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Atari Buys Rights to Berserk & Frenzy


GraffitiTavern

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Atari SA has bought the rights to Berzerk and Frenzy, along with 10 other retro arcade titles. Looks like Rosen is beginning to rebuild the IP catalog, although these seem to be Stern Electronics titles, not Atari. Hopefully we get the home ports in Atari 50 in some form. Nothing's been done with Berzerk in forever so I imagine these was a cheap acquisition but still cool and a good sign.

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/atari-nabs-the-rights-to-12-retro-titles-including-berzerk-and-frenzy

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36 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Weren’t the Stern and Exidy brands held by someone in here? 

IIRC, Mean Hamster had the rights to make new games based on Exidy IP, but the IP itself was held by HR Kauffman, ex-president of Exidy.  This also covered the free-for-noncommercial-use release of several Exidy ROMs for use with MAME.

 

What isn't clear from the article is if they bought the complete rights from Stern for Berzerk and Frenzy, or if they did a buyback of IP/rights for console ports sold in one of the previous fire sales.

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5 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

This is exciting news. Looking forward to the full list of games. I hope Anteater and Targ are on the list.

Arcade games manufactured by Stern[edit]

  • Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)[25]
  • Berzerk (1980)[25]
  • The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
  • Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Moon War (1981)
  • Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)[25]
  • Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Armored Car (1981)
  • Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Frenzy (1982)[25]
  • Tazz-Mania (1982)
  • Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
  • Pooyan (1982)[25] (programmed by Konami)
  • Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
  • Rescue (1982)[25][26]
  • Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Mazer Blazer (1982)
  • Lost Tomb (1982)
  • Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
  • Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
  • Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
  • Minefield (1983)[25]
  • Cliff Hanger (1983)[25] (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
  • Great Guns (1984)
  • Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
  • Super Bagman (1984)[25] (programmed by Valadon Automation)

 

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6 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

Arcade games manufactured by Stern[edit]

  • Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)[25]
  • Berzerk (1980)[25]
  • The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
  • Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Moon War (1981)
  • Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)[25]
  • Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Armored Car (1981)
  • Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Frenzy (1982)[25]
  • Tazz-Mania (1982)
  • Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
  • Pooyan (1982)[25] (programmed by Konami)
  • Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
  • Rescue (1982)[25][26]
  • Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Mazer Blazer (1982)
  • Lost Tomb (1982)
  • Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
  • Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
  • Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
  • Minefield (1983)[25]
  • Cliff Hanger (1983)[25] (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
  • Great Guns (1984)
  • Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
  • Super Bagman (1984)[25] (programmed by Valadon Automation)

 

This list contains 29 games and the press release said that Atari had bought the rights to 12 games including Berzerk and Frenzy.  If we take out the 10 Konami games we are left with 19.  Take out the one Sega game, the one Jaleco game, and the two Valadon Automation games, we are left with 15.  There is also a Laserdisc game that used footage from another company that Stern probably did not have the full rights to, that makes 14.  There are two games that Stern developed, but were released by Tago Electronics.  One would think that Stern would have the rights to those two, but who knows how the original contracts were done.  If we take out those two, we end up with 12.  Another possibility could be the other Laserdisc game and the game that is credited to two individuals instead of to Stern.

 

So we have two for sure.

1. Berzerk

2. Frenzy

 

Eight that did not get knocked off the list by any obvious means.

3. Moon War

4. Armored Car

5. Tazz-Mania

6. Rescue

7. Mazer Blazer

8. Lost Tomb

9. Minefield

10. Great Guns

 

I wonder if these are for sure 10 of the 12.  I have never heard of any of these except for Berzerk and Frenzy.

 

By my method, the last two, assuming the list is correct and comprehensive, would be

11. Dark Planet

12. Goal to Go

or

11. Calipso

12. Anteater

Edited by jeremiahjt
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1 minute ago, Jstick said:

Tazz-Mania presumably has an additional Warner license, which potentially excludes it from the list

The character Taz is only spelled with one Z though.  A quick YouTube search for the Tazz-Mania arcade game yielded a game that did not look like it was connected to the character Taz.

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Just now, jeremiahjt said:

The character Taz is only spelled with one Z though.  A quick YouTube search for the Tazz-Mania arcade game yielded a game that did not look like it was connected to the character Taz.

Yeah, just removed my comment as I was thinking of the "Taz-Mania" cartoon as well as the 2600 game "Taz"

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Along with Exidy and Stern, it would be great to see them pursue the rights to some of the Cinematronics lineup.

 

In particular I'm thinking of Tail Gunner, Rip Off, Starhawk, Armor Attack, and Star Castle. The laserdisc games obviously haven't been sitting on the sidelines all these years and I doubt would be for sale for what Atari SA would want to pay (and doing justice to something Dragon's Lair with the "Recharged" line strikes me as daunting and expensive). But their earlier games that made them an established name in American arcades would make for cool additions to future compilations and such (And give them almost every vector arcade classic ever released in their IP catalogue, which would make the loss of Battlezone sting even more than it already does).

 

And I think there's some interesting candidates in there for future entries in the Recharged line as well.

Edited by Atariboy
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13 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

This list contains 29 games and the press release said that Atari had bought the rights to 12 games including Berzerk and Frenzy.  If we take out the 10 Konami games we are left with 19.  Take out the one Sega game, the one Jaleco game, and the two Valadon Automation games, we are left with 15.  There is also a Laserdisc game that used footage from another company that Stern probably did not have the full rights to, that makes 14.  There are two games that Stern developed, but were released by Tago Electronics.  One would think that Stern would have the rights to those two, but who knows how the original contracts were done.  If we take out those two, we end up with 12.  Another possibility could be the other Laserdisc game and the game that is credited to two individuals instead of to Stern.

 

So we have two for sure.

1. Berzerk

2. Frenzy

 

Eight that did not get knocked off the list by any obvious means.

3. Moon War

4. Armored Car

5. Tazz-Mania

6. Rescue

7. Mazer Blazer

8. Lost Tomb

9. Minefield

10. Great Guns

 

I wonder if these are for sure 10 of the 12.  I have never heard of any of these except for Berzerk and Frenzy.

 

By my method, the last two, assuming the list is correct and comprehensive, would be

11. Dark Planet

12. Goal to Go

or

11. Calipso

12. Anteater

Definitely some interesting titles on the list.  Hopefully they will do something with them.

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Will Journey (the arcade sci-fi shoot 'me up from Stern NOT the Midway game based on the band) as seen only on vintage episodes of Starcade be on that list too?

 

As for Exidy titles I would love to see a port of Mouse Trap, I enjoy playing it on ColecoVision and would love to see Atari put a new spin on it too.

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On 3/16/2023 at 8:41 AM, GraffitiTavern said:

Any idea what the 10 other titles are? The above blurb doesn't mention

  • Armored Car
  • Atomic Castle
  • Berzerk
  • Dark Planet
  • Frenzy
  • Great Guns
  • Lost Tomb
  • Mazer Blazer
  • Minefield
  • Moon War
  • Rescue
  • Tazz-Mania

 

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/03/atari-acquires-the-rights-to-arcade-classics-berzerk-and-frenzy

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