The Eyeball Mural

Where I live and shop (southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia) there are a few used book stores that carry old games, including lots of Atari 2600 carts. There are also used game bins in the video game stores that have swelled with Atari products lately... I'm not sure why. I use eBay when I can find a good deal. Craigslist is also a source. I left the hobby in 1987 when I sold my collection of 120+ Atari games and my VCS console. I started acquiring cartridges again in the 1990's, and now own about 150. But I actually paid money for relatively few of them. Usually they come to me as things being thrown out by folks cleaning out closets, attics and garages. When I buy a vintage game I usually pay no more than $5 for a cart, and often less than $1, but I acquire as a player, not as an avid collector. As such I don't chase rarities or variations, or fuss too much about condition, which keeps my costs down. I'd be a collecting fool if I had the budget, though!

I received my first Atari 2600 as a Christmas gift in 1982. From 1982 to 1987 I was an avid video game player and collector. I sold my entire collection in November 1987 and exited the hobby. (Big regret!) In July 1993 I re-entered the hobby, and have acquired new and vintage games and consoles off and on ever since. I currently consider my Atari collection to comprise about 55 cartridges, which are the games I truly enjoy and actually play on a regular basis. This is bolstered by PlaySation emulator discs. (About 20 games on those I would want a cartridge of if I didn't have the emulator). Languishing are a hundred or more cartridges that I am not interested in playing or owning. I'm currently inventorying those for sale, though there is nothing remarkable in that pile. BUT, if I could go back in time and have my old collection, I would qualify for the "club" with 122 games, according to my database. (Hangs head in shame.) Crypts of Chaos Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes Spacemaster X-7 Turmoil Barnstorming Boxing Chopper Command Dragster Enduro Freeway Grand Prix Ice Hockey Kaboom! Keystone Kapers Laser Blast Megamania Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns Pitfall! Plaque Attack Private Eye River Raid Robot Tank Seaquest Skiing Sky Jinks Space Shuttle Spider Fighter Starmaster Tennis Infiltrate Lost Luggage Space Cavern 3D Tic-Tac-Toe Adventure Air-Sea Battle Asteroids Battlezone Berzerk Blackjack Breakout Canyon Bomber Centipede Circus Atari Combat Defender Demons to Diamonds Dodge 'Em Donkey Kong E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Football Galaxian Haunted House Human Cannonball Indy 500 Joust Jr. Pac-Man Kangaroo Missile Command Moon Patrol Ms. Pac-Man Night Driver Pac-Man Pele's Soccer Phoenix Pole Position Raiders of the Lost Ark RealSports Baseball RealSports Basketball RealSports Football RealSports Volleyball Sky Diver Space Invaders Space War Star Raiders Super Breakout Swordquest: Earthworld Vanguard Video Pinball Warlords Yars Revenge Mountain King Omega Race Tunnel Runner Carnival Donkey Kong Venture Airlock Bugs Encounter at L5 Journey Escape Warplock Atlantis Cosmic Ark Demon Attack Dragonfire Fire Fighter Moonsweeper Riddle of the Sphinx Solar Storm Star Voyager Subterranea Air Raiders Astroblast Dark Cavern Kool Aid Man Space Attack Star Strike Amidar Frogger Q*bert Star Wars: Death Star Battle Star Wars: Jedi Arena Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Stellar Track Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator Tac-Scan Planet Patrol Commando Raid Entombed Sneak n Peek Space Jockey Towering Inferno *sigh*

wØØt!

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone for sharing all the knowledge. I'm learning a ton from all the analysis being done...

I love it, fantastic work! I'm amazed at how versatile it is. Good things come out of Rancho... I could go for some Claim Jumper right now!

That's very good advice about experimenting right before going down the stairs. The strategy guide work-in-progress is great, BTW! I've always used AD&D names for the monsters, so it's fun to see them listed as such. I always called the axe beak a clubnek (from the Fiend Folio) but now I think axe beak is more appropriate.

And some more Cliff Spohn... http://fineartamerica.com/featured/tv--mobile-cliff-spohn.html http://fineartamerica.com/featured/babylonian-cliff-spohn.html http://fineartamerica.com/products/cincinnati-bengals-cliff-spohn-poster.html

Some non-Atari art from Cliff Spohn, who illustrated the boxes for over a dozen Atari 2600 games: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9541256020/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9538470831/ http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/09/10/atari-2600-cover-artist-cliff-spohn-designed-uk-poster-for-computer-chess/ http://hopelies.com/2013/09/10/a-poster-for-computer-chess/

Here's some tips: ► Play the Warlord or another of the stronger characters. Avoid playing the Waif or other weaker characters. ► Move briskly through the dungeon. Health degrades over time, like sand running out of an hourglass. Don't dawdle. Sure, you're exploring, but explore with a sense of purpose and urgency. ► Use magic items. Some have healing properties. The ring and the cloak can actually offer protection in battle, so you can fight and lose less health from injuries. Some items curse you, though, so there is risk involved. ► Keep food on hand, and don't feed until your health is low. That way you don't squander the benefit of food. Keeping food in your pack is important, even though it can make managing your inventory tricky. ► Use long-range combat instead of up-close melee. This will protect you from injury. Tower of Doom offers two combat modes; one is like AD&D Cloudy Mountain, the other is like AD&D Treasure of Tarmin. ► Avoid combat by bribing monsters with items from your pack, or by avoiding monsters altogether. If you're having trouble staying strong, route your path around or away from monsters until you have more strength. Good luck!

I read the instructions and the extra fold-out poster of hints and tips a few days ago. I happened to have one copy of each in my manuals collection. Now to make some time to wade into the game itself.

