Imagic's No Escape! on the Atari 2600 - The MASHUP You Didn't Know You Needed

No Escape! is an Atari 2600 video game developed and published by Imagic in 1983. The player controls Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who fights off the Furies sent by the Greek gods. A two-player mode, in which the second player competes against the first turn-by-turn, is also available.
No Escape! begins with Jason imprisoned in the temple of Aphrodite due to stealing the Golden Fleece. Jason must survive against waves of attacking Furies, and the gameplay revolves around having Jason pick up and throw rocks. The player needs to hit the ceiling of the temple, causing a brick to fall onto a Fury; throwing a rock directly at a Fury causes two more Furies to appear in its place. Gameplay is focused around timing the falling brick to intersect with the moving Furies. Subsequent levels increase the difficulty by having the Furies shoot back at the player, fly around faster, and move in different patterns.
#atari #imagic #atari2600 #genxgrownup
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[@jeremiahthomas8140]

No Escape! is a good one. Most of the Imagic library I did not play until I was an adult, and this one, along with Riddle of the Sphinx and others, is a favorite.

[@daniel_lucio]

It's one of my favorite games on the 2600, I admit that at the time I was captivated by the box art, I replicated that scene several times in my school notebooks, as well as the illustration for Swordquest Earthworld.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Atari box art was a substantial part of the experience. The Adventure box cover helped my imagination fill in the blanks of dragons and swords!

[@nomorecontinues6564]

I love Imagic games for the 2600 but had not heard of this one! Thanks for sharing!

[@Johnenoch226]

Wow I thought I’ve seen all the Imagic games but don’t remember this. Very cool, thanks Jon!

[@paulvermeulen2510]

I’m loving the Friday plays! Thanks for finding gems I’d never know about otherwise

[@GenXGrownUp]

Glad you like them!

[@ryno6284]

My cousins had this game growing up, I played it every time I stayed over at their house! I love it!

[@mr.pavone9719]

Fun note: during the design phase of Breakout by Atari, it was proposed that bricks hit by the ball would fall and possibly hit the player's paddle, thus knocking him out. One of the designers talks about it in an interview on one of the PlayStation Atari compilations. No Escape! kinda implements that.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Cool!

[@tomevil6]

Great video! Imagic hidden gem!

[@pierregareau6590]

Imagic was my favorite 3rd party publisher for my intellivision , this game look fun, I will have to try it

[@careymulligan1403]

It’s been a favorite since I was a kid. I love the sound effects.

[@Androsynth75]

Yeah this one and (especially) Subterrania are way underrated. Both are top tier arcade titles that don’t get anywhere near enough love.

[@kenwheeler3637]

I didn't discover this one until about 10 years ago or so. Definitely a very cool concept and a challenging game.

[@exidy-yt]

I totally missed this one, and I was a huge Imagic fan too. Thanks for spotlighting this!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Surely. Glad you enjoyed!

[@erbwars]

So I watched this video and immediately ordered this game. I have seen it before but always said I’ll get it eventually. I’m hooked. I’m currently around 3200 for my high score. It gets fast quick. What a great game. Thank you for your coverage of this gem. I love all imagic games and want them all eventually but glad I got this now. Great video.

[@legendodinson7082]

No escape is one of my favorites from magic. A long with dragon fire. Never knew about the bonus though. Gotta try to get that.

[@miked4377]

never new about this one....i like it ! games that are different sometimes are very cool..i also like the jason and the argonauts theme!!!the movie was cool!

[@ctbinary42]

This is a nice mashup of a bunch of games. Imagic needs to come back and start selling these and updated versions

[@GenXGrownUp]

Wouldn't that make a great Atari acquisition?

[@SkiBumMSP]

@@GenXGrownUp That begs the question. I was curious as to just who owns the rights to those games these days. I had to go and look it up and it appears Activision currently owns the rights to the Imagic library. Now, if Activision could do something awesome with those titles, but I am not going to hold my breath.

[@Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson]

I would LOVE to see an updated version of Imagic’s Microsurgeon. Even the Intellivision version is still a pretty one-of-a-kind game.

