diff --git a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/Dockerfile b/.github/actions/download-release-asset/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index acd7e8936..000000000
--- a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-FROM alpine:latest
-
-RUN apk add --no-cache \
-  bash \
-  ca-certificates \
-  curl \
-  wget \
-  jq
-
-COPY download-asset.sh /usr/bin/download-asset
-RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/download-asset
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/download-asset"]
diff --git a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/action.yml b/.github/actions/download-release-asset/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 1804abf73..000000000
--- a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
----
-name: download-release-asset
-description: Download release asset from Github release
-inputs:
-  filename:
-    description: Filename of asset to download
-    required: true
-branding:
-  color: yellow
-  icon: download-cloud
-runs:
-  using: docker
-  image: Dockerfile
-  args:
-  - ${{ inputs.filename }}
diff --git a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/download-asset.sh b/.github/actions/download-release-asset/download-asset.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 056a21181..000000000
--- a/.github/actions/download-release-asset/download-asset.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# Modified from https://github.com/wyozi/download-gh-release-asset
-#
-set -e
-set -o pipefail
-
-# Ensure that the GITHUB_TOKEN secret is included
-if [[ -z "${GITHUB_TOKEN}" ]]; then
-  echo "Set the GITHUB_TOKEN env variable."
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# Ensure that the file path is present
-if [[ -z "${INPUT_FILENAME}" ]]; then
-  echo "It seems you forgot to pass the filename of the asset to download"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-FILE="${INPUT_FILENAME}"
-
-asset_id=$(jq ".release.assets | map(select(.name == \"$FILE\"))[0].id" $GITHUB_EVENT_PATH)
-if [ "$asset_id" = "null" ]; then
-  echo "ERROR: asset id not found"
-  exit 1
-fi;
-
-AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}"
-ASSET_URL="https://api.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/releases/assets/${asset_id}"
-
-curl \
-  -L \
-  -H "${AUTH_HEADER}" \
-  -H "Accept:application/octet-stream" \
-  -o "${FILE}" \
-  "${ASSET_URL}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 0c6df981d..eabf924f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+# this file includes 4 stages
+# 1. pre-commit - runs pre-commit using `.pre-commit-config.yaml`
+# 2. build-scratch - (if pre-commit pass) then we build the project from scratch (single python versions) and pytest
+# 3. build-wheels - (if pre-commit pass) then we build all the wheels for all valid versions
+# 4. test-wheels - (if build-scratch and build-wheel passes) then we install wheel and run pytest for all python versions
+
 name: CI
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
@@ -8,12 +14,8 @@ on:
         required: false
         default: false
   push:
-    tags-ignore:
-      - "*.*"
     paths-ignore:
       - "docs/**"
-    branches:
-      - "*"
   pull_request:
     branches:
       - "*"
@@ -28,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: '3.10'
     - uses: pre-commit/action@v3.0.1
 
-  tests:
+  build-scratch:
     name: ${{ matrix.runs-on }} • py${{ matrix.python }}
     needs: pre-commit
     defaults:
@@ -38,53 +40,54 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         include:
+          # To minimise the computational resources, we only use a single python version and the final test-wheels for all python versions
           - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
             python: '3.8'
             triplet: x64-linux-mixed
-          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-            python: '3.9'
-            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
-          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-            python: '3.10'
-            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
-          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-            python: '3.11'
-            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
-          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-            python: '3.12'
-            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
+#          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+#            python: '3.9'
+#            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
+#          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+#            python: '3.10'
+#            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
+#          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+#            python: '3.11'
+#            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
+#          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+#            python: '3.12'
+#            triplet: x64-linux-mixed
 
