Previously Unknown Atari Games

[Tempest]

I was looking through some internal Atari memos and I came across one labeled Title Assignments. This doc listed a bunch of games Atari wanted created and was asking for people to sign up to work on them. The list includes some previously unknown titles that Atari was considering creating, I have no idea if any of these were worked on or not. Here's what the memo said:

 

Atari 2600

Radar Zone - A Qix type capture coin-op game. There is one at Bourbon Street in the Old Mill Center in Palo Alto. Desired date: 1/1/83

Snoopy & the Beagle Scouts - Desired Date: 4/1/83

Kram - Coin-Op title. (open).

 

Robotron, Miss Piggy's Wedding, and Bugs Bunny are also listed.

 

 

Atari 5200

Flight Simulation - Desired date: 5/1/83

Red Alert - Coin-op with speech. 5/1/83

3D Adventure - Open design (if possible, w/speech). Desired date: 5/1/83

Adventure - If 9 not with speech, then a speech game is required. Design open. Desired date: 6/1/83. Note: The 9 refers to 3D Adventure which is #9 on the list.

Muppets - Design open. Desired date: 6/1/83

Skiing - Not Alpine Ski. (open)

Golf - (open)

Bowling - (open)

 

Battlezone, Superman III, and Tempest are also mentioned. Interestingly it appears that Keithen Hayenga was interested in working on Joust and Battlezone and mentions having time now that Baseball is finished. Somehow he got transferred to Tempest instead.

 

 

In another memo it appears that Atari was considering combining the unreleased Rubics Cube (the 3D version) with Atari Video Cube (known as Atari Cube) into one cart but couldn't figure out how to allow the player to choose between the two. The proposed solution was to hold down the reset and select switches together. It appears that 3D Rubics Cube was to be the game that appeared on power up, I wonder why they never bothered to release it?

[Lynxpro]

Isn't that Tempest the same one that was finished up a few short years ago and released on the 5200 by AtariAge?

 

Cool stuff. I just checked your site to see if you had a copy of A8 Missile Command with the 3 bases like the arcade original… Supposedly, it was done internally for the enjoyment of the Atari programmers themselves. Not to be confused with Paul Lee's much later Missile Command+ mod...

Edited August 29, 2014 by Lynxpro

[bennybingo]

 

Battlezone, Superman III, and Tempest are also mentioned.

Was there ever a Superman II???

[+Allan]

Is this memo available on the Net somewhere?

 

Allan

 

[Tempest]

Was there ever a Superman II???

Not as far as I know. I think Atari got the Superman III rights because they did some of the computer graphics for the movie.

 

Is this memo available on the Net somewhere?

 

Allan

No, but I can upload it. I need to ask Curt for permission first though.

[+Allan]

Not as far as I know. I think Atari got the Superman III rights because they did some of the computer graphics for the movie.

 

No, but I can upload it. I need to ask Curt for permission first though.

Please if you can.

 

Thanks,

Allan

 

[Tempest]

Here it is. I can't see anyone having a problem with it.

 

 

TitleAssignments.pdf

[Andre81]

Was there ever a Superman II???

I guess Superman III refers to the movie.

[Tempest]

I guess Superman III refers to the movie.

Yes that's correct.

[Nesbroslash]

I found some KLOV entries for the coin-op games

 

Radar Zone

Kram

Red Alert

 

These games seem a bit specific to choose for an arcade port. At least Kram kind of makes sense since it's a Taito game, and Atari could have been saving money and getting more good port licenses by bundling the the rights for it with the more popular games like Jungle Hunt and Qix. The others are a bit strange though. I'm not even sure Atari made any other Irem or Century game ports that I'm aware of. If anyone knows if Atari licensed anything from those companies, that would be nice to know.

 

Also, I can't access YouTube for any videos of it right now because I'm at school, but can anyone confirm if Red Alert had speech to begin with? It'd be interesting if Atari just decided to add it to give the port a bit of flair or something.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Nesbroslash

[Tempest]

I'm not even sure Atari made any other Irem or Century game ports that I'm aware of. If anyone knows if Atari licensed anything from those companies, that would be nice to know.

Not that I'm aware of. Activision did get Kung Fu from Irem though.

[killersquirel]

To be technical Irem made Moon Patrol and Atari did that game, although they got the rights through Williams Electronics.

[Tempest]

To be technical Irem made Moon Patrol and Atari did that game, although they got the rights through Williams Electronics.

Good catch. Forgot about that one. I wonder if Activision got the rights for Kung Fu Master directly through Irem or through Data East who marketed it in the US? I'm guessing Data East.