[@FischerFan]

Like Activision, Imagic took a lot of pride in the games it released for the Atari 2600. Coleco's games for the 2600, by comparison, were not even half-baked efforts. I appreciate your posting of this video because I was largely unfamiliar with this game until you did.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Nice. Thanks for watching! 😁

[@MaximumRD]

Man, I love IMAGIC!

[@robert_roland63]

Imagic made some really good games for the 2600. No Escape! was one of my favorites out there. I really don’t know how far I went so maybe I’ll give it a go in the near future to see how I stack up. Granted it’s been a very long time since I’ve played this.

[@EarlJWoods]

Fun theme and mechanics! Imaginative Magic.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Bingo! 😁

[@SylveonTrapito]

Most obscure Imagic game ever.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Yeah? I always felt like maybe Wing War was a bit less well known, but they're both right up there.

[@SevenlivesDesigns]

Never heard of this one. Looks pretty good, thanks for the spotlight on it!

[@GenXGrownUp]

You bet!

[@danielespeziari5545]

I played it a bit some months ago, but was frustrated by the enemy patterns. Some of them take ages to hit. You're right when you say that only six enemies can be on screen at a time, but they feel like there are many more. I should try again and see if I can improve. It's certainly a very creative game

[@Robalini1]

I've got a cool story on this video. I fell asleep while watching a movie on KZbin, and this video came on at some point as it was on my watch list. Though I was mainly asleep, I could hear the sound, and it was incorporated in a dream. In the dream, we were hanging out together, and you were showing me this game, and my mind created the visuals for the game while you described and played it. When I woke up, I watched this video again, and unfortunately the game wasn't as great as the visuals I hallucinated for it. In any case, it's nice to know in my mind we are pals who hang out and talk about old videogames all the time. Keep it up!

[@GenXGrownUp]

I love it! I'd like to think, in some small way, we are pals. Thanks for sharing your fascinating experience. 😁

[@kevin12567]

I remember this game and it's one of my favorites! I love the background music (more like beats) which really showed off what a stock 2600 could do sound-wise! One thing you didn't mention is in later levels, the Furies draw toward you when you hold the fire button, and this is the key to getting a high score as you can use this to lure the Furies into a falling brick.

[@literallyunderrated]

Pretty fun to be a Gen X grownup and still be discovering 40+ year old games. I have an Atari Flashback portable with an sd card and I was glad to find this game on it. As a kid I didnt know this game even existed, you just knew the games you and your friends had. No Escape! Is a cool twist on a shooter where you need to use collateral damage to your advantage. Thanks for introducing me to this game!

[@GenXGrownUp]

You nailed it! There's so much cool stuff from the fist few generations of consoles and we all only saw our own little slice. I'm really enjoying exploring Intellivision, too. Never even had a friend who owned one, so it's almost all new to me!

[@literallyunderrated]

@@GenXGrownUp I do respect the Intellivision but trying to use that controller felt like school lol. Too complicated! But if there are some good games on there its definitely worth the effort

[@SkiBumMSP]

I practically forgot about this game. When I saw this, then I do recall playing this. I did not personally own the game. One of my friends had it.

[@jayme69]

Great video and fantastic game design! Thanks for sharing Jon :-)

[@shawncarter7188]

This looks like a great game ! Imagic was a good company.

[@joeg4707]

This is one I did not have as a kid.

[@xtoadphrogx]

I loved "No Escape" loved the music it was so iconic! I played it more than even pac man

[@aleks1939]

Pretty cool game. I would have loved it as a kid.

[@DonJr425]

Regarding the pause function, it only stops the furies from firing until Jason throws the next stone. It does not freeze all motion. (I am assuming that is what you were expecting. Feel free to lambast me if I am assuming too much.)

[@GenXGrownUp]

You nailed it - I was expecting a "pause" and with stuff still moving I thought it wasn't working. Thanks for the info! 😁

[@BuzzGarwood]

Looks like fun - never played it. Great review!

[@bw3230]

I just tried this game for the first time after watching this video and have to admit it's challenging and pretty fun.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Glad to hear it!

[@Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson]

Imagic made some of the best early video games. Microsurgeon, Fathom and Ice Trek were all way ahead of their time. I think they were only on Intellivision though.