           - runs-on: macos-12  # macos latest is macos-14-arm64 running on M1 chips which doesn't have python support
             python: '3.8'
             triplet: x64-osx-mixed
-          - runs-on: macos-12
-            python: '3.9'
-            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
-          - runs-on: macos-12
-            python: '3.10'
-            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
-          - runs-on: macos-12
-            python: '3.11'
-            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
-          - runs-on: macos-12
-            python: '3.12'
-            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
+#          - runs-on: macos-12
+#            python: '3.9'
+#            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
+#          - runs-on: macos-12
+#            python: '3.10'
+#            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
+#          - runs-on: macos-12
+#            python: '3.11'
+#            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
+#          - runs-on: macos-12
+#            python: '3.12'
+#            triplet: x64-osx-mixed
 
           - runs-on: windows-latest
             python: '3.8'
             triplet: x64-windows
-          - runs-on: windows-latest
-            python: '3.9'
-            triplet: x64-windows
-          - runs-on: windows-latest
-            python: '3.10'
-            triplet: x64-windows
-          - runs-on: windows-latest
-            python: '3.11'
-            triplet: x64-windows
-          - runs-on: windows-latest
-            python: '3.12'
-            triplet: x64-windows
+#          - runs-on: windows-latest
+#            python: '3.9'
+#            triplet: x64-windows
+#          - runs-on: windows-latest
+#            python: '3.10'
+#            triplet: x64-windows
+#          - runs-on: windows-latest
+#            python: '3.11'
+#            triplet: x64-windows
+#          - runs-on: windows-latest
+#            python: '3.12'
+#            triplet: x64-windows
     env:
       VCPKG_DEFAULT_TRIPLET: ${{ matrix.triplet }}
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.runs-on }}
@@ -123,3 +126,172 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Test
       run: python -m pytest
+
+  build-wheels:
+    name: ${{ matrix.runs-on }} • ${{ matrix.arch }}
+    needs: pre-commit
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+            arch: x86_64
+          - runs-on: windows-latest
+            arch: AMD64
+          - runs-on: macos-12
+            arch: x86_64
+          - runs-on: macos-12
+            arch: arm64
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runs-on }}
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        if: runner.os == 'linux'
+        id: buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
+        with:
+          install: true
+
+      - name: Build Docker image with vcpkg
+        if: runner.os == 'linux'
+        # using build-push-action (without push) to make use of cache arguments
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        with:
+          context: .
+          file: .github/docker/manylinux-vcpkg.Dockerfile
+          tags: manylinux-vcpkg:latest
+          push: false
+          load: true
+
+      - uses: microsoft/setup-msbuild@v2
+        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+      # TODO(jfarebro): 02/16/2023 - There's a bug where pkg-config isn't installed on the macOS
+      # runner. See: https://github.com/actions/runner-images/pull/7125
+      - name: Install pkg-config on macOS
+        if: runner.os == 'macOS'
+        run: brew install pkg-config
+
+      - uses: lukka/run-vcpkg@v11
+        with:
+          vcpkgGitCommitId: "8150939b69720adc475461978e07c2d2bf5fb76e"
+          # There's a permissions issue with the cache
+          # https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/issues/20121
+          doNotCache: true
+
+      - name: Download and unpack ROMs
+        run: ./scripts/download_unpack_roms.sh
+
+      - name: Build wheels
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.17.0
+        env:
+          CIBW_ARCHS: "${{ matrix.arch }}"
+
+      - name: Upload wheels
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
+        with:
+          name: wheels
