My own stories for games

[Syzygy1]

I figured out how to use my imagination and make up stories for Atari 2600 games. My stories have continuity and follow a small cast. Here's my Worm War I story:

Captain TOM, Commander DAN and their lovely assistant RUBY are determined to explore every sector of space. They came across a planet called Teriyaki, which recently became overcome by evil sentient, giant worms that are scheming to conquer it. Captain TOM unfortunately got captured by them and they turned him into a worm. Commander DAN and RUBY learned of Captain TOM's painful transformation, and set off to rescue him. As DAN, you must fight the hordes of worms in order to rescue Captain TOM. This could be Worm War I.

Bonus points if you know where TOM is from. If you watched Cartoon Network in the early-mid 2000s or watch Adult Swim on Saturdays, you should know.

 

Communist Mutants from Space:

Captain TOM, Commander DAN, and the lovely RUBY came across the planet Rooskee, where a strange Mother Creature and her army of Communist Mutants dwell. The Mother Creature kidnapped Captain TOM and irradiated him with her malevolent energy, transforming him into a Communist Mutant. With their own lives at stake, Commander DAN and RUBY immediately come to the rescue. As RUBY, you must shoot down all of the Communist Mutants, including a transformed Captain TOM, with your Starpath Supercharger.

 

Any other weird Atari games that I can make up a plot for? Let me know!

[Tangentg]

Not originally an Atari 2600 title but... How about Space Duel? It was originally an arcade game and got ported to the Atari 7800 (great effort from PacManPlus) and Atari 2600 (that version was pretty bad though). Also Windows, by me.

[Gabriel]

Not originally an Atari 2600 title but... How about Space Duel? It was originally an arcade game and got ported to the Atari 7800 (great effort from PacManPlus) and Atari 2600 (that version was pretty bad though). Also Windows, by me.

 

Captain Hunt of the space patrol had been pursuing the mysterious reptilian Norg after the latter raided the Federation outpost on Third Ceti. In an uncharted solar system, Captain Hunt engaged in a fighter duel with the pirate to bring him to justice.

Just as their duel began, their crafts were paralyzed, and they heard a telepathic transmission. "We are the Nortem. You have attempted to bring violence to our area of space. This is not permitted. Since you are primitive life forms, we will transport you to a place where you may continue your violent ways, even against each other, should you so wish. Let it be done."

In moments, Captain Hunt felt his fighter hurled unimaginable distances, possibly outside even the bounds of reality. When the transport was complete, he was somewhere else as was his opponent. The difference was that now a mysterious energized beam connected his fighter to that of the criminal Norg. Norg had already begun to attempt escape, but the beam seemed to lock their ships together more firmly than any Federated tractor beam.

It was then he saw the objects. They were simple cubes, diamonds, and for lack of a better description, spinners. They tumbled through space, each pulsing with different colors of neon energy. He wasn't sure what they were, but they definitely looked to have substance and mass, and they were starting to fill the space around the fighters and tumble towards them. He opened a comm channel to Norg.

"Listen, you scaley son-of-a-bitch, I don't know what's going on, but it looks like we're stuck together. Unless we want to get smashed by pinwheels, you and I need to start working together."

The lizardman replied, "I sssee your point, human. We are trapped togethhher, and only foolsss fight in a burning houssse. Asss you humansss sssay, what isss our next move?"

"Move with me so we don't fight each other's momentum. Let's hope our photon bolts work on those things out there, and use your shields liberally."

"How do I know you won't sssimply ssshoot me, human?"

Hunt looked at the pulsing of the energy beam connecting their ships. "Something tells me the Nortem have the fates of our ships firmly connected. Heads up. Here comes the first cube."

Captain Hunt hoped his old asteroid belt training would serve him well, and prayed not only that his nemesis from moments ago wouldn't betray him, but that they could work well together.

[Tangentg]

Nice. I like it. Thanks.