I agree! I love the look of old games on old TV's. When I was a youngster it was part of my normal procedure to at least lower the brightness on the TV to make the black richer (what with many games having black playfields) and "squelch out" interference sparklies and whatnot. Sometimes I'd play with the tint control just for fun. Changing the robot colors in Berzerk or the ghost colors in Ms. Pac-Man was a naive way to add replay value, haha!

And here: https://archive.org/details/electronic-games-magazine Click "all items" to see the entire collection and download in many formats.

In the 1980's Activision games were the standard for quality. Funny how what was once the best has not aged well. I have very few working Activision cartridges, and none of them have nice-looking labels. Despite my affection for "native hardware" I usually play Activision 2600 titles on my PlayStation 2.

@ destroyallart — I'm going to get my hands on either the paperback/CD edition or the all-digital version. The prices for those unused are incredible! But... I'd truly love to have the "real" thing. I'm sorry I can't take yours off your hands. But maybe these thread "bumps" will attract a buyer! @ Keatah — I read everything I could find about this in the forums and I didn't notice any links to ROMs. But maybe it's floating around somewhere?

I didn't think anything could motivate me to play E.T., but all the publicity and debate and drama have somehow got to me. After three decades of avoiding this game I'm going to give it a shot.

I am very late to the A Slow Year party, having just learned about it today. I see there are a few discussions about this project in the forums. This one seems to be the best place for my 2¢. I'm really smitten with the whole idea of A Slow Year. Discovering it and researching it today has gobsmacked me. Not merely a game, it compels me to ponder and comment, which is what art is supposed to do. I agree that its minimalist and solitary approach embodies the spirit of Atari 2600 gamemaking, and game playing. Well said. If simply learning about A Slow Year has made for a happy day, I can't imagine what it would be like to experience it at its most powerful: in the deluxe form with a real book, and a real cartridge. If I had the funds I would make an offer immediately! I'll add that the concept reminds me of Scott Kim's Heaven & Earth, which I am a great fan of.

The Gemstick "seduced" me with its big yellow button, and I remember the experience vividly. My cousin (who was also my video game mentor) and I were shopping for games one day in 1985 or so and he warned me not to buy the Gemstick. We had a bit of a debate for several minutes, but I bought the thing anyway. It broke within the first minute of use. It's very interesting to see that device get so much love here. I never would have imagined anyone being happy with a Gemstick. It seems my experience was not universal. The CX-40 was and still is my favorite video game controller on any platform. The controller I most want to try but never have is the Kraft with the square base. I've always wanted to handle one of those.

Here's a news story about the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and its acquisition of "the largest and most comprehensive assemblage of archival records and other documentary items related to Atari’s coin-operated games anywhere in the world." Again, I realize this is not necessarily the focus of this book's interest, but the acquisition reportedly contains — among other materials — design documents and pieces of one-of-a-kind artwork. The authors may find this worth investigating. http://www.icheg.org/blog/chegheads/2014/04/icheg-preserves-atari-coin-op-divisions-collection/

I have a four-switch 2600, connected via the standard RCA-type cable to an old-fashioned switchbox. Out from the box via twin leads to the terminals on a coaxial adapter. The coax adapter plugs into a 1990's vintage Sony VCR. Out from there to a Sony three-position selector switch, by way of RCA-type A/V cables (red, yellow, white). From there I go out to the TV with the same sort of cables. I have zero static or "sparklies" and minimal ghosting. The TV is a 29" NetTV HD Monitor, but I am using one of the standard definition outputs (obviously), and I have not modded the Atari for stereo. I actually use two selector switches. One selector for Roku, PlayStation 2, and Atari 2600; one selector for Intellivision II, Super Nintendo, and an open spot (variously Atari 5200, Nintendo 64, Atari 7800, Commodore 64). I haven't attempted to relieve the very minor ghosting with my 2600 because it doesn't bother me. I use this entire setup because I prefer the gaming experience to be as similar as possible to what I grew up with in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I can say a lot of good things about emulators, but for everyday gaming I prefer the old-fashioned look and feel. The tactile and muscle-memory elements are as important to me as the on-screen display and the gameplay. Since I'm middle-aged and my Atari experiences began three-and-a-half decades ago, I find that playing on an emulator does not stimulate as many parts of my brain as playing on traditional hardware, and doesn't evoke as much emotional response or trigger as many memories. So, the ghosting (barely noticeable up close, virtually unnoticeable at my normal playing distance of six feet from the screen) would be a small price to pay if it bothered me, but, again, it does not. I love the chunky pixels on my TV and the slight ghost further "enhances" the softness of the image. Beautiful! Picture quality is a tad subjective, I suppose, but static is not. Nobody wants snow in the image. Static requires troubleshooting to eliminate, but my 2¢ is to not give up! I have a gorgeous image even with my convoluted connection chain. Yes, it can be done!

I realize this project emphasizes the art related to the home consoles (especially the 2600) but the coin-op and pinball art might deserve a mention, or even a chapter. I've just been browsing the art for pinball games like "Airborne Avenger" and "Middle Earth," and it would be a shame if a little space couldn't be found for stuff like that.

Three cheers for this idea!!! Are there any updates to report? Is there a Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or tipjar somewhere that I can contribute to? Is there a pre-order list I can get on? Are you accepting deposits? A book like this is long overdue. Atari's art history and graphic design language are important and integral parts of the Atari experience, and they deserve to be preserved and appreciated.

Here's a Space Shuttle box front doodle:

I did this at the same time as the one above (circa 2006), but polished it up a few months ago...

Very nicely done, all of them! Though I'm a (very) long-time lurker, this thread has motivated me to post something I did several years ago: