Fans of the popular four-player Atari 2600 game Warlords (which was also released as an arcade game of the same name) will be happy to learn that 2600 enthusiast Darrell Spice Jr. has created a new 2600 homebrew titled Medieval Mayhem, an updated take on Warlords. While the original version from Atari is still a blast to play, Medieval Mayhem adds arcade features such as the launch dragon, multiple fireballs, and a level of polish missing from the original 2600 release. It also includes a menu to select options before starting the game. Medieval Mayhem is a frenetic multi-player game that you can enjoy against your friends (up to four people may play) or against the computer AI!
Features:
- Launch Dragon
- Multiple Fireballs
- 4 AI levels
- Options Menu
- Stereo Sound
- Titlescreen Music
- Demo mode
- Individual Player Catch Setting
- Fireball Flareups
In October 2006 AtariAge sponsored a Medieval Mayhem Label Contest to solicit artwork for the game. The winning entry was created by David Vazquez, whose art graces both the label and manual. You can view all the contest submissions here.
Additional Information
Includes cartridge and full-color manual. Available in NTSC and PAL television formats, please specify above when ordering.
Get a Medieval Mayhem Box!


If you'd like a boxed copy of Medieval Mayhem, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Medieval Mayhem to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Medieval Mayhem cartridge in place. We want you to play our games, so we have not sealed or shrinkwrapped the boxes in any way, allowing you easy access to the game cartridge and manual.
These boxes are the same size as boxes Atari produced for their games "back in the day". They look great sitting on a shelf with your other boxed homebrew games, or alongside games from the classic Atari 2600 library. We only have a limited number of boxes for each game, and there is no guarantee they will become available again once our supplies are exhausted. Click on the images to the right to see larger photos of the box.
Author | Darrell Spice Jr. |
Number of Players | 1 - 4 |
Controller | Paddles |
Cartridge Size | 32K |
Label Design | David Vazquez |
Manual Design | David Vazquez |
But it's also a really interesting party game. When you have people over and they see an old atari next to the TV they ask to play (yes this happens a lot to me at least). This is the go to cart and it usually ends up pretty competitive. This is a great game!
Not everyone thinks it's better - I do have a couple of WARLORDS holdouts in my circle of friends and family, but even they admit this has some major advantages.
The only drawback is the AI is brutal. VERY tough, especially compared to the suicidal AI in the original.
But the game does not stop there.It increases the fun-factorr by adding multiple balls, sneaky computer opponents, and more.
This is a "must buy' game.
This is quite simply the definitive version of Warlords on any platform. Before anyone starts up about XBOXlive or any other nonsense, the paddle controller means that the 2600 is the only platform worth playing this game on. Four players in one room is the only format too.
The Jakks paddle all-in-1 unit is a good effort and comes close - it even has the arcade original - but its only two player. Medieval Mayhem also trumps that version with its comprehensive options.
This game looks great, sounds great and most importantly of all - plays great. Options are legion - there is every setup tweak you could think of and the mind boggles how the old hardware squeezes out this amount of moving objects without any problems. As a professional computer programmer of 20 years I take my hat off to the developer of this.
Another massive improvement over the Atari original is the one player game which delivers a genuine, rock hard challenge.
I cannot fault this product - and it is PAL optimised for speed. The only minor thing in PAL land is the border at the bottom of the screen which is a bit on the big side - but really it's a minor point. I recommend this game without any reservation.
Absolutely top drawer and up there with the best ever on the 2600 and surely this is in the running for best ever single screen multi-player game on any platform.
You know the basic game. Four castles in each corner of the screen fling a fireball at each other to break through the wall and kill the king. MM adds to this by giving you options for number of fireballs, speed, ability to catch the ball and a personal fav of mine, shutting off the 'flash' when you make a hit. Up to four players can battle at one time making MM a great party game. I was concerned the single player game wouldn't be so good but I was completely wrong. The computer AI is very good and keeps this game challenging.
Adding to all of the excellent play options are some very catchy music and fantastic graphics. The opening volley dragon looks more like a C64 graphic than anything else on the VCS. After each battle a knight marches out to announce the winner and this is also very done. I do wish you could push the button to skip the knight as this gets a little tiresome when playing long sessions but that's a really minor complaint.
This game is perfect, right up there with Thrust Plus Platinum and Conquest of Mars for best all time VCS homebrews.
We fired up Medieval Mayhem after work this past Friday. WOW!!!
Much more fun than Warlords. Lots of options to customize gameplay. Multiple fireballs are great. Music is cool & catchy.
All around, much more fun than basic Warlords--thanks for making such a keen game! Well worth the money!
It may appear to just be Warlords with some eye candy, but the gameplay enhancements are far more important than the graphics. The ball in Warlords can only travel at a few angles, along very predictable paths, causing the game to get pretty boring pretty quickly. Medieval Mayhem not only adds a much wider range of angles--a huge improvement in and of itself--but it includes multi-ball play. Comparing this game to Warlords is like comparing a Porsche 911 to a Model T Ford.
Medieval Mayhem is a complete re-invention of the 2600 version of Warlords - one of the most highly regarded games for the system. So how do you make it better? Improve the graphics, improve the computer players, add more options, and make it closer to the original arcade game. This is exactly what Darrell Spice has accomplished with Medieval Mayhem. From detailed castles to a feature-packed options menu, better-looking kings and the delightful animation of the dragon and knights, the game looks amazing. But best of all, the gameplay that made Warlords so addictive is still completely intact, but with smarter computer opponents (if you can't round up a few human players), and up to three fireballs on screen at the same time, which adds a whole new dimension to the game. Medieval Mayhem is highly customizable thanks to an excellent menu system, so you can dial in exactly the options you want. There are also a couple of Easter Eggs hidden in the game, one of which will really test how good of a player you think you are.
If you liked Warlords, you'll love Medieval Mayhem. And even if you didn't like Warlords, Medieval Mayhem is such a quantum leap over the original, that you should buy it anyway. Grab yourself a set of paddles, and let the battle begin! Highly recommended!