Atari Video Computer System Game Catalog, 1981

[mmcirvin]

Via Daring Fireball: Jason Santa Maria scanned in a catalog that I remember well. (And links to some crazy old TV ads. I think that one for Pole Position would have put me off the game, actually.)

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...The second one still has the old Space War cartridge in it, but the one I remember seeing in catalogs, not owning, and wondering about a lot was a very early game called Starship, which I think attempted to give a first-person cockpit view. I get the impression from the testimony of others that it was so lame they pulled it at the first opportunity. Of course they eventually ported Star Raiders to the 2600.

A very early, very lame game we did have, and that I played far more than it deserved, was Miniature Golf, which I suspect was at least part inspiration for the Homestar Runner "Secret Collect" game.

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

I had a copy of Star Ship, which had both first-person view shoot'em up, as well as a lunar lander game. I think the lunar lander game, though instead of landing on a surface on the bottom of the screen, you had to get your lander safely on an asteroid. I think the two-player version allowed player number two to control the asteroid to try and smash the first player's lander. Maybe you're talking about the blue catalog which had
this goofy page devoted to Star Ship.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

YES

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...Odd that at that point they were selling both Black Jack and Casino, which included a better-looking blackjack game and a couple of others. I think Casino was one of the first cartridges we had.

I also spent a remarkable amount of time playing that ultra-minimalist baseball game that the Intellivision ads made such fun of.

[(Anonymous)]

I loved Atari Baseball. That and bowling were the first two sport video games I got into. I also liked Activision's Decathlon when it came out, until hitting the 1500m dash level of course.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

yeah, Atari Bowling! That noise it made when you got a strike is burned into my head: WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOO!

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

I loved Atari Baseball. That and bowling were the first two sport video games I got into. I also liked Activision's Decathlon when it came out, until hitting the 1500m dash level of course.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Hmm, the Stella ROM for Star Ship doesn't seem to work. Either that or I'm missing something.

Some of these old games, though... it's the sounds that really take you back.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

aha, it does work, it's just that the one-player games use Player 2's controls.

Very strange.