Glutton Boy
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Posts posted by Glutton Boy
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Disclaimer: First off, forgive me if this has been brought up and discussed before. It's been thirty years (damn!) since the Atari 2600 got it's home port of Pac Man, and a lot of discussion can be done in three decades. If this observation is a revelation only to me and I'm a few years late to the party, then nevermind.
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Atari box art. I'd spend hours pouring over the images in the catalogs that came with the games, but it wasn't until earlier today that I really took a serious look at the Pac Man art and was surprised at what was right in front of me.
Atari's art almost always had this way of blowing your mind with their interpretation of the action taking place on your television screen. Remember the art for Outlaw? With it's visions of the Old West, of Conestoga wagons, and shoot-outs? The graphics? Not so much. Pac Man is the only game I can recall that uses the actual game play as the template for the box art. The "non-arcade" maze folks complained about? Right there on the box. The white(ish) ghosts? Right there. And Pac man? The way he's positioned in the maze, you'd naturally assume he's going to the right; Pac Man faces the direction in which he's eating, after all, right? The 'dots' below him have been eaten, and given the final product with Pac Man's inability to face up or down, it could be argued he may very well be going upwards. The Video Wafer? Yep. That's there, too.
The gist of my verbose rant? It seems like Atari knew in advance they were going to be selling an ersatz bill of goods. Even with other games released around the same time where the box art is a more literal depiction of the game play, Demons to Diamonds for instance, the art is a lot more exciting and stylized. Chrome skulls? Snazzy!
I now return you to you regularly scheduled discussions.
P.S.: I was there on release day for my copy of Pac Man, and I'm not a hater of the game by any stretch. Heck, being able to play Pac Man at home in the 80's was like being able to brag to your friends you had been to second base (wink, wink). Atari 2600 Pac Man wasn't the prettiest girl at the dance, but it was available and fun for what it was.
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That's a neat find. I actually love the things going on in the photo on the cover... there's an A-wing and a cantina alien from Star Wars, a guy sharing a tender moment with an alligator, a future boy holding his joystick upside down, and what looks like demon Pac-Man vomitting white-hot dots at the viewer.
Actually, on closer inspection, the jungle guy is holding a knife. Maybe it's not as tender a moment as I'd thought.
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I'd like a boxed copy just to fill in one of the final few empty spots on the bookshelf, but if I dropped $700+ on it (or any game) the Inty, the bookshelf, and myself would be kicked to the curb.
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I was born in 81. I remember the day my little brother was born when I was three in 84. My grandfather died before he was born. I think it was at the end of me being 2 so it was probably around 3 to 6 months before my brother was born that he died. Even though I was 2 almost 3 I have many memories of him. He and grandma lived in Ohio and we live in Indiana. We only visited them and they only visited us on holidays, birthdays, and stuff like that. Since I have many memories of seeing him then I must have memories all the way back to my birth. I remember having an Atari for years before my older bother got the NES when it came out for Christmas of 85. So I think my father bought the Atari and Pacman in 82 when it came out. He opened up the box, showed me the Atari, and said in a very excited tone,"This is the new Atari! They call it the Dark Vader!" I was amazed. It looked futuristic and I thought it really had something to do with Star Wars. Because of that memory I thought Darth Vader's name was Dark Vader all the way up until junior high. He played Pacman on it. I think it may have been the pack in game. The memory of the Vader and Pacman feels like a new release. My father's controller was the Gemstick. What year was that released? That might narrow things down more.
I tried to find reference to the Gemstick in the Sears Wishbook catalogs and didn't find it. I'm not sure when it was released. My joystick of choice was the Point Master, the abnormally-long joystick for over-compensators (j/k). It's cool that you have memories that distinct going that far back. I still have fond memories of my parents and grandparents through the 2600 as well. It was probably the one thing in the house that offered something for everyone.
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We had the heavy six-er and it came with Combat. We used to get our games either at Kmart or at a local deli named "Independent Meat Market" which was walking distance from our house (that's right, a grocery deli that had a glass display cabinet at the checkout register with about a dozen Atari 2600 games back in the day!)
