40 replies to this topic

[high voltage]

As the title suggests.
also, which Atari VCS game did have the first background music overall?

[Rom Hunter]

SwordQuest - FireWorld?

I remember the 'snakes' level having some sort of 'background music'.

[BassGuitari]

Well, depending on if you subscribe to the John Cage definition of music, you could say Combat, Star Ship, Street Racer, or Surround were the first since they all featured background engine sounds and things like that.  Even Blackjack or Video Olympics, which featured no background sound at all, fits that description (silence is a part of music, after all).

Of course, that's playing Devil's Advocate, and I know what kind of answer you're actually looking for.  In which case, I don't know.  Pitfall II is the earliest that comes to mind.  Maybe one of the SwordQuest games.  Quite a few games played little jingles at the start of a game (MASH, Frogger, even Pac-Man) but those weren't background music.

As for Atari titles, I'm actually kind of at a loss.  I know Secret Quest looped some short little ditty low in the background, but that wasn't until 1989 or whenever.  Again, maybe one of the Swordquest games.  Asteroids has that droning oscillating half-step in the background, which is technically music.

[Zach]

Maybe Asteroids?

[maibock]

Lets go with Space Invaders for 500 please, Wink.

[Impaler_26]

Moon Patrol!

[darryl1970]

I remeber Mr. Do's Castle has music.  I am too lazy to figure out where that falls in the timeline, but I think it may have been before the Quest games.

[Feralstorm]

I'd think maybe Asteroids, as the "Jaws theme", simple as it was, was not directly related to on-screen actions.

Dig Dug has nice music, though you have to keep moving for it to play, so it could be considered sound effects.

[Random Terrain]

darryl1970, on Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:57 PM, said:

I remeber Mr. Do's Castle has music.  I am too lazy to figure out where that falls in the timeline, but I think it may have been before the Quest games.

Don't worry. In A few months, I hope to have a more complete timeline of Atari 2600 games. It will be easy to see which game was released first.

[jeremiahjt]

Random Terrain, on Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:31 PM, said:

darryl1970, on Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:57 PM, said:

I remeber Mr. Do's Castle has music.  I am too lazy to figure out where that falls in the timeline, but I think it may have been before the Quest games.

Don't worry. In A few months, I hope to have a more complete timeline of Atari 2600 games. It will be easy to see which game was released first.

How are you putting this timeline together?  I imagine finding the dates for most of the 2600 games would be difficult, unless you're just using the year as the release date.  I'm assuming you're also going for the month too though.

[Random Terrain]

jeremiahjt, on Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:16 PM, said:

How are you putting this timeline together?  I imagine finding the dates for most of the 2600 games would be difficult, unless you're just using the year as the release date.  I'm assuming you're also going for the month too though.

I'd never use the copyright date. I use magazines, newsletters, catalogs, my own calendars from the early 1980s, and so on. Here are a couple of examples:


Berzerk (Atari)  [August 1982]
YT - Atarimania - AtariAge - Atari Age Magazine - catalog - Arcade Express V1N1 (page 1)


Airlock (Data Age)  [October 1982]
First use in commerce: 1982y-07m-27d
YT - Atarimania - AtariAge - Billboard Nov 6, 1982 (page 3) - Videogaming Illustrated Feb 1983 (page 7)


I like to have more than one source for the release date if I can.

[SeaGtGruff]

I think there should be a distinction between "background music" and "sound effects." I also think that two sounds repeated over and over do not constitute "music." So I'm going to say that "Pitfall II" was the first game for the 2600 with background music.

[thegoldenband]

Which came out first on the VCS, Jungle Hunt or Pitfall II?  I think that Jungle Hunt's little ditties count, even if they're just 2-4 notes, since they're clearly intended as music.

[moycon]

It's definately not Pitfall 2 which came out in like 1984.
Journey Escape for sure has legitimate back ground music and that game came out in 1982.
I think that title also beats out Jungle Hunt and Moon Patrol, both games released to the arcade in 1982 and not released on the 2600 until later.
From what I recall the Mythicon game Sorcerer also has back ground music, but near as I can tell that came out in 1983.

[Random Terrain]

I'm still not done looking through all of the magazines and newsletters that are available, but so far it looks like Journey Escape was released in January of 1983, Jungle Hunt in June/July of 1983 and Moon Patrol in October of 1983:

Journey Escape (Data Age)  [January 1983]
YT - Atarimania - AtariAge
Billboard Nov 6, 1982 (page 3) - Billboard Dec 4, 1982 (page 25)


Jungle Hunt (Atari)  [June/July 1983]
YT - Atarimania - AtariAge - Atari Age Magazine - AAM


Moon Patrol (Atari) [October 1983]
YT - Atarimania - AtariAge - Atari Age Magazine - AAM


I haven't gotten to Mythicon games yet.

[Dave Neuman]

http://games.yahoo.c...-230438248.html

Article claims First full musical score:  Pitfall II

Edited by Dave Neuman, Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:03 PM.

[Godzilla]

what year was reactor?

[Tempest]

Pressure Cooker had background music.  Not sure if it predated Pitfall II or not.

[moycon]

Godzilla, on Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:42 AM, said:

what year was reactor?

I thought of Reactor, but from what I recall, the song didn't actually play in the background when you played the game did it?

[high voltage]

Wow, good input everyone
Big Birds Egg Catch dates 1983, it's got a classical tune playing throughout.
How about Mountain King that says 83 too, another classical tune.

[sdamon]

Would the Star Wars theme that occasionally plays during Parker Bros. TESB game count?

[chupathingy]

I think the first Atari game to have full PROPER background music was the homebrew Marble Craze by Paul Slocum.

[Zach]

I unwaveringly count the repeated two-note pattern in Asteroids as music. They are not sound effects that represent any action in the game. I only said maybe in post #4 because I wasn't sure if there was anything earlier.

It turns out there is a whole Wikipedia article on the definition of music, and it basically says no one can agree.

[Crazy Climber]

_{I'm going with Journey Escape for my guess   what do we win?}

[moycon]

Random Terrain, on Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:08 PM, said:

but so far it looks like Journey Escape was released in January of 1983,

Not sure how you got this date based on the info you collected. You list several sources. Most of which have a date of 1982, not unlike the cart/box itself, which also has a date of 1982. One of the articles mentions a 1983 date, but it's refering to a "marketing campaign" (I'm guessing posters and other swag) that sellers could get to promote the game. Just curious how you came about this release date?

I personally don't consider the background "noise" of Asteroids, background music. To me it's more like ambient sound effects, similar to the ones in Starship.