Room 34 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 The mention of Circus Atari being based on the Exidy arcade game Circus got me thinking about this again... When Atari licensed the name Space Invaders and started promoting it on the 2600, they made a big deal about how this was the first arcade game brought to a home video system, which of course is ridiculous, because I've gradually learned that most of the early 2600 games were based on arcade games, usually ones made by Atari... Combat (i.e. Tank), Sky Diver, Breakout, Circus Atari (i.e. Circus), Outlaw (i.e. Gun Fight), and of course Video Olympics (i.e. Pong), etc. I guess the difference is that Space Invaders was the first time that Atari actually licensed a game concept AND title from another company (even though, as with Circus Atari and Outlaw, the games were sometimes based on other manufacturers' games, but with different titles). Can anyone explain why Atari promoted Space Invaders as the first home conversion of an arcade game, and why people believed it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I think all the other games had names different that their arcade counterparts - therefore they look and play the same but not the same name. Also, Space Invaders was a huge sucess, the other games people prob didnt even know about. and last but not least - Marketing 101 - take something with brand appeal and apply that to your product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Just a Goochman said, its all Marketing... come on, the hottest title in the arcades, the one that lit the fire of arcade games really.... now it was on your home console?!?!? Think about how many VCS' were bought just because of that title? Too bad Atari didn't learn better from this and pushed and rushed Pac Man out the door and this wasn't just to milk a popular property, Atari was making Mr. Pac their spokesman and corporate icon, poor decision to create an industry flop out of the such an successful game and indentity. Admittedly, with little fanfare, Atari made up for their shortfall with 5200 and Atari 800 Pac man which (while being compressed down to fit the landscape format of a TV) were excellent renditions of the coin-op favorite. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 I guess this is just another skirmish in my lifelong war of logic vs. marketing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oesii Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Think about how many VCS' were bought just because of that title? Yep, count my family as one of those. We were happy with a Pong console until Space Invaders hit the VCS and then we had to get one, although my dad claims it was for the Video Chess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 ...my dad claims it was for the Video Chess Isn't that a bit like claiming to read Playboy for the articles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 exactly. Being a total 10 year old addict, I was on a QUEST to get a Space Invaders either in handheld form or on my tv and I bugged my mom constantly. The handhelds I got didn't do the arcade game justice... then we stumbled upon the Sears Telegames console at Sears in the Bay Area and there it was. I knew it wasn't the same as the arcade, but heck it was better than any other version I could find up to that point. So we bought the Sears console and the cart. I also think Goochman is right as well. A lot of the early 2600 arcade ports weren't exactly what you would call Arcade "smashes" so their translation to the 2600 under a different moniker went pretty much as a matter of course (like Canyon Bomber, or Dodge-Em, etc.)... But Space Invaders.. man Space Invaders was a phenomenon. And in those early days they were just learning how to deal with it. oh and Video Chess was one of the most attractive ideas for the vcs as well and probably one of the first 5 carts I ever bought So it made the package all the sweeter. (hey this was when "challenging the computer" was a big deal) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 it also seems to me that a lot of those early atari carts weren't really attempts to port an arcade game but more 2600 games 'inspired' by the arcade games. Space Invaders on the 2600 was just unbelievable to me as a little kid, it warped my fragile little mind. Here was the arcade with TONS more options, and double fire :-) WOW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I remember S.I. arcade bein' da bomb (or whatever the kids are saying) back then, '79 or '80. So that's why they used the name too. Heck I've never done drugs, Space Invaders was my crack. I would use *all* my paper route money playing that game, then my mom would have to bail me out and pay the newpaper bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oesii Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 oh and Video Chess was one of the most attractive ideas for the vcs as well and probably one of the first 5 carts I ever bought So it made the package all the sweeter. (hey this was when "challenging the computer" was a big deal) Atari did so many things right back then, I don't know if it was genius or luck but I had to get the VCS for Space Invaders, my dad enjoyed Chess, and my mom was hooked on Breakout. There was a lot of families down the street with the same type of setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 It was the era. Video games seemed to find a way to appeal to everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 ...my mom was hooked on Breakout. I remember when we got our Atari, my mom's favorite game was Breakout, too. My grandmother was a different story. We brought the 2600 over to her house once, and she got so hooked on Pac-Man that she had my dad go out and buy her her own Atari so she could play Pac-Man all the time. It made going to their house a lot more fun for me too, because I just had to bring along the cartridges I wanted to play! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I remember when we got our Atari, my mom's favorite game was Breakout, too. My grandmother was a different story. We brought the 2600 over to her house once, and she got so hooked on Pac-Man that she had my dad go out and buy her her own Atari so she could play Pac-Man all the time. Why that just warms my little heart for some odd reason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voch Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 ...my mom was hooked on Breakout. My grandmother was a different story. We brought the 2600 over to her house once, and she got so hooked on Pac-Man that she had my dad go out and buy her her own Atari so she could play Pac-Man all the time. My since departed grandmother was introduced to Atari by myself and my uncle when she was, I think, in her 60's. At her peak she played Dig Dug, Breakout, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Vanguard to name a few. She even kicked my a** at Missile Command consistently (yes...it's embarassing, but she was really good at it). We'd have Pac-Man tournaments with my aunt and my brother and she'd win consistently. I remember the first time we showed her Space Invaders: "What the !&^@#$ keeps blowing me up?" Then she saw that the missiles went up *AND* down. After that she was hooked. She was also starting to go pretty deaf and was driving my Mom crazy with "those damn bloop bloop bloop noises" with the TV full-blast. :D Voch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Hi there! Outlaw (i.e. Gun Fight) Atari had an arcade Outlaw game too. I've never seen it in action though and from all I've heard, the VCS Outlaw was in fact way closer to the Gun Fight / Boothill arcades than to Ataris own Arcade version. Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 thats pretty funny, but in ways the vcs was more advanced than some of ataris old dedicated b/w arcade hardware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Atari had an arcade Outlaw game too. I've never seen it in action though and from all I've heard, the VCS Outlaw was in fact way closer to the Gun Fight / Boothill arcades than to Ataris own Arcade version. http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter...=O&game_id=2220 I'd guess the main reason 2600 Outlaw is more like Gun Fight than arcade Outlaw is the light gun. Oh well... call me weird, but I still think Asteroids is the earliest arcade game that's actually fun to play. Including Space Invaders. But that's probably just because I grew up on 2600 Space Invaders. (Too young to go to the arcades when that was big.) Then again, maybe it's just because I own an Asteroids machine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Before Space Invaders, coinop arcade games were MUCH MUCH more of a niche. Yes, Pong, Breakout, and Tank were popular, relatively speaking, but the industry in general was very nascent, so much so that when the VCS came out few people probably even recognized that many of the games came from earlier arcade games. Also remember that Atari Consumer and Atari Coinop were completely separate divisions back then and management kept them in the dark about what eachother were doing. The consumer group were staffed with first-time game programmers and they naturally looked to the arcades for ideas. The whole notion of copyright on gameplay was new, so Atari made no effort to license games from companies like Exidy or Midway although they probably should have. The coinop group were also pissed off internally that the consumer group were 'ripping off' their games. It was a wild time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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