Very first console sequel?

[Gregory DG]

Was it Pitfall II? (I don't think Pepper II counts since there was no Pepper I.)

[SRGilbert]

Was it Pitfall II? (I don't think Pepper II counts since there was no Pepper I.)

Does Super Breakout count?

[A Sprite]

If Breakout doesn't count, Atlantis (1982), might be the first console exclusive property to be given a direct sequel. Cosmic Ark was released the same year.

[+FujiSkunk]

If you're talking about console games that spawned consoel sequels, my money is on A Sprite's answer, Cosmic Ark.

 

Otherwise you could count the sequels of Pong that were all packed into Video Olympics, and you could argue about the variants of Tank that made it into Combat.

[Snider-man]

Heh, when you said console sequels, my first thought was the Atari 5200.

 

Actually, was the Atari 5200 the first hardware follow-up to an existing console?

[rockman_x_2002]

My vote goes to Cosmic Ark.

 

Although you could argue Super Breakout and Pong, a sequel typically means a followup to a previous storyline. As for these games, there is no storyline. It's just a ball-and-paddle game without need for a story.

 

Atlantis and Cosmic Ark, however, have a storyline. That's just my justification, though.

[BassGuitari]

Heh, when you said console sequels, my first thought was the Atari 5200.

 

Actually, was the Atari 5200 the first hardware follow-up to an existing console?

 

I was thinking the Odyssey 100 might be. It was kind of a simplification of the original Odyssey packed into an awesome red/orange standalone console. So although it may not have been as capable a machine per se (but really, who futzed with all those screen overlays and cards and crap anyway?), I'd argue that Odyssey 100 was the first true successor to a previously existing console.

[Jess Ragan]

So there WAS an Odyssey 100! I thought so!

 

The Odyssey2 came next, but I don't know when exactly that was released. I want to say either 1980 or 1981, but I'm not entirely clear on that. You'd think I would know, since that was my first game console.

[+Psionic]

The Odyssey2 came next, but I don't know when exactly that was released.

'78

[BassGuitari]

So there WAS an Odyssey 100! I thought so!

 

The Odyssey2 came next, but I don't know when exactly that was released. I want to say either 1980 or 1981, but I'm not entirely clear on that. You'd think I would know, since that was my first game console.

 

Yep, there was. And an Odyssey 200, and an Odyssey 300, and an Odyssey 400, and an Odyssey 500, and...it's probably simpler if you checked out pong-story.com. There were close to a dozen different Odyssey pongs released between Odyssey and Odyssey 2.

 

Off-topic tangent:

The Odyssey series (100 through 500, anyway) are actually my favorite pongs. Odyssey 500 might have been the first system to use recognizable shapes for graphics (little blocky people with hockey sticks or tennis racquets, in lieu of mere rectangles). The analog controls, especially ball english, provided unique playing possibilities that couldn't be had on other machines. The Odyssey 300 is more generic (I think it used the same pong-on-a-chip technology as countless others), but it gets points for style with that cool yellow case. In fact, they all looked pretty damn cool.

[Gregory DG]

Well, a game sequel... I dunno if a storyline is a requirement. I guess the title would go to Super Breakout. Unless there was some Odyssey game that was a sequel...

[ZylonBane]

Cosmic Ark is about as much of a sequel to Atlantis as Blaster is a sequel to Robotron, or Alien Brigade is a sequel to Planet Smashers-- which is to say, not really a sequel at all. They're all just a bunch of otherwise completely unrelated games that the developers thought would be cute to tie together in some meaningless superficial way.

 

I'd also argue against Super Breakout being considered a sequel to Breakout. A followup, certainly. But it has no story, no plot, no premise. It shouldn't be considered a sequel for the same reason the Madden games aren't considered sequels.

 

Now, if we're taking sequel in the modern sense of a game that continues the gameplay and story of a previous game, then yeah, I'll have to second the vote for Pitfall II. Or maybe Donkey Kong Jr, though that might not count in this context since it's an arcade port and not a console original.

[thomasholzer]

how about Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man?

[Video]

Well, I'm pretty sure there were about a million Pong sequels, clones, etc. And being the first consumer console, I'd have to say you can't get much earlier than that.

