Imagic game numbering

[WolfAmongWolves]

Some Imagic games have the letters "IA" in front of the game number, while others have an "O". For example, Demon Attack is "IA 3200", Atlantis is "IA 3203" and Cosmic Ark is "IA 3204". The next couple of games replace the "IA" with an "O", e.g. Fathom is "O 3205", Moonsweeper is "O 3207", etc. Later game numbers reinstate the "IA", e.g. No Escape is "IA 3312" and Fire Fighter is "IA 3400". I'm curious; does anyone know what these letters signify or why Imagic chose to number their games in this fashion?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

From the examples I would guess that "IA" is used for 4k games and "O" for 8k games.

[WolfAmongWolves]

That's a good guess, I hadn't thought of that. However, Laser Gates and Quick Step are also both "O" games, and aren't those 4k?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yes, they are. There goes my theory...

[asis217]

This doesn't answer the IA vs O question, but may shed some light on the "A" in IA. If you look at the boxes for Imagic games produced for the Intellivision console, the prefix is IM (I would guess IM stands for Imagic). So I think the A is there to distinguish the console as Atari, or perhaps just the next letter after M in "IMAGIC". I haven't looked at the Colecovision boxes, what do those say? I still do not know why O. It seems the O's were on the rarer (later produced?) games.

[retrogoober]

I smell mass conspiracy & alien involvement!

[Tempest]

Interesting. Maybe one of the ex-Imagic programmers knows?

[Troy_Whelan]

This doesn't answer the IA vs O question, but may shed some light on the "A" in IA. If you look at the boxes for Imagic games produced for the Intellivision console, the prefix is IM (I would guess IM stands for Imagic). So I think the A is there to distinguish the console as Atari, or perhaps just the next letter after M in "IMAGIC". I haven't looked at the Colecovision boxes, what do those say? I still do not know why O. It seems the O's were on the rarer (later produced?) games.

If your theory is correct, the "IA" would be "Imagic Atari" and the "IM" would be "Imagic Mattel", as it was a Mattel Intellivision. As for the "O", I think it is actually a zero "0". Not sure why it was used though. There are also different numbers for English, International, etc.

[+Nathan Strum]

I have way too much time on my hands this evening…

 

Let's take a look:

Trick Shot	        IA3000
Demon Attack	        IA3200
Star Voyager	        IA3201
Atlantis	        IA3203
Cosmic Ark	        IA3204
No Escape!	        IA3312
Fire Fighter	        IA3400
Shootin' Gallery	IA3410
Riddle of the Sphinx	IA3600
Dragonfire	        IA3611
Fathom                   03205
Solar Storm              03206
Moonsweeper              03207
Laser Gates              03208
Quick Step!              03211
Subterranea              03213

After looking through Imagic's catalogs and Numb Thumb magazines, only the 2600 games starting with IA were listed there. Alongside those games, were ones beginning with IM for their Intellivision titles.

 

In September 1983, Imagic almost tanked, laying off almost 1/4 of their employees. Intellivision nearly ceased to exist that year as well.

 

In a German Imagic newsletter from November 1983 there is no more mention (as best as I can tell) of Intellivision games, but Laser Gates, Moonsweeper, Fathom and Quick Step are all shown as new games for the 2600. Plus, there's a mention of games for the ColecoVision and VIC-20. Another catalog from around that time includes a chart showing games for the 2600, Colecovision, Atari Computers, VIC-20, TI-99/4A and the IBM PC Jr. But no catalog numbers, and no more Intellivision.

 

My guess is that when they had their financial troubles, Imagic dropped the Intellivision (which was floundering), and shifted to more popular systems to try and reverse their fortunes. That's when they changed their catalog numbers.

 

Complicating web searches for this kind of stuff is Imagic's use of part numbers, which apparently have no relation to their catalog numbers.

 

A little more digging turned up a list of Imagic's ColecoVision titles. Those part numbers began with 720 (720066, etc). As apparently, so did Imagic's Atari 8-bit games.

 

VIC-20 part numbers began with 750 (750050, etc).

 

Odyssey2/Videopac began with 710 (710075, 710076).

 

Intellivision part numbers started with 700 (700023, etc). INTV Funhouse lists their catalog numbers staring with IM, but on individual game pages, they list the part numbers, which again, apparently have no correspondence to the catalog numbers.

 

Unfortunately, I can't find clear pictures of the sides of any of the non-2600 boxes, so I have no idea what those other catalog numbers were.

[asis217]

Don't forget the Atari 400/800 games by Imagic (I think there were only 3 or 4 of them). I believe those had a Z prefix on the model numbers.

[asis217]

I meant to say IZ prefix for the Atari computers. Not sure where the Z is coming from. On the pic from the link note the "I" at the end of the model number to indicate "international".

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-demon-attack_28225.html

[asis217]

Also the Odyssey II games appear to have an IO prefix, so I am pretty confident the A is for Atari, M for Mattel, and O for Odyssey. Not sure about the Z. Below is a pic of the side of an Odyssey^2 Demon Attack box:

 

 

[Tempest]

Also the Odyssey II games appear to have an IO prefix, so I am pretty confident the A is for Atari, M for Mattel, and O for Odyssey. Not sure about the Z. Below is a pic of the side of an Odyssey^2 Demon Attack box:

 

 

Well they were already using A for Atari 2600, so maybe they just decided to go to the other end of the alphabet for the Atari 8-bits?