[@cryptocoffee13]

🎉 I picked this up several months ago, only played it once, I'll crack it out again. Oh, and that's what she said!😊

[@GenXGrownUp]

😜

[@highscores8593]

No Escape was one of my favorite games on Atari!

[@GlenBaisley]

Missed you at the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. Love your show!

[@GenXGrownUp]

I'm sorry to have disappointed you, Glen. I so wanted to be there, but weather and JetBlue had other plans for us. 🥲 Thanks for watching!

[@GlenBaisley]

@@GenXGrownUp Will you be at any other East Coast shows this year?

[@GenXGrownUp]

@@GlenBaisley I'll be at RetroCon in September. retrocons.com/

[@tedadamgreen]

An interesting mashup of various elements of gameplay! Great highlight review video Jon 😎🕹️👊🏻

[@GenXGrownUp]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnnym196]

Wow! Love that game. Will try it myself on my GSP tonight.

[@howy3333]

The graphics for this game especially when the space ship appears are way ahead of their time

[@GenXGrownUp]

The space ship? When does that happen?! 🤯

[@ZMAN_420]

I don't remember this game either. I looks good!🤘🏻👍🏻🇺🇲

[@TearyEyesAndersonReacts]

Wow, the 2600 game "Journey Escape" had a sequel, cool. 😉

[@GenXGrownUp]

I don't know JE very well - does this have similarities?

[@TimothyCollins]

I vaguely remember this game. I think I had it back in the day... pretty sure that if I did i bought it after the big crash and everything for the 2600 was selling for $5...

[@GenXGrownUp]

In hindsight we now know why stuff was so cheap, but as a youngsters, it was an avalanche of cheap games that felt like Christmas year-round.

[@TimothyCollins]

@GenXGrownUp yeah - at the time I was just excited to be able to afford stuff!

[@brianwerth3703]

Ihad this one. It was difficult to get really good at.

[@KristianWontroba]

Never played or saw this one! Might need to find a ROM of this one and give it a spin. 😊

[@JustMe99999]

I had this game as a kid and was totally frustrated by it

[@GenXGrownUp]

Were you unsure of the rules, or just found the gameplay too challenging?

[@JustMe99999]

@@GenXGrownUp At the time I found the gameplay too challenging. But I was a huge Imagic fan. Riddle of the sphinx is one of my all time favorite VCS games.

[@mikesilva3868]

😊😊😊😊😊great

[@katmacoconnor]

🕹️💜

[@starchild417]

Hey Jon, Never actually heard of this one, but it looks very cool. I was looking for you at the Long Island Expo today, but didn't see you. Did you wind up going?

[@GenXGrownUp]

We were thwarted by weather and airlines. Posted on Twitter: x.com/GenXGrownUp/status/1821998254474535323

[@starchild417]

@@GenXGrownUp ahhhh makes sense. Sorry that you missed it. Hope you are feeling better by the day. Thank you for all you do. I was all excited to meet you - prepared with my line “nice to meet you, I am Nick, and I AM a GenXGrownUp” as unoriginal as that probably would have been for you to hear - lol

[@GenXGrownUp]

@@starchild417 I'm sorry, Nick. I really wanted to be there, but JetBlue had other plans for us. 🥲 Next time!

[@backpackingtony1779]

Friday evening means I smoke weed and watch GenXGrownUp. Then do edibles. ❤🎉

[@GenXGrownUp]

Always great to see your comments on Saturday morning!

[@j.rileyindependentproductions]

I liked No Escape, but as a 2-through-5-year-old, I wasn't really any good, lol... Wasn't any good at any game except for "Space Invaders" (yeah, I have no clue how at that age either), "Eggomania", "Maze Craze", and "Combat" vs my brother.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

IGN liked the game, but they reviewed it many years after it had been out. IGN was formed about 13 years after the game came out.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thank you for the clarification.

[@adinocc2042]

Fake Fact: This game depicts how all of the Greek buildings and temples became ruins. Scientists agree!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Sounds legit. I concur! 😁

[@adinocc2042]

@@GenXGrownUp Yeah! like this ----> 💥🏛💥⋯ ⋯ 🤾‍♂