Chronogamer - Sears Motocross 1977 (aka Atari Stunt Cycle)

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Tele-Games Electronic Games Motocross Sports Center IV (Atari, 1977)

 

I kinda "get it" now but back in the late 70s I had no clue what was going on between Atari and Sears. It seemed like Atari stuff in other department stores was labeled "Atari" but Sears was a parallel universe where every Atari item was called something else. Combat was called Tank Plus; Air-Sea Battle was called Target Fun. The Atari Video Computer System was called the Sears Video Arcade, etc.

 

Suspicions of conspiracy often played in my mind. Did Atari know that Sears was blocking Atari products from its shelves and replacing them with rebranded copies? Were these watered down versions or were they just as good as the "real" thing? The world may never know! (Look, I know we know, okay? I just didn't understand then.)

 

One such rebranded (or prebranded) property is the Atari Stunt Cycle sold in Sears as Tele-Games Electronic Games Motocross Sports Center IV. This unit boasts several unique features that sets it apart from other consoles that come fully loaded with several variations on a PONG. Most notably the console resembles the throttle controls of a motorbike. The right-hand throttle is used to accelerate the on-screen motorbike to take it through a series of tasks, depending on the game. The left-hand handle is simply a handle that has a nice rubbery texture to it. The sound effect which accompianies the acceleration of the motorbike shows promise...

 

Motocross Sound Demo on YouTube

 

The occasional beeping sound in the middle of my revving is the Motor Bike sprite sliding on its head.

 

The downside to the cool pontential of this sound is that during game play it became an annoying "vreeeeeeem". I'm not saying this is unrealistic, motor bikes make the same sound and some may argue that it's just as annoying. I'm saying it isn't very pleasant to overhear from the next room.

 

Motocross Sound Demo II during gameplay on YouTube

 

(by the way, 2:49 isn't a bad time for a five year old.) All of the sound comes directly from the console itself, so forget about practicing late into the wee hours, your family will not be pleased.

 

To accelerate, there's a gear shifting scheme acheived by turning the throttle towards you quickly and then releasing it slightly (Trin's video demonstrates this). This technique of accelerating is related to the way that real motorcycles shift through the geers. When it's time to shift a real motorcycle, one releases the throttle, squeezes the clutch and uses their left foot to "toe" down or up to the next gear. Instead of releasing the throttle in Motocross, the player quickly turns it towards them and then forward again. This is exactly the wrong way to shift gears on a motorcycle because one should never rev an engine while the clutch is engaged ("rev it to the red!!") so, if you learned all your motorcycling skills from Tele-Games Motocross, you're going to have to unlearn them when you get on a real bike.

 

The games in Motocross are pretty simple. The playfield consists of three levels, all of which are connected by a screen wrap-around effect. As the motor bike drives off the right side of the top level it reappears on the left side of the middle level and this is consistent when it drives off the right of the middle level (it shows up on the left side of the bottom level). Each game involves moving through those three levels with various goals. The first game, and most simple, is called Drag Race and the challenge is to get the motor bike through the course as quickly as possible by accelerating it quickly but without over revving it and sliding on your head. (Always dress for the ride AND the slide!)

 

In addition to the "head slide" state there's also a "wheelie" state. If you accelerate just enough, you'll do a wheelie (in case I'm spelling it wrong, a wheelie is when your front wheel is off the ground and you're bike is continuing to move forward.) Motocross uses the wheelie state for a game called Motocross where the player must pull a wheelie over a barrer by accelerating the throttle as they approach it.

 

There also Stunt Cycle. This is the most fun on here. If you were alive and watching TV during the 70's you will probably remember the Happy Days episode where Fonzie does the motorcycle jump and slides into the fried chicken stand. Well, this is similar. You start out with eight busses sandwiched between ramps and every time you successfully jump the lot they add another bus. This game is challenging and fun at first but then it gets hard and finally merely frustrating. If you're not going fast enough when your bike reaches the busess, you will not have enough forward momentum to sail over them. If you are going too fast, you may make the jump but not the landing. Yay! Another opportunity for a head slide!

 

Okay, I blew most of my attempts to get decent gameplay footage, but here's a nice shot of the head slide.

 

Stunt Cycle Head Slide

 

You should be informed that there are Expert and Novice variations of each of the Cycle games. The Expert level involves much more sensitivity in the control making it more difficult to not over-accelerate into a head slide.

 

I should also mention that there is a "Sports" in the title of this console because there are also 16 PONG variants you may enjoy by plugging in the paddle controllers. The games support between two and four players and include such Pong hits as Pong, Hockey, Street Hockey and Street Tennis. I'm officially "for" anything that involves up to four players, but I would doubt anyone will ever purchase Tele-Games Motocross blah blah blah so that they can play more Pong. On the other hand, if one doesn't already have a Pong dedicated machine, this is a nice way to get one bundled with a pretty cool Motocross game.

 

With the exception of Atari/Sears PONG and the Coleco Tel-Star Arcade, that wraps it up for the 70s! If I should acquire either of those units in the future I'll insert them into the 80s but now, it's onward and forward! Next entry we'll jump back to 1980 and start playing the Mattel Intellivision (also known as the Sears Super Video Arcade ... oh no! Sears must've gotten to Mattel, too!)

 

 

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