Final Legacy

Final Legacy consists of a series of three mini-games connected together through the main Navigation screen. This is a color map of the world with the dead zone on the left. The position of the Legacy is indicated by a black dot that is moved around the display by the player's joystick or trackball controller. A dotted-outline circle around the Legacy's location indicates the area within which the Legacy can attack targets and the enemy can detect the ship. Also seen on the map are the eight friendly cities, the enemy missile launchers, and a number of enemy ships that roam the oceans attempting to sink the Legacy.

The main goal of the game is to attack the enemy missile launchers. This takes place in one of the mini-games, Sea-to-Land. This mode is started by approaching one of the black dots representing the missile sites close enough that it lies within the dotted circle. This brings up a 3D display that shows the four launchers in the squadron moving about on an isometric grid representing the ground. Pressing the fire button fires the E-beam, which will destroy the launcher if it is in the center of the display.

After a nuclear war in 2001 turned much of the planet into the "dead zone", the surviving portions of the world are controlled by the Patriarchs in Antarctica. In 2051 they learn that the Warmonger, a war computer, has activated itself and is planning to attack the remaining undamaged cities. The player commands the newly launched battleship Legacy with the mission to destroy the Warmonger's mobile ICBM bases hiding in the dead zone.

The game was developed under a series of names: Sea Protector, Sea Sentinel, Sub Sentinel, Sub-Mariner, and The Legacy. It was completed during a period of turmoil at Atari, Inc., which led to its purchase in July 1985 by Jack Tramiel. During this period, the company saw mass layoffs and practically every ongoing effort either stalled or was cancelled outright. Final Legacy was caught up in this process, and although it was apparently complete at the time, it was not launched until November 1985.

A capsule review in Antic described the game in some depth and praised its graphics and sound effects. It was critical of the gameplay, stating it "lacks strategy and tends to become a little repetitious." It nevertheless concluded that it was "quite entertaining" and "a worthy successor to the great tradition of Atari action games."

ANALOG Computing rated it highly, praising the graphics which they stated was "much better than most Atari cartridges" and the ease of control and switching between the different game modes. It concluded "The Final Legacy is one of the most original games I've seen in a long time... I recommend it highly."