Explore the Origins of Gaming in ‘Pixel Ripped 1978,’ Out Today on Meta Quest 2

Welcome to 1978, a year when the Bee Gees were the hottest band in town and the Atari 2600 was making a name for itself in the burgeoning home console market. It was a pivotal time in gaming history, making it the perfect setting for Pixel Ripped 1978, the latest narrative adventure in ARVORE’s popular time-traveling franchise. It’s now available on Meta Quest 2 + Pro for $24.99 USD.

While previous entries Pixel Ripped 1989 and Pixel Ripped 1995 paid homage to their respective eras with lovingly created fictional games, Pixel Ripped 1978 is the first in the series to feature real games from the past. Thanks to publisher Atari, you’ll find references to games like Crystal Castles, Fast Freddie, and Yar’s Revenge, as well as a ton of other easter eggs. The story is actually based around Atari: You play as Barbara “Bug” Rivers, a fictional Atari employee who works at the company’s legendary headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.

In this universe, Bug is the creator of the in-game version of Pixel Ripped and its time-hopping heroine, Dot. Dot follows her nemesis, the evil Cyblin Lord, into the late ‘70s to thwart his latest plan: making himself the original protagonist of Pixel Ripped. With Dot’s help, Bug can transport herself into 3D versions of various Atari games to solve interdimensional puzzles and blast away bugs and glitches.

To find out more, we sat down with real-life Pixel Ripped Creator and Creative Director Ana Ribeiro, Lead Narrative Designer and Game Writer Luisa Paes, and Lead Game Designer Isaias Junior to talk about their unique partnership with Atari and how the series has evolved over the years.

Ana Ribeiro: The first time I ever played video games was on Atari: My earliest memory as a kid was of my father arriving with an Atari 2600, saying it was something that could “control the television.” Working with Atari is an honor and a great coincidence, as our CEO Ricardo Justus actually met the company while traveling to an awards show. It happened during lunch when he saw four guys wearing Atari shirts, and that’s basically how they started talking!

We’d already spent one year developing Pixel Ripped 1978 and even had a teaser ready, so that made the conversation easier as we had something to show. Our main goal was to license Atari’s IPs, but luckily they saw our vision and wanted to form a partnership. It’s the first time we’ve done something like that for the Pixel Ripped franchise, so we’re really excited about it!

Luisa Paes: We’d already done some research on gaming history when starting the game, so we had to deepen the Atari aspect of it in a way. I gathered the team one day and we did a group research moment—everyone was split into three smaller teams and we looked for different aspects of Atari’s history. Some people were looking for art, others for technology, etc. That was a fun way to incorporate everyone’s vision while also learning more about how our industry started! We found out a bunch of fun stuff—I didn’t know they had a company newsletter (look for its name in our game).

LP: When researching Atari’s history, we got from them a list of titles that we could look further into and try to incorporate into the game. We made a great online board that compiled videos of gameplay and actually played some of them to decide what would make sense or not. Other than that, we looked for charismatic characters that could also work with the story and quests we’ve crafted for the players—who’d be fun to interact with?

Isaias Junior: In Pixel Ripped 1978 we added an exploratory layer that didn't exist in our previous games. In PR89 and PR95, we had some first-person cutscenes with Dot talking and observing the ongoing story, and then she Player Syncs to interact with the real-world character. Players always asked us to let them explore and walk inside these worlds. With PR78, we finally give them the chance to step inside the distinct worlds of real Atari games, and let them explore, interact with characters, and fight monsters by shooting them with Dot’s Laser Gun.

AR: When I originally designed the game, my vision was to have five different levels of this one specific game. That was too ambitious for a student project, and my teacher advised me to do just one level—and this actually became Pixel Ripped 1989, the game we released four years later. Pixel Ripped 1978 is set in the era of Atari, and that was the first level I created 10 years ago in my student project. To finally be able to release this vision of mine is a dream come true, especially considering our partnership with Atari, my first video game console.

AR: Pixel Ripped is a love letter to the history of gaming. Every episode references an era—we visited the handheld era in the late ‘80s with Pixel Ripped 1989; the start of the 16-bit to 3D era in the ‘90s with Pixel Ripped 1995; and now moving further into the past with the gaming industry’s origins in Pixel Ripped 1978. My plan was always to release the five episodes that were in the first version of my student project. That means we have two more releases to do, but I won’t spoil it for now! However, if you want to look for some info about the next game in Pixel Ripped 1978, you might find an easter egg about it…

LP: I just really want everyone to have a great time with our game. It was made with a lot of love for the history of gaming, which is something really dear to the team—and hopefully to our players!

AR: We would love to be closer to our players, so please feel free to reach us on our Discord channel!

IJ: I'm very excited to see everyone experience the game. All of our efforts were for this—to deliver joy and laughter to you all. Please enjoy!

Go back in time to a critical moment in gaming history in Pixel Ripped 1978, which is out today on Meta Quest 2 + Pro. And for a limited time, you can save some cash and grab both Pixel Ripped 1978 and Pixel Ripped 1995 for just $29.99 USD in the Pixel Ripped Bundle!*