Prototype? Rarity? Local?

[littleoctagon]

I was 14/15 in 1984 and 1985 and lived in an area north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known as Wexford. My dad used to commute to downtown, driving along McKnight Rd and some days in the summer, I would have him drop me off at one of the malls on McKnight Road on his way to work. In one of these malls was a Kay Bee Toys.

 

Anyway, it was around this time (and years subsequent to it) that the video game crash was happening and at Kay Bee Toys, this was apparent: bins in the front of the store with 50% off (then 60%. 75%, etc.) games. But also at this time I came across something that was brand new to me: a NEW atari 2600 game, in a box (although it was oddly shaped, as far as I remembered), and it's NEW (not marked down) selling price was 99 cents. I bought one immediately.

 

When I got home, I found it to be kinda fun: it was some kind of space shooter that reminded me (in retrospect, at least) as something like Yar's Revenge-although it was not this game and not a ripoff of this game, as I already owned Yar's revenge.

 

I left my 40+ collection of games with a friend (who I lost touch with) years ago but when I read about rare games, I often think of this one, even though I cannot remember its name or producer. Was it some sort of prototype they were selling at a low price to determine popularity? Was it some local game developer trying to see if making a cheap 99 cent game could be profitable? The box was printed in English, so it couldn't have been some foreign game, could it? I don't know and I wish I did.

 

So I posted the local details here (time and region of the country as well store) in the hopes that some other 40-something atari 2600 fan might remember what I am talking about. Thank you in advance if you took the time to read this.

[atari181]

Have you tried looking through the AA database they have most all NTSC releases with screenshots

 

http://atariage.com/software_search.html?SystemID=2600

[Rom Hunter]

I need more game details to know what game you're talking about.

 

Do you remember any specific details?

 

What colour did the box have?

 

Edited January 26, 2014 by Rom Hunter

[+save2600]

Any chance at all you might be thinking of the Mythicon game Fire Fly?

 

 

 

 

"Was it some sort of prototype they were selling at a low price to determine popularity? Was it some local game developer trying to see if making a cheap 99 cent game could be profitable?"

 

Memory can be a funny thing, but as far as a $.99 MSRP or the above scenarios go, I say no way!

[littleoctagon]

Quadrunner,

 

I think you may be right, I think it might have been fire fly. I say this because I do remember the box being orange and that the box was not the standard square-shaped design (in fact, I remember it barely covering the cartridge). As far as the price and my memory, you may also be right. I could swear that the price on the package was NOT a Kay bee sticker marking it down to 99 cents, but that it was part of the box itself. But maybe it was marked down and the sticker fit so seemlessly on the package that it only seemed to be originally 99 cents, so go figure.

 

Thanks everyone for your help and happy gaming!

[+cvga]

But you said it was kinda fun

 

That doesn't sound like Fire Fly!

[AudriSampson]

But you said it was kinda fun

 

That doesn't sound like Fire Fly!

Oh come on, FireFly was awsome and had great music