What launch games were offered for the Atari 400 when it came out?

[+swlovinist]

I have been curious about the Atari 8 bit launch games.   What was offered when the Atari 400 came out?   I am sure there is a confirmed list somewhere but I could not find it.  

[jefffulton]

Here is he list from AtariMania of AtariUSA Released title in 1979
http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=8&type=G&publisher=6&year=1979&step=25
Not a lot, but Star Raiders! 

[www.atarimania.com]

Also, the Sears games were the first third-party programs. 

[Rybags]

I see Outlaw, an APX title from 1979 - I never knew it existed back then, always throught APX came along later like about 1981.

 

ed - the Wiki article on APX says 1981.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Rybags

[youxia]

The Gamebase list is quite different....hmmm.

[Mclaneinc]

Don't take the Gamebase lists too seriously, while the creators try and get all the details correct they are done in a person's spare time and often go for content over data. That isn't me bemoaning them, heaven know's I love a gamebase and have been involved in a small way with the original Atari 8 bit one and others. These people work damn hard on them, but the collating of them is really time-consuming, so you will see the odd mistake or missing entry for say the programmer or company or in this case, year.

 

Also, researching dates etc via the internet often leads to confusion with websites offering different details...It's not fun doing a gamebase at times

Edited January 18, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[+hunmanik]

You could go with the games listed in the Sears 1979 Wish Book:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1979-Sears-Christmas-Book/0654

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1979-Sears-Christmas-Book/0655

[oky2000]

Exactly, Star Raiders for Atari 400/800 is as much of a killer app as Space Invaders for VCS. 

[bfollowell]

On 1/18/2022 at 1:59 AM, www.atarimania.com said:

Also, the Sears games were the first third-party programs. 

 

Sears was pretty much a reseller, right? I wasn't aware that they actually put out any software. I was surprised to see that they actually published a number of titles.

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by bfollowell

[www.atarimania.com]

43 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

Sears was pretty much a reseller, right? I wasn't aware that they actually put out any software. I was surprised to see that they actually published a number of titles.

 

Yes, all of the titles were developed by The Image Producers / Image Computer Products. Check this interview from 33:28 to 47:35, it's a great listen:

 

 

[youxia]

On 1/18/2022 at 11:42 AM, Mclaneinc said:

Don't take the Gamebase lists too seriously, while the creators try and get all the details correct they are done in a person's spare time and often go for content over data. That isn't me bemoaning them, heaven know's I love a gamebase and have been involved in a small way with the original Atari 8 bit one and others. These people work damn hard on them, but the collating of them is really time-consuming, so you will see the odd mistake or missing entry for say the programmer or company or in this case, year.

 

Also, researching dates etc via the internet often leads to confusion with websites offering different details...It's not fun doing a gamebase at times

I'm well aware of how hard the task is - I've spent many years working on similar projects. I'm currently building an Apple collection and often it did take me hours at a time to try and figure out the year for just one game, often with no decisive result. It's actually quite fun though, if you like digging through gaming history.

 

I consider the release year one of the most crucial data entries (if not the most important one) so if it was up to me it would take precedence over some other stuff. Wish there was more hours in the day and I could help review some Gamebases (and other sources, none of them are infallible -eg Mobygames), since they are my favourite collections.

[carlsson]

So The Image Producers made two versions of the same Baseball game in 1979, of which the simpler one was sold through Sears and the slightly more enhanced (but lower rated) one was sold through Image Computer Products?