[Syzygy1]

LOL that was pretty good. But I prefer Captain TOM.

[Tangentg]

How about Kaboom! ?

Edited February 4, 2017 by Tangentg

[Tangentg]

Moon Patrol too.

[toiletunes]

I had my own story for Fireworld, it was something about being trapped in a windowless house...

[Syzygy1]

Space Fury:

The year is 2481, and you're exploring planet Gelron. Suddenly, a forcefield surrounds you. The leader of the malevolent Imperial Fleet, Commander Zella, materializes in front of you.

 

"So," he said in his arrogant manner of speaking. "You say you're a mighty warrior? Humph. We'll see about that. Do you DARE challenge my imperial fleet?"

 

This could be a life or death situation! Prepare to face SPACE FURY!

[Tangentg]

Space Fury:

The year is 2481, and you're exploring planet Gelron. Suddenly, a forcefield surrounds you. The leader of the malevolent Imperial Fleet, Commander Zella, materializes in front of you.

 

"So," he said in his arrogant manner of speaking. "You say you're a mighty warrior? Humph. We'll see about that. Do you DARE challenge my imperial fleet?"

 

This could be a life or death situation! Prepare to face SPACE FURY!

Well that was short.

[Flojomojo]

Short is fine, these aren't complicated games.

 

If you want a whole dramatic presentation, you'll probably enjoy these. They were vinyl records for kids.

 

Missile Command

 

Asteroids

 

Yars' Revenge

 

Star Raiders

 

Pac-Man

[djour]

These are complete cheesy awesomeness. Something I would have listened to until I warped the record as a kid.

Edited June 28, 2017 by djour

[up2knowgood]

Love the idea. Very unique and original! Am I to take it TOM is the one from Toonami?

 

I would like to suggest one of my personal favorites, Cosmic Ark.

[Syzygy1]

Love the idea. Very unique and original! Am I to take it TOM is the one from Toonami?

I would like to suggest one of my personal favorites, Cosmic Ark.

Yep-erdoodles.

[Tangentg]

So I was playing some Space Duel, and I was thinking, I'm just in space, minding my own business... Why do the alien ships want to attack me? It's not like they're the Gorgons from Atlantis, they wouldn't accomplish any conquering by killing a pair of space ships (I guess unless you wanna say they're declaring war). So I was thinking, why are the UFOs attacking us, who are just more or less minding our own business? Don't they have anything better to do? Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe they saw us shooting asteroids and thought we were being dangerous so they had to wipe us out or else they would be wiped out

[Lauren Tyler]

I used to make up stories like this in my head too. Unfortunately, I can't remember them off the top of my head.

[Syzygy1]

I was just playing Fantastic Voyage and imagining it took place inside Cyborg (DC character); I was doing good but then the passage got narrower and sadly I got a game over and I was distraught as Cyborg flatlined and I yelled out "I KILLED CYBORG!" I haven't even read enough of the comics to know what'd happen if his heart gives out or something. Could he still be revivable with his robotic parts or is his human half dead forever?

[Syzygy1]

Short is fine, these aren't complicated games.

 

If you want a whole dramatic presentation, you'll probably enjoy these. They were vinyl records for kids.

 

Missile Command

 

Asteroids

 

Yars' Revenge

 

Star Raiders

 

Pac-Man

Kid Stuff Records is famous in my book for making this...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbwkfaZj3aA

 

That last one reminded me of it a bit, what with the lead-ins and references to "the city." Also, Li-San is nothing like Strawberry Shortcake, and that vaporization description in Yar's Revenge would never be expected of the company that produced the album I linked above. (Though then again it's nothing compared to what that record implies. A little 6 year old girl goes to the dark, coke-filled dens of NYC and hangs out at a DISCO. Did she get high there?)