+          path: ./wheelhouse/*.whl
+
+  test-wheels:
+    name: Test wheels
+    needs: [build-wheels, build-scratch]
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          # example wheel names (if the wheel names change, look at the `ls wheels/` for the new names)
+          # ale_py-0.9.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_15_x86_64.whl
+          # ale_py-0.9.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
+          # ale_py-0.9.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl
+          # ale_py-0.9.0-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.8'
+            wheel-name: 'cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.9'
+            wheel-name: 'cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.10'
+            wheel-name: 'cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.11'
+            wheel-name: 'cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.12'
+            wheel-name: 'cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64'
+
+          - runs-on: windows-latest  # arch: AMD64
+            python: '3.8'
+            wheel-name: 'cp38-cp38-win_amd64'
+          - runs-on: windows-latest  # arch: AMD64
+            python: '3.9'
+            wheel-name: 'cp39-cp39-win_amd64'
+          - runs-on: windows-latest  # arch: AMD64
+            python: '3.10'
+            wheel-name: 'cp310-cp310-win_amd64'
+          - runs-on: windows-latest  # arch: AMD64
+            python: '3.11'
+            wheel-name: 'cp311-cp311-win_amd64'
+          - runs-on: windows-latest  # arch: AMD64
+            python: '3.12'
+            wheel-name: 'cp312-cp312-win_amd64'
+
+          - runs-on: macos-12  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.8'
+            wheel-name: 'cp38-cp38-macosx_10_15_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: macos-12  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.9'
+            wheel-name: 'cp39-cp39-macosx_10_15_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: macos-12  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.10'
+            wheel-name: 'cp310-cp310-macosx_10_15_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: macos-12  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.11'
+            wheel-name: 'cp311-cp311-macosx_10_15_x86_64'
+          - runs-on: macos-12  # arch: x86_64
+            python: '3.12'
+            wheel-name: 'cp312-cp312-macosx_10_15_x86_64'
+
+          - runs-on: macos-14  # arch: arm64
+            python: '3.8'
+            wheel-name: 'cp38-cp38-macosx_11_0_arm64'
+          - runs-on: macos-14  # arch: arm64
+            python: '3.9'
+            wheel-name: 'cp39-cp39-macosx_11_0_arm64'
+          - runs-on: macos-14  # arch: arm64
+            python: '3.10'
+            wheel-name: 'cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64'
+          - runs-on: macos-14  # arch: arm64
+            python: '3.11'
+            wheel-name: 'cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64'
+          - runs-on: macos-14  # arch: arm64
+            python: '3.12'
+            wheel-name: 'cp312-cp312-macosx_11_0_arm64'
+
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runs-on }}
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
+
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v1
+        with:
+          name: wheels
+
+      - run: ls wheels/
+
+      - name: Build
+        # wildcarding doesn't work for some reason, therefore, update the project version here
+        run: python -m pip install wheels/ale_py-0.9.0-${{ matrix.wheel-name }}.whl
+
+      - name: Install Gymnasium and pytest
+        run: python -m pip install gymnasium>=1.0.0a1 pytest
+
+      - name: Test
+        run: python -m pytest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/wheels.yml b/.github/workflows/pypi.yml
similarity index 61%
rename from .github/workflows/wheels.yml
rename to .github/workflows/pypi.yml
index bcbbd5385..1d65daad1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/wheels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pypi.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
-name: Wheels
+# workflow on publish
+# 1. build the wheels for relevant systems
+# 2. download artifacts and upload to PyPI
+
+name: Push wheels to pypi
 
