The Rise and Fall of the Manual

[StanJr]

This recent flood of manual scans has me taking notice of something: the life of the atari manual is rather curious.

 

Early Atari manuals are very well put together, color pics, detailed instructions, several pages, the works.

 

The early Silver Label manuals are even better, glossy paper, many pages, color pics, super-detailed instuctions, scoring charts, enemy/item lists, stories, info, etc.

 

Then everything takes a turn for the worse and the manual quality slides downhill fast.

 

Later silver label manuals are sparse, with few pics in black and white, minimal instructions, and few frills.

 

The Red label instructions were almost an after-thought. These instruction pamphlets contain one maybe two pics, usually in red ink, instructions that say "plug in, push the reset button, good luck," and not much else.

 

The manuals are sometimes as neat as the game. Its disappointing to compare the manual for ET and the manual for Gravitar and see the lapse in quality.

[sway3]

Atari was saying:

 

"We're drowning and, therefore, can not afford the colored ink."*

 

*actual boardroom quote

[Albert]

You're right Stan, Atari's earlier manual efforts were mostly superb. Lots of colorful, original artwork, in-depth explanations of how to play the games, a nice chart with all the game variations, and so forth. The manuals really went downhill with the later Silver label releases, which sometimes comprised a single sheet of paper folded into a poster style. But at least these were still full color. Having scans of the manuals as opposed to just HTML manuals really allows you to appreciate them more and is part of our motivation for putting them online.

 

The later Red label releases were truly pathetic, usually two color printing and not even a screenshot of gameplay. But at this point in Atari's life they were trying to milk the 2600 for all it was worth, which really wasn't much back in the late 80s. I'm surprised the instructions weren't just printed on the back of the box.

 

..Al

[Arcadenut]

quote:

---

Originally posted by StanJr:

This recent flood of manual scans has me taking notice of something: the life of the atari manual is rather curious.

 

Early Atari manuals are very well put together, color pics, detailed instructions, several pages, the works.

 

The early Silver Label manuals are even better, glossy paper, many pages, color pics, super-detailed instuctions, scoring charts, enemy/item lists, stories, info, etc.

 

Then everything takes a turn for the worse and the manual quality slides downhill fast.

 

Later silver label manuals are sparse, with few pics in black and white, minimal instructions, and few frills.

 

The Red label instructions were almost an after-thought. These instruction pamphlets contain one maybe two pics, usually in red ink, instructions that say "plug in, push the reset button, good luck," and not much else.

 

The manuals are sometimes as neat as the game. Its disappointing to compare the manual for ET and the manual for Gravitar and see the lapse in quality.

---

 

 

These games had instructions?

[liveinabin]

Yeah, the same with Activision games - their manuals were half of the experience, Keystone Kapers with the black and white manual just doesn't cut it.

[utamav91]

It's all about the Benjamins...the same reason the 747 now has seats upstairs instead of a bar or lounge. Or how one of the airlines saved like $40,000 by eliminating an olive from each salad.

But what were they thinking to begin with? I never understood the need for color manuals anyway. Didn't the boxes get that way too?

[Ze_ro]

quote:

---

Originally posted by StanJr:

Then everything takes a turn for the worse and the manual quality slides downhill fast.

---

 

That's sort of what happened to Atari actually. In the beginning, they were a small company just trying to make it, so the manuals were pretty cheap. Once they got the ball rolling, they had more money to spend on nice manuals... of course, then the big crash comes along, Atari is bleeding money, so they cut back on whatever they possibly can. It wouldn't surprise me if even the cartridge labels were changed so they would cost less (This might explain the black and white labels on 7800 games)

 

--Zero

[Blackjax]

The comics were still my favorite.

 

such as Yars' Revenge!!!

[philnyy]

yep-i think it all peaked with yar's revenge.

not only was there the manual, but the pamphlet with the story behind the game. amazing, that's what made the games more than

a game. it was an experience.

