Gravitar Recharged is Alan-1’s third adaptation of the Atari Recharged series of games, bringing them from home consoles and updating them into commercial arcade titles. We did not just take the console versions and put them into a cabinet – we’ve greatly adjusted and enhanced the software to ensure that these games operate properly for arcades. Exclusive arcade features will be found below.
Gravitar was first released to arcades in 1982, being among some of the last “vector” arcade games created for the market. It shared some similarities with Asteroids, but was considered one of the most challenging games of its time, as players had to not only battle enemies in space, they also had to work against gravity.
In the game, you are piloting a lone starfighter, first in a solar system where you select which planets you want to explore, battling enemies, watching out for gravitational effects, along with your fuel level. Collect fuel canisters to keep the fight going!
The game didn’t see many console ports nor did it receive any sequels until 2022, when current day Atari brought it back in the form of Gravitar Recharged. This maintained the original spirit of the arcade game, where you still start off in a solar system view, flying to one of the orbiting planets to complete an objective. These objectives are more clear now, such as destroying a certain number of enemies, activating beacons, or collecting enemy intelligence. Completing a system is still achieved by destroying the reactor planet.

To play, the controls are similar to Asteroids Recharged or the original Gravitar arcade game. Use the ROTATE RIGHT and ROTATE LEFT buttons to change the direction of your ship: Thrust to move forward; Fire to shoot; Shield/Tractor Beam to activate that dual feature, which can suck in items like power-ups and fuel tanks, while also blocking shots from attackers. Note that there various power-ups which will give you a temporary advantage.

Gravitar Recharged will be available in both PRO and PRO+ models, which supports two players simultaneously through the two sets of controls. These also offer “toys” such as wind blowers, rumble motors, and a pinball knocker.