ROUND UP Box Art

ROUND UP

DiRoccoVision • 2026 • Port • Action

Herd 'em, rope 'em, and don't let a single dogie stray!

Atari 2600 Port Speech Enabled
Speech Synthesizer Enabled Speech Synthesizer EnabledThis game talks when the ADAM Speech Synthesizer by Lundy Electronics is connected.

An enhanced ColecoVision conversion of the Atari 2600 classic Stampede by Activision. Gallop across the range with the herd running beside you, and don't let a single dogie fall behind and stray.

Ride up and down across six lanes of cattle and press fire to throw your lasso. Rope a dogie to score: 25 points for a Jersey, 15 for a Guernsey and 3 for a dark red Hereford. Or ride into a row to herd it forward, though a dogie that's herded too often turns stubborn. Watch for the Black Angus: it won't be herded, it rears your horse if you touch it, and it's worth 100 points if you rope it. Steer clear of the skulls on the trail, too. You can afford three strays, and every 1,000 points earns another.

Roundup keeps the original's rules, taken straight from the 2600 cartridge, down to the order the rows arrive in and the way the herd picks up speed over about three minutes. Eight levels, from Sidekick to Cattle Baron, bring faster starts, a herd that bobs up and down and rows in random order, while Novice and Expert set the length of your rope. Pass 10,000 points and the score rolls over under the steer's-head brand, just as it did on the 2600.

With a Lundy speech module the game talks, sending you off with "Saddle up and head 'em out!" and reading out your score at the end, and the voice switches off from the menu. New title and closing artwork and an attract mode that rides on its own complete the package. Roundup runs on the ColecoVision and the Coleco ADAM.

PlatformColecoVision & ADAM
CategoryPort
GenreAction
Based OnStampede (Activision, 1981)
Release Year2026
Players1 Player
ROM Size24KB
MediaROM File
ControllerStandard Controller
Speech Enabled — ADAM Speech Synthesizer by Lundy Electronics
PublisherDiRoccoVision

BEHIND THE SCENES

Stampede was designed by Bob Whitehead for Activision in 1981; before it, he had designed Boxing and Skiing. His tips in the original manual still hold: herding is the most important part of the game, and "when you rope the last one of a group of dark red Herefords . . . get set for some fast action, 'cause there's trouble ahead!"

Roundup's rules were read straight out of the original cartridge's program, and the code settled two points the 1981 manual got wrong: the first dogies to arrive are Jerseys, not Herefords, and in the even-numbered games the dogies don't dodge your lasso. The whole herd bobs up and down the whole time.

The manual also invited anyone who scored 3,000 points to send in a photo of their TV screen and join the Activision "Trail Drive", a name DiRoccoVision's own cattle game, Trail Drive, also carries. The two are different games: Trail Drive is an original, into-the-screen take on the cattle drive, while Roundup is the faithful side-view Stampede. At the end of every ride Roundup signs off the way Bob Whitehead signed his tips: "Happy trails!"


CREDITS

ColecoVision PortDiRoccoVision
Original DeveloperBob Whitehead / Activision (1981)
DiRoccoVision
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