Superman III and Atari

[chad5200]

Atari programmed a game that was used in Superman III back in 1983. According to www.imdb.com:

 

"The video game "played" by Ross Webster with missiles and Superman was an actual game being developed by Atari in conjunction with the movie. It never materialized."

 

Does anyone have pictures or screenshots of this part of the movie?

[Bob Bytchin]

I remember that scene, but unfortunately I don't have a copy of Superman III to check out and see. But that actually reminded me of the movie "Cloak and Dagger"...and I am quite sure that in the movie, the kid goes to his friend in the computer shop, and the guy has a copy of the game "Cloak and Dagger" and is playing it on an Atari 2600. There was an arcade game called "Cloak and Dagger" but never one released for a home system...woulda been nice.

 

Does anyone know if a prototype of the game "Karate Champ" may exist? I remember hearing a rumour that Activision was working on both Karate Champ and Kung Fu Master...of which the latter materialized. Anyone with better info??

[Tempest]

I vaugely remember that scene. The graphics were so 80's it was like a flash back (oh wait, it WAS the 80's). The prototype of Superman III that appeared for the Atari 800 (I have a copy) doesn't look like it at all. It shows up on TV every now and then, I'll have to watch next time.

 

In Cloak & Dagger, the graphics came from an actual C&D arcade machine. They just piped it through the monitor. A Atari 400/800 version was apperently started but only about 50% done (it's never surfaced though). BTW, it was actually Rusty Dawes (the creator of the game) that was playing it in the movie, they just made it look like the other guy (Morris) was playing. I've never been able to get that high score to unlock the plans, I've come close though. I wonder if it's even possible to score that high?

 

As for Karate Champ, I never knew Activision was even considering it. Are you sure you weren't thinking of Black Belt for the 5200?

 

Tempest

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I thought they used the 5200 version of Cloak and Dagger in the movie? for instance:

 

 

I thought this was the case anyway...

 

As for SupermanIII...I read something on this not too long ago actually...I really should start to write down some of this stuff when I find it...

[Smitty]

It exists on the Atari 400/800

as a prototype. You can buy

one for $14.95 in cart format at

http://www.myatari.com/

of course this is a copy.

 

 

Cheers,

Smitty

[Tempest]

That cart is a mock up. The 5200 version wasn't even started (at least we don't think it was). That would be the ultimate Atari collectable though, I wonder what happened to that case.

 

Smitty, I thought you were talking about Cloak & Dagger for a minute there (not Superman III). I was all excited.

 

Tempest

[PeeknPoke]

Whats Ive read about the Superman 3 game, is that it is a mockup, just made for the film and took Atari ages to complete just those two shots of it, One with Superman missing missles and then a full on front view of Superman flying towards us.

Notice that the sound fx are the original ones from the horrid PACMAN cart urh!

 

Lee

[Bob Bytchin]

Here's a prototype box of Superman III : http://atarihq.com/museum/5200/games/box/suprman3.jpg

 

Also, here's an article from one of the creators of Cloak and Dagger: http://www.jps.net/btribble/vidgames/cloakdag.html

[MoonlightKnight]

I knew if I looked back far enough that someone would have said something about this. I think that, unless it was destroyed, there HAS to be a copy of Cloak & Dagger in someone's collection. Who know's it could be sitting right next to the Crown, Philosopher's Stone and Sword of Ultimate Sorcery at Jack Tramiel's house

 

 

But seriously, they show the guy actually playing the game in the movie or at least it was running while he pretended to play it which means it was at least programmed. And it was a 5200 because the guy even picked up a joystick for a 5200. It might not have been in a cart, but it seems likely. They show him plugging the game in and turning the TV on AFTER he powers up the 5200. I'll have to watch it again more closely. I think they even had boxes made up for it. I'm interested what happened to the movie prop EPROM board they showed when they opened up the game before they played it Probably the one at Jack's house

 

 

As for Superman III, what about the Pac-Man sound effects? Didn't anybody notice that? It may have been a game but it probably wasn't programmed with sound.

