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AMp8UcrIEn84kSPVJsenT31HBaZUyZB05sgZovGZ-Dg/edit#gid=0)

After years of dormancy, the Atari community Is back and all is looking good!

Atari Community Celebrates Successful Event - Project Retro Season 1

Attention all future Ghostrunners! We are extremely excited to announce our $10,000 Ghostrunner 2 Speedrunning Challenge in collaboration with 505Games and One More Level! Prepare yourselves to dash through Ghostrunner 2’s epic post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world.

**Starting Date:** October 26th, 2023

**Duration:** Two weeks, until 11:59PM UTC November 9th, 2023

This challenge will put both new and experienced Ghostrunners to the test. With an incredible $10,000 total available in cash prizes, competition is sure to be fierce. Here’s what you need to know:

## Eligibility:

Must own a legitimate copy of Ghostrunner 2.

Open to players aged 18 and above worldwide, with the following exceptions: North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Cuba, and Venezuela.

## Category:

The featured category in this challenge will be Any%. For you new speedrunners, this essentially means beat the game as fast as you possibly can within the limits of the game. This includes glitches and exploits - if you would like further clarification please refer to the category rules on the challenge leaderboard. Some updates may have to be made to the ruleset depending on the development of the route over the coming weeks - but the spirit of the category will remain the same. Any updates to the ruleset will be communicated to participants as they are made

## Submission:

Record your speedrun and submit it via [our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge)

Follow the guidelines provided for video formatting and submission requirements, found in the rules section.

## Rules and Regulations:

All speedruns must adhere to the official rules, available on the Speedrun.com Challenge leaderboard.

[Contest Rules](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge/rules?view=contest)

[Category Rules](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge/rules?view=challenge)

## Prize Distribution:

The $10,000 prize pool will be distributed among the top performers for fastest completion time in the Any% category. The distribution is as follows:

1st place - $5,000

2nd place - $3,000

3rd place - $1,000

4th place - $250

5th place - $200

6th place - $150

7th place to 10th place - $100

If you want to hop in and start learning the movement, you can download the demo on all platforms right now!

[View the Ghostrunner 2 Demo leaderboard](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2_Demo)

## Challenges

Challenges themselves are nothing new to the speedrunning scene - but our developers have been hard at work recently building out a feature to officially support Challenges on Speedrun.com! Currently, these challenges are created internally, but our long-term aim is to enable Speedrun.com users to create their challenges, with or without prize pools. A Challenge leaderboard functions similarly to the regular leaderboards you're already familiar with. However, we've made a few layout adjustments to cater to the time-sensitive nature of challenges and the inclusion of prize pools.

We are aiming to avoid any undue pressure on the Ghostrunner 2 moderation team - so to ensure a smooth process, all runs submitted to the challenge leaderboard will be screened and verified by either SRC staff or Ghostrunner 2 moderation team members *volunteering for the challenge specifically*. After the challenge concludes, SRC staff will collaborate with the Ghostrunner 2 moderation team to discuss the potential merging of challenge runs into the regular leaderboard once the moratorium period expires, respecting the mod team's preferences

## Preparation Suggestions

To follow the challenge and find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit [the Ghostrunner 2 Challenge leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge) and the [GRSR Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/gYGgtzC5s2)

## Some Advice

The challenge lasts for two weeks, which may sound short, but it's ample time. I recommend taking your time for your first playthrough, focusing on learning the game's movement and practicing sections before diving into full runs. The fiercest competition for the top three spots typically emerges in the final week or even the last few days of the challenge, so there's really no need to rush through your initial playthrough.

Good luck, and have fun Ghostrunners!️

Speedrun is excited to host our first challenge featuring Ghostrunner 2 Any% with $10,000 in prize money on the line. Do you have what it takes to save Dharma in record setting time?

Ghostrunner 2 $10,000 Speedrun Challenge

cool

But Dick Cheney really needs to be voted back as Vice president 

I mean does anybody hates dick Cheney??? 

I think the best thing to do is a console section and a pc section 

(I wont do any bad suicide bomber joke don't worry mate) 

"he who doesn't like grapes says sour" 

"he who doesn't like dates says crusty" 

soooo discord server? 

Elliot is dead that meta himself have verified this..... 

اتحداك بالسرعة البطله اركد فديتك بس

I saw my father drinking red tea outside in 45 degrees 

And I am drinking Chai halib

Rayman Legends

Rayman Origins

Payday 3

LittleBigPlanet 3

Commando

LittleBigPlanet Category Extensions

Rubber Bandits

Schnappi Schnapp!

Hey Heisters!

Following some recent misunderstandings with the "Every runner must record their POV and submit it alongside the run in the run submission description" - the rule has been rewritten to clear up any misunderstandings. POVs are allowed to be within the description of, for example, a youtube video - however it is preferred they are given in the run submission description on speedrun.com. If your run has POVs available on youtube, but not on site, we'll edit your submission to include these POVs in the run description. :D

Also, we've seen quite a few runners submit their runs (both coop and solo) with the "Time" field filled out. For the purpose of our leaderboards, this field isn't something we care about - as our timing method is "In-Game Time" (IGT). So please, only fill out the "In-Game Time" field when submitting a run, thank you :)

**As well to add, you can join our speedrun discord server: [here](https://discord.gg/tANWe3X) to stay up to date on any news regarding the leaderboards!**