Frank Johnson programmed Inty Donkey Kong (and a load of other games)

[+DZ-Jay]

2 hours ago, Rod said:

Back then I didn't even know it was called a "VCS"--to us kids it was just an "Atari." The model identification didn't become relevant until Atari introduced its Advanced Video Computer System in late 1981 (although it wouldn't ship for a year). I mean, its Advanced Video Entertainment System. I mean its 5200 Advanced Video Entertainment System. I mean its 5200 Supersystem. Oy.

 

That's right.  We all called it the "Atari."  I recall "VCS" from the posters in Sears and the TV commercials.

 

2 hours ago, Rod said:

You're right that Ives makes an effort to be precise and its fun to catch him in a boo-boo. HOWEVER, here he was speaking from a game vendor's perspective, and starting mid-1982 (when Coleco began shipping the Donkey Kong cartridge being discussed here) third party suppliers could no longer just tell the public "it runs on the Atari." They couldn't very well rely on kids to understand that games for the "Atari Video Computer System" wouldn't run on the "Atari Advanced Video Computer System/Advanced Video Entertainment System" either. The distinction between the 2600 and the 5200 was becoming important. Give in now?

 

 

Perhaps.  Although I'm sure that in the offices of competitors they were not being as formal as calling it by its model name, and mostly called it "that thing from Atari." :P

 

1 hour ago, ColecoFan1981 said:

Some fans affectionately called the system the "2600" from the system's catalog number, CX-2600, but that was not its official name until after the 5200 Super System (same internals as the 400 and 800 computers) came out in October 1982, and thus changed the look of the former Video Computer System to match (fans called the new-look system "Darth Vader" because of its all-black casing).

 

~Ben

 

I never met any of those "fans."  I had many (many!) friends who own an Atari VCS console and all of them called it an "Atari" and knew about "VCS" as its official name.

 

   -dZ.

[Rod]

3 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

I never met any of those "fans."  I had many (many!) friends who own an Atari VCS console and all of them called it an "Atari"

Same.

 

3 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

and knew about "VCS" as its official name.

I can't vouch for what my friends may have known. I think JCPenney's may have called it the "Video Computer System" in smaller print in its store displays, but I just don't remember associating it with the initials "VCS" until well after the crash.

 

4 hours ago, ColecoFan1981 said:

Some fans affectionately called the system the "2600" from the system's catalog number, CX-2600,

Never had an Atari catalog back then, only Sears and Penney's. But a little googling does reveal the designation "Model No. CX-2600" on the box. The letter combination "VCS" does not appear.

 

Edited June 11 by Rod

[ColecoFan1981]

20 minutes ago, Rod said:

Same.

 

I can't vouch for what my friends may have known. I think JCPenney's may have called it the "Video Computer System" in smaller print in its store displays, but I just don't remember associating it with the initials "VCS" until well after the crash.

 

Never had an Atari catalog back then, only Sears and Penney's. But a little googling does reveal the designation "Model No. CX-2600" on the box. The letter combination "VCS" does not appear.

 

That I understand, because it was Atari's first proper video game console.

 

~Ben

[+DZ-Jay]

14 hours ago, Rod said:

Same.

 

I can't vouch for what my friends may have known. I think JCPenney's may have called it the "Video Computer System" in smaller print in its store displays, but I just don't remember associating it with the initials "VCS" until well after the crash.

 

That is true.  I just type VCS because it is easier, but I think I was just aware of it being called "Video Computer System."  I remember that name plastered in Sears and JC Penny's, and I believe people on TV and radio called it that as well (as its official name).  We just called it “Atari.”

 

However, I never heard of "2600" until after the post-Nintendo retro-nerd thing started.

 

    dZ.

[+Lathe26]

Just my 2 cents: back in the day, nobody I knew called it the "VCS" or the "2600" (until the 5200 came out).  Everyone just called it "Atari".

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, Lathe26 said:

Just my 2 cents: back in the day, nobody I knew called it the "VCS" or the "2600" (until the 5200 came out).  Everyone just called it "Atari".

Exactly. You would tell your parents, I’m going over to so and so’s house to play “Atari”.