[AtariDude]

I have Superman III on DVD ( I have all the Superman movies, can't you tell I am a fan from my Avatar? ). I remember that there was an Atariage magazine article regarding the short scene in the movie where Mr. Webster tries to shoot Superman with missiles.

 

I also like the graphics when Superman enters the cave and the computer starts to analyze Superman's bodily composition. It is fun to be able to play it screen by screen to see what the computer is displaying.

 

I was not aware that Atari actually made a game out of the code for the movie. My understanding from the Atariage article was the fact that Atari had to do a lot of work for the short scene since film shoots at 24 frames per second but the computer used less frames and thus required a lot of work on the part of Atari to get it to work on film.

[AtariDude]

Speaking of Superman and videogames, I found a page with a lot of superman items for various systems. Here is the link:

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/shop/shop-...edia-games.html

[King Atari]

This is interesting. I have some comics dating around '83 when Superman III was released, and they describe a contest in which you could have won a 5200 (with a "mystery game"), or the Superman III soundtrack. Could these be related?

[Gregory DG]

According to Atari Connection Magazine (circa 1983) it says that the Superman III video game sequence was completly animated by hand. They were trying to project what video games would be like in 5+ years and a game like that would not have been possible on current machines of the time.

 

I can dig out/scan the article if you want. Also, if you're interested in more about Atari in the movies, see my Atari On File page at:

http://www.ataritimes.com/specialfeatures/...atarifilms.html

[moycon]

Found a page with a bit more info on this topic:

 

Superman 3

[Metal Ghost]

I know...I'm resurecting a VERY old thread, but I was reading an article in a Retro Gamer Magazine and it talks about this scene and how it was made. I cannot remember the scene at all....anyone know of any links to the scene in question?

 

BTW...according to Steve Wright the game mock-up was definitely not hand drawn: it was created using a rapid prototyping game development system, what he called in effect a "$200,000 one ton Atari 2600". It consisted of a Symbolics 3600 computer using the Lisp object-oriented programming language.

[moycon]

You tube has a video of the scene, but the person edited out all shots of the video game!!

I did find this page that has a static picture of the video game in the movie.

Check towards the bottom of the page...

 

http://meatfighter.c...art4/index.html

 

There is a video of Superman being scanned by the computer in this clip...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lw79TG7cGs

 

and this video that talks about the Atari XL prototype of Superman III as well as shows some of the footage (with voice overs) of the fictional video game made for the film.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M6s1e_O4tI

[+thegoldenband]

Jeez, that screenshot looks kind of like a Lynx game.

[galbyman]

I...don't remember any of this. and I used to watch that movie every day on betamax I think when I was a kid.

[AtariLeaf]

They should have made a game based on Superman II, not III.

[walterg74]

I...don't remember any of this. and I used to watch that movie every day on betamax I think when I was a kid.

 

How can you like videogames, have seen the movie so much, and not remember this??

 

I've only seen the movie once or twice in my life and I clearly remember seeing it, noticing that it was surely fake due to the pac-man fx, and wondering if the screens were from an actual game from a more advanced system... Guess not!

[+save2600]

Yep, totally remember this scene and recognized what was going on, even when I saw it in theaters back in the day. It was then that I realized 2600 Pac-Man and Donkey Kong sounds were either in the public domain and/or were already in use across various shows and movies. I forget which movie it is now, but I've heard Donkey Kong sounds well into the 2000's. Seem to remember a movie showed one system (maybe a C64) being played, but a totally different systems graphics were shown and a third different systems sound fx's were heard! lol

[7800Lover]

Atari Protos discusses this game more in-depth:

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/supermanIII/supermanIII.htm

 

The game itself seems to be sort of like Missile Command with elements of that Atari 2600 Superman game (which I could never figure out). It deals with Supes taking on the supercomputer from the film (the one that Richard Pryor's character, Gus, designs; watch the movie for more info).

 

I don't think the Atari computers were advanced enough to pull off that whole missile sequence - it was just too complicated at the time for home computers, much like the Last Starfighter.