What are your favorite things that came packed in with Atari video games?

[ave1]

So what's your favorite item that came packaged in with a video game? Is it the 2600 Omega Race Booster Grip or maybe the driving controller with Indy 500? Maybe you liked the Joyboard that came with Mogul Maniac. . . or coud it be that you liked the Atari 5200 controller coupler that came with Robotron 2084?

 

I spent quite a bit of time researching the great pack-ins of video gaming, so check out my NerdkO article and see if you agree with me on what I think is the greatest pack-in of all time...

 

http://n4g.com/news/....ed-with-a-game

 

Let's here about your favorite!

[Fixitguy74]

My Favorite pack in was the game itself.

[Master Phruby]

I like the touch pad that came with the 2600 version of Star Raiders. I also like all the crap that came with Infocom games or the cloth map that came with one of the Ultima games.

[+5-11under]

The instructions for Activision games.

[Red 5]

Omega Race booster grip, the T-Shirt with MASH

 

(The cool AtariAge swag that comes with homebrews and especially the 5200's Adventure 2 stuff)

[Gorfy]

good article -- that steel battalion is ridiculous!!

[Lord Helmet]

I always looked forward to checking out the catalog to see what new games were coming.

[kennetzel]

Didn't Superman come packed with a wallet once? I seem to remember that...having the wallet around the time I got the game.

[+cvga]

I think the zorkmid packaged with the Zork Trilogy was a great pack-in. For the Atari 2600 I really like the extra sheet that Data Age placed with some of their games whether it was info about the Bermuda Triangle or about Frankenstein.

[Torr]

I like the touch pad that came with the 2600 version of Star Raiders. I also like all the crap that came with Infocom games or the cloth map that came with one of the Ultima games.

 

Me too.

As a kid I remember having it mounted over my head/above the TV on the desk in my room so I would have to reach over my head to hit the keys, something Han Solo often did while piloting the Falcon. Big Star Wars fan as a kid, and the touch pad made it FEEL more like piloting a spaceship to me.

I also remember getting rid of the overlay pretty quickly because I thought it made it look too much like a toy, maybe... I preferred a series of nondescript buttons, which also made it look like most Sci-Fi things I would watch a kid, plus with the overlay you had to REALLY push the buttons to make them depress.

I also remember wondering WHY did it have so many buttons? I actually didn't know about the keyboard controllers at all as a kid or (obviously) that the Video Touch Pad was just a remodeled one.

They were handy though, it gave me buttons I could press randomly without messing with the REAL controls to pretend I was activating tractor beams, increasing speed, powering up lasers or whatever I wanted to pretend to do. Ahh, childhood imagination and games that let you use your imagination while playing...

Edited December 7, 2012 by Torr

[Unbeliever]

The booster grip was awesome..and I absolutely LOVED the Star Raiders touch pad. Made me feel like I was really "in charge" of the star ship's systems. Other than that, the comics that came with certain games and the game catalogs. Especially the first catalogs. Great stuff.

[shadow460]

The two thing I've gotten the most use from that came with a video game were the Starpath Supercharger and the T shirt that came with FF7 pre orders.

[sqoon]

The console overlays that came with Space Shuttle were a nice touch. Still have mine.

[Lentzquest]

I'm most fond of the Beamrider poster myself. The Yars' Revenge comic probably takes a close second.

[Bomberang]

I agree with Lord Helmet. I loved the catalogs. That's why it drives me a little nuts when someone on ebay lists a game as "complete in box" when it's missing the catalog!