The Iconic Atari Rainbow

[kenjennings]

A useless trivia question I was thinking about -- What is the first/oldest 2600 game that displayed the now classic "Atari Rainbow" (aka raster bars) in any way -- title, logo, in game screen, in game screen?

 

 

I found the Adventures of Tron (1982) from M-Network.

 

 

 

I notice Raiders Of the Lost Ark (1982) shows gradients on objects on the win screen.

 

 

 

Can anyone identify anything older?

 

 

 

Well, the background in Air-Sea Battle from 1977-when-dirt-was-new is a gigantic, full-screen raster bar :-)

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by kenjennings

[Deteacher]

The chalice in Adventure scrolls through the colors. Not sure if that qualifies. The easter egg in Adventure also flashes through the colors.

[kenjennings]

My feeble memory thought it remembered a scrolling gradient in Adventure, but when I looked up a video on YouTube it appears it is only color cycling a register each frame. Still mildly phychadelic.

[Flojomojo]

The end-of-game color cycling that was designed to not burn in your television always had the weirdest color combinations. Not really a rainbow but many shades of puce.

 

Rainbow color cycling in logos seemed to coincide with the era of games in red and silver boxes. I think there was a rainbow stripe on there as well?

 

Or maybe I'm thinking of the 7800 and 2600jr console case designs.

 

I'm sure someone here will set me straight!

 

I still think the color cycling in the Stargate VCS title screen (and especially the arcade attract screens) is mesmerizing.

[gliptitude]

I think the level intermissions in Turmoil are some of the best, with appropriately insane sound.

[+sramirez2008]

While not exactly the "Rainbow", I like the SoundX Dazzle display.

 

[griz]

Threshold had scrolling rainbows on the sides. Swordquest had the sword on the title screen and Centipede's title screen (the centipede itself) also used rainbows. All in 1982 but I doubt they were the earliest examples.

[Rhindle the Dragon]

Blowing up the Qotile in Yars' Revenge had an impressive rainbow effect. That was 1982 as well but a bit earlier than Swordquest and Centipede.

Can anyone think of an animated rainbow gradient from 81?

Edited November 15, 2016 by Rhindle the Dragon

[Tangentg]

Gradient objects are in many games, like in Frankenstein's Monster. Also two prototypes come to mind: Venetian Blinds and Aquaventure.

 

I thought flashing was iconic, rather than the bars, but Krull comes to mind with the moving bars.