I love the idea of games at the local deli! It seems like back in the day, anyone who could get video games would stock them. It wasn't a weird place to get games, but you reminded me of a weird 'promotion' one of our local sellers had. It was Cousins Video or Dr. Video (our neighborhood had both, but I forget which was which), and it was a mom n' pop sort of place that sold video cassettes and 2600 games. Behind the register on the wall he had about 20 different letter-sized pictures of old aircraft. His gimmick was for every game you bought he'd let you pick a picture. Where he got them and what they had to do with anything I don't know... but it was an extra tool to use to try to get my mother back to the video game store. You'd think I was planning a career in aeronautics the way I'd carry on!
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This link says March 1982 (but some stores didn't get it until April so the date in that ad appears to be accurate):
http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-history-1982.html#march
I got my copy free with my Tele-games Sears four-switch. My mom ordered it for me from the Wish Book catalog. I wish I remembered the year. It came with a free Pac-Man and Asteroids.
Hey, thanks for the link to the site! That really helps put a few things into their time persepctive. Looks like '82 was a good year for Atari titles... I remember getting my copy of Haunted House, as well as Star Raiders, and played the heck out of those. I'd constantly get the 'cook' (I think it was cook) ranking on Star Raiders. For me, Star Raiders was a lot like baseball... I loved the game, but in the final appraisal I sucked. Even those 1980's PSA's about trying your best making you a winner would've snickered.
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So, I watched about ten minutes of the arcade being played and then for a bit more perspective, I watched a review of the VCS version on YouTube. As far as first impressions go, it looks like a lot of fun... one of those games where your hand has to be able to move the joystick even before your brain has fully interpreted what's going on- at least in the higher levels. I also was really impressed how the sounds and voice were implemented in the arcade version and was equally impressed that the game was pulled off so well for home play (the way the 2600 displays the reactor core is downright freaky- I couldn't stop staring into it!). I'm definately going to have to pick up a copy. The funny thing is I really don't recall this one being on the shelves when I was a kid. Did it come along later in the lifspan of the 2600?
A final note... It's funny how our parents were so concerned with trying to protect us from Bugs Bunny slipping a stick of TNT to the Tazmanian Devil on Saturday Morning TV, but we had unquestioned access to games like this and Missile Command.
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Hey all!
As an adult, I've been interested in the release dates of the video games I grew up with. I guess it's because it helps with the timeline of what I was concerned with at a given time as a kid. I distinctly recall newspaper ads in the weeks/days leading up to the release of Pac Man for the 2600. One of them was of a picture of Pac Man with the tagline "Guess who's coming to dinner?" I just happened to come across this site with what looks to be one of the ads I remeber from back in the day. Does anyone here remember if the Saturday, April 3rd, 1982 date given in the ad is correct? Some years ago, I tried to find those ads at the library using their archives of our local paper to no avail.
Here's the webpage (I'm not sure how to hyperlink, I hope it works)
(If someone knows how to take the image and post it to the thread, please do with my thanks!)
Also, since I'm on the topic of Pac Man... where did you get your original copy? For the younger collectors, was it a garage sale score or part of an eBay lot? For those who were there during the initial Pac Mania, what about you? Mine was a reserve copy at Child World (y'know... Peter Panda and all that?!). I still remember going down there with my mother to pick up our copy. Child World had this what must've been 2" by 5" rubber stamp that they'd smack the game box with that read "TAKEN". Ah, pointless memories.
Anyway, does anyone have any input on the release date or their Pac Memories? I'd love to read your replies.
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Keilbaca was right regarding Kaboom! Everyone takes a drink everytime someone misses a bomb. You could be taking shots from an eyedropper and still be at risk for alcohol poisoning in half an hour.
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I've played a lot of the Parker Bros. titles, but never played Reactor. I'm sure I could research it online, but since anyone reading this thread is likely a fan, what's the gameplay like? Is there anything comparable on the 2600 you'd compare it to?
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Yeah, I'd played for years as well, and I think my best time was 1:11. (You know, there's always that damn extra second that ticks by after you've made it into the Daily Planet.) We're probably equal in skill in that game; it was one of those lucky things, when all of the bad guys wound up near the jail! I was thinking: Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.
