If you are impatient then you should look here instead where we build Tempest with a single make command and play around with the source.

If you are interested in the technical detail of building the sources, then read on.

• Building the Tempest Source Code: An Introduction
• Extracting and Playing the ROMs
• Building the Tempest Source Code: Version 1
• Building the Tempest Source Code: Version 2A(Alt)
• Hacking the Source Code

In 2021, the source code for Tempest surfaced on the 'historicalsource' github repository. In the atari_build folder you'll find the steps for building the Tempest source code at home. There are complications, but it can be done!

In this Jupyter notebook we extract the ROM data from the ALEXEC.LDA binary included in the source dump and play it on MAME!

In this Jupyter notebook we build and play Version 1 of Tempest.

In this Jupyter notebook we build and play Version 2A(alt) of Tempest.

In this separate repository I automate the build process and try out some hacking on the source code. This includes extending the number of maps to 32, various builds with new maps (in the spirit of Tempest tubes), and a version that mimics Tempest 2000.