The first VCS releases

[BSA Starfire]

Hello all,

 

I was wondering what the first set of games released for the VCS were? I assume Combat was one of the first and perhaps outlaw? Just interested as I don't think |I have played many of the really early games.

Thanks

[Math You]

Fun with numbers (1977) and Hangman (1978) were some of the earliest games.

[Spirantho]

Fun with numbers (1977) and Hangman (1978) were some of the earliest games.

 

Do a search for Atari games with "Text #" labels (i.e. text with numbers) as they were the pack-ins with the Heavy Sixer. I.e. Combat 01, Basic Math 61 etc.

[rolenta]

I was wondering what the first set of games released for the VCS were? I assume Combat was one of the first and perhaps outlaw? Just interested as I don't think |I have played many of the really early games.

Thanks

 

The 1977 releases were:

Combat

Air-Sea Battle

Basic Math (aka Fun With Numbers)

Blackjack

Starship

Indy 500

Video Olympics

Street Racer

Surround

[Math You]

The 1977 releases were:

Combat

Air-Sea Battle

Basic Math (aka Fun With Numbers)

Blackjack

Starship

Indy 500

Video Olympics

Street Racer

Surround

It's amazing how the VCS 2600 graphics have improved since these games came out. I'm not sure if that's through the talent of programmers or the versatility of the Stella chip. Probably both.

[BSA Starfire]

Thanks all, I have more of those than I thought, combat, street racer, fun with numbers & Indy 500(never played this as I haven't got the right controllers). Your right about the graphics improving over time too!

[sandmountainslim]

A couple of the fine citizens of AA had talked of making a thirtieth anniversary multi with those original games but after thinking about all of those games (especially starship and basic math) maybe it is a good thing it didnt happen as these are NOT among stella's greatest hits!

WP

[rockman_x_2002]

It's amazing how the VCS 2600 graphics have improved since these games came out. I'm not sure if that's through the talent of programmers or the versatility of the Stella chip. Probably both.

 

I would argue it's the talent of the programmers. The chip has not changed. Only the amount of knowledge about the chip has increased, as well as the programmers' "playbooks" of tricks to make the 2600 do things it probably was never intended to originally do (but cool that it could do them).

[sandmountainslim]

It's amazing how the VCS 2600 graphics have improved since these games came out. I'm not sure if that's through the talent of programmers or the versatility of the Stella chip. Probably both.

 

I would argue it's the talent of the programmers. The chip has not changed. Only the amount of knowledge about the chip has increased, as well as the programmers' "playbooks" of tricks to make the 2600 do things it probably was never intended to originally do (but cool that it could do them).

 

 

The VCS was NEVER intended to play anything like Lady Bug but just look at it!

WP

[Brian R.]

It's amazing how the VCS 2600 graphics have improved since these games came out. I'm not sure if that's through the talent of programmers or the versatility of the Stella chip. Probably both.

 

I would argue it's the talent of the programmers. The chip has not changed. Only the amount of knowledge about the chip has increased, as well as the programmers' "playbooks" of tricks to make the 2600 do things it probably was never intended to originally do (but cool that it could do them).

 

 

The VCS was NEVER intended to play anything like Lady Bug but just look at it!

WP

 

Agreed. Quite amazing. Any other games on its level?

 

I'm thinking it takes a great deal of programming trickery to get the 2600 to do anything like what the 5200 can do simply. I'm not saying the 2600 ever approaches 5200 levels, but the 2600 in many games is trying to do what the 5200 does, but the 5200 was probably built to handle it, while the 2600 wasn't. Most of the popular and well-remembered 2600 games are of the type that the hardware designers probably never thought it would run.

[Gateway]

Speaking of the first releases, I'm curious: Did Sears release it's game equivalents i.e. Target Fun, Tank Plus, etc at the same time as the Atari text # titles, or did they come out at a later part of the year?

[Rob Mitchell]

Speaking of the first releases, I'm curious: Did Sears release it's game equivalents i.e. Target Fun, Tank Plus, etc at the same time as the Atari text # titles, or did they come out at a later part of the year?

 

Sears titles were released at the same time .. Fall 1977.

Tank Plus and Target Fun initially, then Outer Space, Chase, Race, Pong Sports, Blackjack, Math .. (and whatever Street Racer title was which escapes me right now ..)

 

Rob Mitchell, Video Arcade owner in 1977.

Edited July 4, 2007 by Rob Mitchell

[rolenta]

and whatever Street Racer title was which escapes me right now ..)

 

Street Racer was Speedway II. The current edition of ABC To The VCS lists all of the Atari titles with their Sears equivelents.

[Gateway]

Thanks for the info, guys!

[supercat]

Agreed. Quite amazing. Any other games on its level?

 

As a technical achievement, I think Toyshop Trouble is probably higher on the scale. Ladybug looks good, to be sure, but its main accomplishment is its wonderful gameplay. Toyshop Trouble manages four flicker-free objects per scan line with independent color and shape for all four; one of the objects has unrestricted vertical motion. I didn't use quite all the tricks I know in Toyshop Trouble, but it uses quite a few including some I worked out just for that game.

[Big Player]

The 1977 releases were:

Combat

Air-Sea Battle

Basic Math (aka Fun With Numbers)

Blackjack

Starship

Indy 500

Video Olympics

Street Racer

Surround

It's amazing how the VCS 2600 graphics have improved since these games came out. I'm not sure if that's through the talent of programmers or the versatility of the Stella chip. Probably both.

 

Another thing to remember is these original games were all written in 2K of program code. So you have the chance to make the graphics look a lot better by just doubling the size to 4K.

 

But this is just another factor. The flexibility of the 2600's design allowed talented programmers to make it do things it wasn't designed to do.

 

 

Agreed. Quite amazing. Any other games on its level?

 

As a technical achievement, I think Toyshop Trouble is probably higher on the scale. Ladybug looks good, to be sure, but its main accomplishment is its wonderful gameplay. Toyshop Trouble manages four flicker-free objects per scan line with independent color and shape for all four; one of the objects has unrestricted vertical motion. I didn't use quite all the tricks I know in Toyshop Trouble, but it uses quite a few including some I worked out just for that game.

 

When I play Ladybug right after Toyshop Trouble, the flickering in Ladybug becomes so much more noticeable to me.

 

Toyshop Trouble also has wonderfully additictive gameplay.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Big Player

[BSA Starfire]

Check out this interview from some activision programmers, they discuss how the game quality has improved.

 

 

http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n2/gamedesigners.php

 

 

 

Ah, the shadow in tennis