Atari 2600 "did you knows"

[CFMM]

The oldest this site goes back seems to be the NES. We should honor the first large-scale home console too, the Atari 2600.


Some facts about the Atari 2600:
- The second model of the Atari 2600 was nicknamed "Vader" due to its all-black appearance.
Source: http://www.thegameconsole.com/atari-2600-vader/

- Activision was the world's first third-party game developer.
Source: http://www.atariage.com/company_page.htm...mpanyID=11

- "Gamma-Attack" by Gammation is said to be the rarest Atari 2600 game in existence. Only two copies are known to exist.
Source: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-260...20510.html

- "Gamma-Attack", the rarest Atari 2600 game in existence, was found by a collector named "Phantom" who purchased a large box of assorted Atari stuff from an online seller. At first glance he passed the game off as a "dancy homebrew".
Source: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/0...me-500000/

- "Air Raid" was formerly considered to be the rarest and most valuable Atari 2600 game in the world. 13 copies are known to exist, and in 2010 a copy of the game complete in its box sold for over $31,000.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife...index.html

- Two builds exist of an unknown, untitled, and unreleased Activision puzzle prototype for the Atari 2600. There is no mention of the game in any Activision catalog.
Source: http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software...known1.htm

- David Crane (of Activision) programmed an Atari demo known as Venetian Blinds in 1982 as a joke when Atari attempted to sue Activision for stealing trade secrets pertaining to a style of sprite display known colloquially as "venetian blinds". The game was formally released almost 30 years later as a title available in the Xbox 360 title Game Room.
Source: http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software...blinds.htm

- Atari once worked on prototypes for a controller called "MindLink" that detected muscle movements in the player's face and translated them into movement on-screen. The idea was scrapped but two unfinished titles exist for the peripheral: Mind Maze and Bionic Breakthrough.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink

- A popular urban legend in gaming involves Atari burying millions of unsold and returned copies of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial in an Alamogordo, NM landfill. They have never been found.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial

- The music video for "When I Wake Up", a single by alternative rock group Wintergreen, recounts a fictional story of the members of Wintergreen finding the rumored mass of buried E.T. games in Alamogordo, NM.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rt_3_bQVJU

- Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, originally named his company "Syzygy" but changed it due to conflicting copyrights.
Source: http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/atari.html

- Showbiz Pizza (Chuck E. Cheese's) was created by Nolan Bushnell, who also founded the Atari company.
Source: http://www.showbizpizza.com/info/history/timeline.html

- Combat, the original pack-in title for the Atari 2600, had a sequel in production (Combat Two). The game was canceled, but later released for the Atari 2600 in 2001.
Source: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.ht...belID=1137

- Every game produced for the Atari 2600 by Mystique/Playaround was of a pornographic nature.
Source: http://www.atariage.com/company_page.htm...mpanyID=12

- The Atari 2600 game "Adventure" contains the first easter egg in gaming history.
Source: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.ht...eLabelID=1

[Skarro]

+1 thanks! interesting stuff

[DidYouKnowGaming]

There are a few arcade and atari images already on the site just fyi. Thanks for these.

[Sohakmet]

Some interesting stuff, indeed. This Gamma Attack game ahs only 2 copies of it? Impossible, there must be more but they might be buried somewehere due to, maybe, of how bad the game was. I mean... they buried all those ET games for a reason.

[CFMM]

(07-04-2012 12:27 AM)Sohakmet Wrote:  Some interesting stuff, indeed. This Gamma Attack game ahs only 2 copies of it? Impossible, there must be more but they might be buried somewehere due to, maybe, of how bad the game was. I mean... they buried all those ET games for a reason.

The Atari 2600 saw many "fly-by-night" companies who did not have the resources or funding to operate with mass production factories and assembly lines, so the cost of producing a cartridge wasn't cheap. In 2004 I published a homebrew title for the 2600 and I believe the cost of EPROM burning, cartridge assembly, and label printing was about $12 per game. I pressed 20 copies for about $250 I think. I can't imagine it being cheaper than that on an independent level in the 1980's.

Gammation was (is, they are apparently still around but their site looks like trash) a company that specialized in console accessories, not games. Their claim to fame was what is honestly the world's first controller mod, they had a device called "FP-100" which was essentially an autofiring mechanism for your Atari joystick. They knew very little of the how-to's regarding game publication which is why their title didn't see the light of day. It was announced and it appears some sample titles were pressed, but that's it.

The rarest games for the system are the ones that had a few copies made but were not released or were from companies who lacked the resources to reach a national market.

(07-04-2012 12:23 AM)DidYouKnowGaming Wrote:  There are a few arcade and atari images already on the site just fyi. Thanks for these.

Ah, I could've sworn I browsed almost everything I guess I missed them. Mybad! XD

[blargh53]

how can gamma attack only have 2 copies when the ROM is really easy to find online

[DidYouKnowGaming]

There were only 5 English translations of Mother if I recall, that found its way onto the net too.