To this day I still laugh because when I got the cartidge as a kid my first game was well over an hour. Granted, I always approached a new game with "play first, read instructions later" attitude. I don't know what it is about the gameplay that's so addictive; I was never a huge fan of Superman the character- the storyline could have been anything- it's just fun. You're right, it sounds like we're both on about the same level. I'll start the game by going to the jail first and seeing if there's anyone I can pick up and dump inside. If not, I'll work on the bridge. Once in a great while there's that awesome setup where almost all of the crooks are within a screen or two of the jail, and it's just a matter of gathering 'em up. It *did* take me a long time to realize that the fastest way back to the Daily Planet was to enter the subway and immediately go left. (Going right certainly runs up the game timer!)
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This was done without the intact-bridge cheat (which I don't use anyway, as it's not as much fun) or the late-timer glitch. I've been playing this game since 1982, in spite of how awful it can be when the ol' VCS blinking applies, and I've never gotten such a low time. So of course, I had to post it.
Wow! I've played the heck out of this game over the years- it's one of my faves- and my best times are 1:12 with the bridge cheat and 1:21 without. I thought I was pretty hot stuff.
[falls to knees]
Master!
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For me there's three games that I like that will get some playtime when I spend some Atari time, and then there's those great games that cause me to make Atari time. Probably the three games I play the most are Adventure, Superman, and Demon Attack. They've been among my favorites since I got them as a kid. I'm sure it's been discussed before, but anyone else remember that paperback book with the (I think it was) green cover that explained how to get into the secret room in Adventure? I remember like it was yesterday finding the book at Toys R Us with my mother and begging her to buy it. Good times.
A classic! Along with his complementary book about coin-ops, of course. It was a bit short on contents, but I was so taken with his detailed diagramming methods, etc. that I made my own such "books" about many other games throughout elementary and middle school.
Excellent! That's the book exactly. I remember it was in a small display with some magazines in TRU's video game aisle. (What I wouldn't give to walk down that aisle with the rows of Atari games and the yellow and white pull tickets you had to bring to the counter for pick-up again!!) IIRC the book refered to the hidden dot as the Transmolecular Dot. Anyone know if that was Warren Robinett's name for it or the author's idea?
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Hi,
If you have any extra loose boxes for 2600 games, please send me a message with what you have and your asking price. I'm not looking for anything crazy rare, and condition isn't a huge concern to me... If you have a Frogger box that looks like it didn't make it across the street to the pond, that's okay. If it can still hold my cart, that's good enough for me. Thanks very much!
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The first 2600 game I ever played was Space Invaders in (I think it was) 1981. Christmas was the big gift holiday in our house, with birthdays getting a gift or two, but nothing too expensive. The year prior my mother invited a few of my school friends over and they destroyed the house. I guess my mom decided that the cost of a VCS was less than the cost of home repairs, so she bribed me into abandoning the party in favor of the system and Space Invaders. It took forever to figure out how to hook it up that first night, but once we flipped the switch and it fired up, that was the first of many nights of playing until the wee hours.
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I once played maze craze for about 3 hours non-stop, I bloody love mazes!
Maze Craze is a lot of fun. My sister and I could spend lots of time with it. Half the time the fun wasn't being first to exit the maze, but listening to the other player get caught by the cop!
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For me there's three games that I like that will get some playtime when I spend some Atari time, and then there's those great games that cause me to make Atari time. Probably the three games I play the most are Adventure, Superman, and Demon Attack. They've been among my favorites since I got them as a kid. I'm sure it's been discussed before, but anyone else remember that paperback book with the (I think it was) green cover that explained how to get into the secret room in Adventure? I remember like it was yesterday finding the book at Toys R Us with my mother and begging her to buy it. Good times.
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Pickup
in Atari 2600
Good price on a great game. I was playing this just this past week, and while I'm not all that great at it, it's one of those games that when I sit whit the 2600, it'll get a play or two.
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Achievement Unlocked: CIB Imagic 2600 set
in Atari 2600
Posted
Very nice pics. Like others here, I've got the Imagic titles cib with the exception of Subterranea. My favorite find was Quick Step, because I had found it at a local game store and had no idea at the time it existed. New Imagic title? Cool. New Imagic title with what looks like a gummi squirrel and kangaroo on the box? Total win!