[moycon]

Summary:

 

Big, Pretty Instuctions and comic books = good

Crappy, little black and white inserts = bad

 

Seriously you used to also get a nice FAT atari catalog with every game you bought. And I agree with the Activision comment...They had THE BEST instructions of them all. Check out Pitfall 2 or HERO. Those are great just to read. I think its obvious that it was a monetary decision, but keep in mind the carts themselves were also coming down in price. Gone were the $40 Defenders and $36.99 Haunted Houses. (Thats what my parents paid for Defender/Haunted House during the day)

[King Atari]

It's interesting to compare the labels to the manuals, as well. Look at the early text labels, not much, same as the manuals. Then when the money started to pour in, then came the picture lables. Man, were they excellent, "Codebreaker" was outstanding, and my compliments to whoever did "Haunted House". The manuals were best (I think) during this period. Silver came along, that's when it started to change. At first it was good, then went downhill, although overall the cartridge labels remained good although the manuals weren't as nice. The red labels had good pictures but they weren't like the early picture labels, although once in awhile there'd be an excellent one, while the manuals were pretty much nothing. Just thought it was interesting to compare the two.

 

[ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: King Atari ]

[StanJr]

The Atari Red Labels were nice, but that dark red/maroon color was kind of icky. Why not pick a brighter, happier color? Perhaps the manuals would have looked better with less faded looking ink as well...

 

Always top quality Stan

[King Atari]

All of the labels were nice overall, but nothing can compare to the excellent early picture labels, they were just so detailed it was amazing. BTW, I have to throw this in, I love the label of "Xenophobe" !

[Lemmi]

quote:

---

Originally posted by King Atari:

BTW, I have to throw this in, I love the label of "Xenophobe" !

---

 

AHHHH we get the point

 

!

 

Hey maybe you should add that Xenophobe is your favorite game in your sig

[King Atari]

quote

AHHHH we get the point  

 

LOL Then I have reached my goal! SUCCESS!!! As for adding something "Xenophobe" related as my sig, I'm thinking about it. Maybe I should just put the arcade's definition of "Xenophobe" as a new quote (but I'd hate to see my Tom Servo quote go, maybe I'll do something else MST3K related for that).

 

[ 11-28-2001: Message edited by: King Atari ]

[King Atari]

Okay, I think I've found myself a new quote, although it's still MST related. I'm also trying to figure out how to get a little message to appear beneath my avatar (I hoping one shows up on this post).

[King Atari]

YES! IT WORKED! Now for my quote...

[King Atari]

And there's my new quote. Check that cool thing out...

[King Atari]

Okay, here's my last post on this subject. Here's my new improved quote and custom status!

 

[ 11-28-2001: Message edited by: King Atari ]

[StanJr]

That's an awfully long quote. I've seen entire posts that are shorter. What was wrong with the old quote?

 

I dig the custom status!

 

Commentary Stan

[King Atari]

The old quote was good, but everybody knew it, I figured it would be cool to have kind of a "script" quote, like Atari-Jess's. I had to make some kind of tribute to the KTMA's. It'll probably change in a few days, anyways.

[King Atari]

Okay, the new quote just didn't feel right, here's my trusty old one. I am looking for a good one from "Pod People", though (but which one ?).

 

[ 11-28-2001: Message edited by: King Atari ]

[StanJr]

NO! I love that quote you have now!!! It perfectly captures the essence of MST3K. Plus, it makes me laugh every time I read it.

 

Stick with what works Stan

[ubersaurus]

"Oh look. Little potatoes."

[mos6507]

Atari was still small in 1977, but they were subsidized by their parent company, Warner Communications.

 

While the early text labels were bland, they were also rather exotic insofar as they were not merely paper labels. they were made from a foil backing with multiple layers to black-mask and colorize it.

 

The best part is that they are extremely durable. You won't see an Atari text label cart suffer from actiplaque, frayed edges, water damage or other stains.

 

An old text label cart, unless it's been written-on with a sharpie, is going to stay in close to mint condition pretty much forever. The adhesive can wear off depending on how it's stored, but that's about it.