Dumb Cosmic Swarm question

[Xot]

Is this the same game as the game dubbed "Ant Party" on the 32-in-1 cart? I haven't been home to play it yet but they certainly look similar. If so, how did a CommaVid game get on this cart?

[Pitfall Harry]

Is this the same game as the game dubbed "Ant Party" on the 32-in-1 cart? I haven't been home to play it yet but they certainly look similar. If so, how did a CommaVid game get on this cart?

 

I just got finished playing my 32 in 1 Game Cartridge. Yes, definitely, Ant Party and Cosmic Swarm are one and the same.

 

How did a CommaVid game get on an Atari brand cartridge? That's a very interesting question. A more interesting question is, how the heck did Activision games get into an Atari cartridge? A group of Atari's most talented programmers left to found Activision, and we're expected to believe the two rivals cooperated on the up and up to produce the 32 in 1 Game cartridge?

 

Here's how the credits read from the instruction pamphlet that comes with the 32 in 1 Game cartridge:

 

"Boxing, Checkers, Fishing, Fishing Derby, Freeway Chicken, Freeway Rabbit, Laser Blast, Skiing, and Stampede, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Activision Inc. All other games are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation."

 

If the instructions can be trusted, it implies Ant Party is a registered trademark of Atari. Maybe Atari bought the rights to the game (and renamed it as their own) just before CommaVid went belly up. I don't know, but it sounds plausible.

 

UFO is another curious game. It's not listed among those games credited to Activision. Therefore, and as per the credits in the instructions pamphlet, UFO must also be a property of the Atari Corporation. Does anybody know what CX26??? number Atari reserved for this game? Is it indeed an Atari Corporation game? If not, what company made it?

 

Did Atari indeed officially sanction the 32 in 1 Game cartridge? If so, why would they choose Activision's Checkers over their own version of Video Checkers for inclusion in the 32 game set? To do so is to admit that bitter rival Activision did checkers better than they did! Granted, Activision Checkers is the superior product, but is it so much better that Atari executives would risk forfeiting their jobs over it?

 

Did Atari really get permission from Activision to release Fishing (with the hack to make the fish into crabs) and Freeway (with the hack to make the chicken a rabbit)? Did they get the express written permission from the NFL to list the football game as "NFL Football?" It's curious things like these that lead me to believe the Atari 32 in 1 Game cartridge was for foreign release only for good reasons. It must have saved them a bundle in legal and licensing fees.

 

 

Here's another snippet taken from the 32 in 1 Game cartridge instructions that I think is a little amusing:

 

"Toggle the ON/OFF switch on the console between ON and OFF positions. The 32 games will appear in sequential order."

 

Since the 32 games are never actually listed in any sort of recognizable order in the instructions -- take a look at the scan of the two-sided foldout instructions to see what I mean -- what exactly IS "sequential order?" If they appeared in any old order whatsoever, could anybody really tell the difference?

 

Just for sanity's sake, the 32 games do appear in a predictable order. When I toggled through the games on my 32 in 1 Game cartridge, here's the order in which I found the games (titles are those printed in the instructions pamphlet):

 

1. UFO (Who made this game???)

2. Human Cannonball (Atari)

3. Fun With Numbers (Atari)

4. 3D Tic-Tac-Toe (Atari)

5. Flag Capture (Atari)

6. Reversi (Atari's Othello)

7. Golf (Atari)

8. Surround (Atari)

9. Checkers (Activison)

10. Blackjack (Atari)

11. Freeway Rabbit (a hack of Activision's Freeway)

12. Miniaturer [sic] Golf (Atari)

13. NFL Football (Atari's Football with an inexplicable credit to the NFL)

14. Slot Racers (Atari)

15. Fishing (Activision's Fishing Derby with a case of the crabs)

16. Space War (Atari)

17. Boxing (Activision)

18. Air-Sea Battle (Atari)

19. Freeway Chicken (Activision's Freeway)

20. Tennis (Activision)

21. Combat (Atari)

22. Slot Machine (Atari)

23. Skiing (Activision)

24. Stampede (Activision)

25. Outlaw (Atari)

26. Fishing Derby (Activision)

27. Sky Diver (Atari)

28. Laser Blast (Activision)

29. Basketball (Atari)

30. Ant Party (CommaVid's Cosmic Swarm)

31. Bowling (Atari)

32. Homerun (Atari)

 

If you discount the hacked versions of Freeway and Fishing Derby, the 32 in 1 Game cartridge only offers 30 different games. That's pretty shoddy work for a pack-in cartridge, even by 1990 Atari standards.

 

 

Ben

[Xot]

The "NFL" was probably added solely for the purpose of distinguishing it from European Football (soccer).

 

UFO, like Ant Party is another company's game too... I'll have to look it up and get back to you, but I think it's Space Jockey.

 

Edit: A quick AA search confirms that UFO is indeed Space Jockey.

[Pitfall Harry]

Yeah, Space Jockey. That's it. Thanks!

 

 

Ben