Alan-1 has started shipping the arcade edition of Atari’s Gravitar: Recharged, making it a strong contender for the final new arcade release of 2025.
The history of Gravitar
The original Gravitar was designed by Mike Hally and released by Atari in August 1982. Its combination of asteroid-style shooting, planetary exploration and gravity physics made it a distinctive—and notoriously difficult—arcade game.
Although the colour vector title received an Atari 2600 conversion, other home versions arrived much later through arcade compilation releases. Gravitar did not receive a sequel in either arcades or home gaming until 2022, when Atari launched Gravitar: Recharged for modern consoles.
Alan-1 has an agreement with Atari to bring ten Recharged games to arcades. This cabinet is the third in that programme, following Asteroids: Recharged in November 2024 and Missile Command: Recharged in July 2025.
What changes in Gravitar: Recharged Arcade?
As with Alan-1’s other arcade conversions, the game has been adjusted for coin-operated play while retaining the central idea of the original. Players pilot a spacecraft through a solar system, land on planets, complete objectives, gather fuel and manage the effects of gravity.
The pace is more exploratory than the constant action of Asteroids or Missile Command, with players visiting planets and dealing with enemies at intervals. The arcade edition adds or changes the following features:
- A gentler difficulty curve, with difficulty selection available at the start
- An optional tutorial
- Extensive voice-over work
- Selected sounds from the original game, including the tractor beam
- Restored vector outlines around terrain objects
- Stranded astronauts to rescue, with point bonuses for rescuing more of them
- Scaling and zoom effects across the solar system
- Automatic landing when a player takes too long to land on a planet
- A tether effect for two-player play, based on Atari’s Space Duel
- Changes to weapon behaviour to bring shooting closer to the original game
- Integration with Alan-1’s Major League eSports (MLeS) app for score tracking and tournaments
- New achievements
- Ticket redemption support
- A “Hall of Champions” ending
The development process included playtesting and recommended changes from the article’s contributor and several other participants; not every recommendation was implemented. Alan-1 did not pay for this coverage.
For readers comparing home arcade machines, the cabinet uses the same form factor as Alan-1’s previous Recharged releases. Its controls match the Asteroids: Recharged layout, with five buttons for rotate left, rotate right, Tractor/Shield, Fire and Thrust.
The Pro version features black T-molding and fans. The Pro+ version adds dynamic RGB LED T-molding, two rumble motors, an internal pinball knocker and cup holders.
The Pro and Pro+ models have MSRPs of $4999 and $5999 respectively. Both can be ordered through one of Alan-1’s distributors. A Media Kit for this game can be accessed here.
Alan-1 also began shipping its Atari PONG Mechanical Coffee Table during December. The commercial two-player table is scheduled to begin shipping in the next quarter, possibly as soon as the following month.
For more arcade news, visit the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, or browse the latest arcade machines and arcade parts.
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