 on:
-  push:
-    tags:
-      - 'v*'
+  release:
+    types: [ published ]
 
 jobs:
-  build:
+  build-wheels:
     name: ${{ matrix.runs-on }} • ${{ matrix.arch }}
     defaults:
       run:
@@ -23,6 +26,7 @@ jobs:
           - runs-on: macos-12
             arch: arm64
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.runs-on }}
+
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
@@ -73,62 +77,22 @@ jobs:
         name: wheels
         path: ./wheelhouse/*.whl
 
-  pypi:
-    name: Deploy wheels to PyPi test
+  push-pypi:
+    name: Deploy wheels to PyPi
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: build
+    needs: build-wheels
     permissions:
       id-token: write
+
     steps:
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@v1
         with:
           name: wheels
 
-      - name: Append PyPi test SHA
-        run: |
-          find wheels -type f -exec sh -c \
-            "mv {} \$(echo {} | awk -F\"-\" '{OFS = FS; \$2 = \$2\"+${GITHUB_SHA::7}\"; print}')" \;
-
       - name: Publish to PyPi test
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
         with:
           user: __token__
-          password: ${{ secrets.PYPI_TEST_TOKEN }}
-          repository-url: https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
+          password: ${{ secrets.PYPI_TOKEN }}
           packages-dir: wheels/
           print-hash: true
-
-
-  release:
-    name: Stage wheels to Github releases
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: build
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v1
-        with:
-          name: wheels
-
-      - name: Create wheel archive
-        run: |
-          zip --junk-paths wheels wheels/*
-
-      - name: Create release
-        id: create_release
-        uses: actions/create-release@v1.0.0
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.ref }}
-          release_name: Release ${{ github.ref }}
-          draft: true
-          prerelease: ${{ contains(github.ref, '-') }}
-
-      - name: Upload artifacts to release
-        uses: actions/upload-release-asset@v1.0.1
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        with:
-          upload_url: ${{ steps.create_release.outputs.upload_url }}
-          asset_path: ./wheels.zip
-          asset_name: wheels.zip
-          asset_content_type: application/zip
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 04aae2f98..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-name: Release
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [published]
-
-jobs:
-  wheels:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-    - uses: ./.github/actions/download-release-asset
-      name: Download release wheels
-      with:
-        filename: wheels.zip
-      env:
-        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-    - name: Unzip wheels asset
-      run: |
-        unzip wheels.zip -d dist
-    - name: Publish to PyPi
-      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
-      with:
-        user: __token__
-        password: ${{ secrets.PYPI_TOKEN }}
-        print_hash: true
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7307c30bf..3bd65e421 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -127,30 +127,6 @@ def parse_version(version_file):
         version = fp.read().strip()
         assert semver_prog.match(version) is not None
 
-    if os.getenv("CIBUILDWHEEL") is not None:
-        ci_ref = os.getenv("GITHUB_REF")
-        assert ci_ref is not None, "Github ref not found, are we running in CI?"
-
-        ci_version_match = semver_prog.search(ci_ref)
-        assert ci_version_match is not None, f"Couldn't match semver in {ci_ref}"
-
-        ci_version = ci_version_match.group(0)
-        assert ci_version.startswith(
-            version
-        ), f"{ci_version} not prefixed with {version}"
-
-        version = ci_version
-    else:
-        sha = (
-            subprocess.run(
-                ["git", "rev-parse", "--short", "HEAD"], capture_output=True, cwd=here
-            )
-            .stdout.decode("ascii")
-            .strip()
-        )
-        if sha:
-            version += f"+{sha}"
-
     return version
 
 
diff --git a/tests/python/test_atari_env.py b/tests/python/test_atari_env.py
index e146132f7..1521cc01b 100644
--- a/tests/python/test_atari_env.py
+++ b/tests/python/test_atari_env.py
@@ -11,6 +11,28 @@
 from utils import test_rom_path, tetris_env  # noqa: F401
 
 
+def test_roms_register():
+    registered_roms = [
+        env_id
+        for env_id, spec in gymnasium.registry.items()
+        if spec.entry_point == "ale_py.env:AtariEnv"
+    ]
+
+    registered_v0_roms = list(filter(lambda env_id: "v0" in env_id, registered_roms))
+    registered_v4_roms = list(filter(lambda env_id: "v4" in env_id, registered_roms))
+    registered_v5_roms = list(filter(lambda env_id: "v5" in env_id, registered_roms))
+
+    assert (
+        len(registered_v0_roms) == 372
+    ), f"{len(registered_roms)}, {len(registered_v0_roms)}, {len(registered_v4_roms)}, {len(registered_v5_roms)}"
+    assert len(registered_v4_roms) == 372
+    assert len(registered_v5_roms) == 216
+
+    assert len(registered_roms) == len(registered_v0_roms) + len(
+        registered_v4_roms
+    ) + len(registered_v5_roms)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "env_id",
     [