The Atari Jaguar just got a finished BurgerTime port

The Atari Jaguar homebrew scene just got a major release with BurgerTom, a finished port of Data East's 1982 arcade classic BurgerTime developed by swapd0. The game premiered its unofficial final build during a recent ZeroPage Homebrew livestream and is available to download right now.

It is always a good day when a long-gestating project crosses the finish line. This particular port has been floating around in work-in-progress states since at least 2019. Now, the developer has polished it up into a complete, high-performance conversion that runs on actual Jaguar hardware.

Tom Tomatoes replaces Peter Pepper

If you are unfamiliar with the 1982 original, the premise is straightforward. You control a chef navigating a maze of ladders and platforms. Your goal is to walk over giant hamburger ingredients (buns, patties, lettuce) to drop them onto plates at the bottom of the screen. Meanwhile, you have to avoid sentient food enemies like Mr. Hot Dog and Mr. Pickle. Your only defense is a limited supply of pepper that temporarily stuns them.

The original arcade cabinet ran on the DECO Cassette System, which literally loaded games from standard audio cassettes. We have come a long way since then. Data East's original title was ported to almost every console under the sun in the 1980s, from the Intellivision to the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, the Atari Jaguar missed out on that wave of ports entirely, as it released a full decade after the arcade boom. For this Jaguar release, swapd0 changed the main character's name to Tom Tomatoes, but the core arcade gameplay remains completely intact. The physics, the enemy pathing, and the sheer panic of getting trapped between two angry eggs are all here.

I always found the Intellivision port of the original game to be surprisingly good, but having a proper arcade-accurate version on the Jaguar is a treat. The homebrew community has been steadily filling in the gaps of the Jaguar's notoriously thin retail library. Adding a solid arcade action game helps round out a catalog that was heavily skewed toward early 3D titles and Doom clones.

Skunk Board and JagGD support

You do not need an original DECO Cassette System to play this one. The developer uploaded the ROM file to itch.io, where it is available as a name-your-own-price download. The 265-kilobyte file is designed to run on flash cartridges like the Skunk Board or the JagGD.

This is not swapd0's first time bringing an arcade staple to the Jaguar. The developer previously worked on Classic Kong, a well-received Donkey Kong conversion for the same console. That experience shows in how smoothly BurgerTom runs. The Jaguar is notoriously difficult to program for. Its multiple processors and complex architecture often cause headaches for developers. Getting a fast-paced arcade game to run without hiccups on this hardware takes serious effort.

The video speaks for itself

ZeroPage Homebrew hosted the world premiere of the final version on their Twitch channel. Seeing the game running on their broadcast confirmed what I hoped: the controls are tight and the visuals pop exactly the way a retro arcade port should. The homebrew community relies heavily on streams like this to get the word out, and ZeroPage has basically become the central hub for new Atari announcements.

I think the Jaguar gets an unfair reputation. Most people only remember the terrible controller and the lack of third-party support during its short retail life in the 1990s. But the aftermarket scene is alive and well. Developers are still squeezing new performance out of the console decades later. BurgerTom is a perfect example of what the system can do when someone actually takes the time to understand its hardware.