 

I'm not so sure about Atlantis and Cosmic Ark (just cause they have the same ship graphic? Did the books say anything lining them, or is the ship graphic the cause of the assumption?) Many early games used the same graphics, just cause they worked for what they wanted.

 

But definately, Breakout, and it's obvious sequel, Super Breakout.

[Gregory DG]

I guess some distinction should be made between a sequel and an upgrade...

 

A sequel is a true follow up to a previous game. The author started from the ground up and made a totally new game. Possibly with better graphics and a larger scope.

 

An upgrade would be a game where a few new features were tacked on to the existing game. Like having a Pong game with 4 paddles instead of two. That's not a sequel, it's Pong 1.2.

 

So with that definition, is Super Breakout a sequel or an upgrade?

[orangest]

http://www.atariage.com/manual_html_page.html?SoftwareID=835

 

Atlantis, its last installation devastated, explodes in a fury of fire and radiation.

 

But wait! A satellite streaks into space!

Where is it bound?

Has someone survived the Gorgon onslaught?

Can the Cosmic Ark repopulate the ocean metropolis?

 

The saga continues.

[opeygon]

http://www.atariage.com/manual_html_page.html?SoftwareID=835

 

Atlantis, its last installation devastated, explodes in a fury of fire and radiation.

 

But wait! A satellite streaks into space!

Where is it bound?

Has someone survived the Gorgon onslaught?

Can the Cosmic Ark repopulate the ocean metropolis?

 

The saga continues.

 

ergo sequel

[SRGilbert]

I guess some distinction should be made between a sequel and an upgrade...

 

A sequel is a true follow up to a previous game. The author started from the ground up and made a totally new game. Possibly with better graphics and a larger scope.

 

An upgrade would be a game where a few new features were tacked on to the existing game. Like having a Pong game with 4 paddles instead of two. That's not a sequel, it's Pong 1.2.

 

So with that definition, is Super Breakout a sequel or an upgrade?

I guess that depends on whether Super Breakout just used altered code from Breakout. Was it completely programmed from scratch?

[christianscott27]

Miner 2049er and Bounty Bob?

[ZylonBane]

A sequel is a true follow up to a previous game. The author started from the ground up and made a totally new game. Possibly with better graphics and a larger scope.

 

An upgrade would be a game where a few new features were tacked on to the existing game. Like having a Pong game with 4 paddles instead of two. That's not a sequel, it's Pong 1.2.

 

By that definition, the overwhelming majority of what are currently considered sequels, wouldn't be.

[Spector]

A sequel is a true follow up to a previous game. The author started from the ground up and made a totally new game. Possibly with better graphics and a larger scope.

 

An upgrade would be a game where a few new features were tacked on to the existing game. Like having a Pong game with 4 paddles instead of two. That's not a sequel, it's Pong 1.2.

 

By that definition, the overwhelming majority of what are currently considered sequels, wouldn't be.

 

That's right. Well done.

[supercat]

Speaking of sequels, I was rather amused when I found out the title of Henry Clay Work's sequel to the blockbuster 1876 song "Grandfather's Clock" (from which the term "grandfather clock" derives, btw). In the sequel, the old clock which had stood ninety years on the floor was replaced by a "vain stuck-up thing on the wall". Can anyone guess the title of the sequel?

[sandmountainslim]

Speaking of sequels, I was rather amused when I found out the title of Henry Clay Work's sequel to the blockbuster 1876 song "Grandfather's Clock" (from which the term "grandfather clock" derives, btw). In the sequel, the old clock which had stood ninety years on the floor was replaced by a "vain stuck-up thing on the wall". Can anyone guess the title of the sequel?

 

 

"Cheap Wall Clock"??

WP

[supercat]

"Cheap Wall Clock"??

 

Heh--nope.

Sequel to Grandfather's Clock.

[Jess Ragan]

I was hoping it was going to be "Grandfather's Paradox," where the hero of the song goes back to the past, kills his grandfather in an atomic explosion, and sleeps with his grandmother. You know, like that episode of Futurama.

Edited November 11, 2007 by Jess Ragan