Edited February 8, 2019 by Syzygy1

[Syzygy1]

So last night I began work on my NEW stories for Atari games. Those old ones are NON-CANON. But these new ones also have continuity and follow a small cast. Even more so than the old ones, which were just something you'd find in a game manual of the era. That Space Duel story reminds me much of what I intend my stories to be like. That's the best story by far on this whole damn thread.

 

My new protagonist is an African-American named Jackson Stone (no points for guessing where that last name comes from) who works for the Global Outerscope organization; a small group of people who investigate extraterrestrial and paranormal occurrences in a rented office building in Passaic, New Jersey. Jackson began working there right after he graduated college. Some of his co-workers/teammates are Carl Lewis, the team's technology expert; Miranda Evans, the medic; Misty Jones, a 17 year old assumed criminal; Rick Hardenburg, the top officer; John Horace, a close friend and mechanic; and Laraine Stern, a battle-hardened veteran of previous GO missions. (I made it so the acronym is "GO" because the word Atari comes from the game Go.)

 

It's meant to be set during the tail end of the disco craze, as evidenced by the usage of such words as "far out," Jackson talking like Cyborg, designer jeans and bell bottoms, etc.

 

Here's plot summaries for 2 of the adventures of the Global Outerscope team:

Moon Patrol - "As Nicolas Grant is caring for his sick wife and thus not able to come to his job, his understudy Laraine Stern has taken the mantle of commander in chief of the Global Outerscope organization. Under Laraine's orders, Jackson, Miranda, Misty, John, and Carl are sent to the moon to investigate a new kind of space rock said to hail from suspected life there. But why are they equipped with a tank? That's what even Laraine wants to know..."

Centipede - "All day, Jackson's head has been itching like crazy. Finally fed up with the bother, Jackson goes to see Miranda, the team medic. Upon closer inspection, she discovers radioactively mutated centipedes and other bugs have hatched a home on Jackson's scalp, thirsty for his blood. It's up to Carl and Miranda to shrink themselves and fight the minuscule mutant menaces with their lazer zapper in order to hopefully revert them to their normal selves, and save Jackson."

 

Moon Patrol is a bit sloppy as Centipede, being an oddball story, was what I was more interested in writing the summary for.

The first few stories will knock that Space Duel story out of the park, though.

[Syzygy1]

OK, even though those stories seemed pretty promising, I decided to ditch the GO concept and recast Jackson to who he was meant to be a stand in for: Cyborg. Raven, Starfire, Wonder Girl, Changeling, Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy appear too. Aqualad, Aquagirl, Lillith, Terra, Jericho, Blackfire, and Geo-Force also appear, and Robin does eventually become Nightwing. It's better when I write in a universe I know about well, like DC, as making new concepts is hard to me.

 

That Centipede story is going to be in this though. So is the Millipede story. It's just too bizarre to pass up.

[AkashicRecord]

I can't believe there's a Yars Revenge vinyl ...must ...have...

[Syzygy1]

I can't believe there's a Yars Revenge vinyl ...must ...have...

To quote my avatar, "BELIEVE IT!"

[Keatah]

My Lunar Lander stories are near-legendary. I last wrote most of them on an Apple II disk back in the mid-80's. If I can find them I will post them. Considering only FB2 has Lunar Lander, does it still count?

[Syzygy1]

My Lunar Lander stories are near-legendary. I last wrote most of them on an Apple II disk back in the mid-80's. If I can find them I will post them. Considering only FB2 has Lunar Lander, does it still count?

You started writing these in 1979 when your obsession with Lunar Lander and modems began, right?

FB2? What's that? Oh, Flashback 2. I guess. I like arcade games too. I have a TARG story I'm whipping up.

[matt2d2]

Here's a Lunar Lander story: It was 1979 and I was at a local show for the Boy Scouts. This was an event where the troops would get together, and they'd have booth, etc. One kid from another troop has his Commodore PET setup and playing Lunar Lander at their booth. I kid you not, dozens of people adults and kids queued up to play that game! There was a line for like an hour of people wanting to play, then going back and getting into line to play again.