Tempest 2000

Tempest 2000 modifies the gameplay of the original Tempest by adding power-ups, bonus levels, more sophisticated enemy types and wildly varying web level designs. The game features a total of 100 web levels, with new frame colors and variations after every 16 levels completed. In all versions, progress is automatically saved after completing a couple of levels and players are allowed to resume by using "Keys" to return to the last stage where the game was saved. There are also three gameplay modes in addition to the main game.

Completing all 100 web levels in Tempest 2000 unlocks "Beastly Mode", which is a harder difficulty setting where enemies move faster, fire more often and are more resilient to the player's shots. In addition, the player's ship fires at a lower rate than in the original difficulty.

At a gaming convention, Atari held a conference with prospective developers for the Atari Jaguar where they listed off arcade games that they were considering having converted to the Jaguar, asking them to raise their hands at ones they wanted to work on. Jeff Minter volunteered to do Tempest as it was one of his favorite games. At the launch party for the Jaguar in New York, the creator of the Atari Jaguar took Minter aside and told him that he felt Tempest 2000 was a poor demonstration of the Jaguar's capabilities. Though discouraged, Minter continued to work on the game until it was finished and also regarded the Jaguar hardware as easy to develop for.

Tempest 2000 was developed in Wales. Carrie Tahquechi, wife of ex-Atari producer Ted Tahquechi did the female voice work in Tempest 2000.

Tempest 2000 received general critical acclaim when released for the Jaguar. GamePro praised the graphics and high speed, said the music included "the best techno-rave tracks anywhere", and deemed the two-player competitive mode "well worth the price of the cart." Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it their "Game of the Month" award, citing the "superb" techno soundtrack and "graphics that surpass the arcade version". GameFan also gave the Jaguar version a positive review.

In a 1995 overview of Atari's history, Next Generation said of Tempest 2000 that "This single game probably did more for Atari's reputation than anything the company's marketing team had managed in the last five years." Tempest 2000 sold more than 30,000 copies, making it the second best-selling game on the platform behind Alien vs Predator, though it is unknown how many were sold in total during its lifetime as of 1 April 1995.

In 1996, the game's Melt-O-Vision trademark was abandoned, while the trademark renewal for the title was also cancelled in 2006. It was cited by Ultra/United Games as an influence during development of Battle-Girl. VM Labs licensed Tempest for their Nuon DVD system and hired Jeff Minter to produce a sequel, Tempest 3000. Minter also produced the unofficial "inspired by" follow-ups Space Giraffe and TxK on the Sony PlayStation Vita.

On 24 August 2008, the source code of Tempest 2000 was released by the defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection. Also, two unofficial clones of Tempest 2000 named Typhoon 2001 and Cyclone 2000 were launched for PC and Android devices, by Thorsten Kuphaldt and NoCrew Mobile respectively. Another sequel, Tempest 4000, was released in July 2018. The title was a reworking of an earlier clone by Minter titled TxK, that incorporates classic Tempest 2000 music and enemies, alongside other enhancements.