Completed pre-Crash games released post-Crash

[Chris-in-NJ]

Having recently got myself Midnight Magic, I was a little bit surprised to see a 1984 copyright on-screen and a 1987 one on the cartridge itself. What other games, apart from Jr. Pac-Man, were programmed pre-Crash yet released as red labels in 1987 or after?

[Agent X]

I think Solaris was pretty much complete before the crash, with the only notable change being the copyright notice.

 

Also, a good portion of Road Runner was done before the crash.

[kemsted]

jungle hunt says 1988 on the cart label but 1983 during the game

[NovaXpress]

Jungle Hunt was released in 1983, re-released in 1988

[SteveW]

The copyright notices on the various releases of Dark Chambers says it's ©1983 and 1987, if I remember right. I don't have it in front of me at the moment. I always wondered if it was complete, and just not released until '87.

[kemsted]

Jungle Hunt was released in 1983, re-released in 1988

 

why was jungle hunt released twice?

[mos6507]

Solaris was playable but was a smaller game (8K I believe). Doug added more levels and other refinements between the crash and when the game got picked up by the Tramiels that brought it up to 16K.

[NovaXpress]

Remember that copyright dates are NOT release dates. You people know that Midnight Magic is a port of a popular PC game of the time, right? So it would have had an early-80s date no matter whne it was programmed.

 

And everyone knows that Atari relaunched in 87, creating new boxes for many of their previously released games (Jungle Hunt, Gavitar, etc.)

[shining slade]

Does anyone know if any games were excluded from a re-release?

[NovaXpress]

Gotta learn your history kids. Will I blow your mind when I tell you that Atari re-released Coleco games like Donkey Kong and Venture as well?

 

Quick tip: Red Atari box= re-release

[shining slade]

Gotta learn your history kids. Will I blow your mind when I tell you that Atari re-released Coleco games like Donkey Kong and Venture as well?

 

Quick tip: Red Atari box= re-release

I already knew that But not necessarily true either. What about other games like Concentration, Flag Capture, Super Breakout... they were not re-released in red boxes.

[NovaXpress]

Those games were never re-relaeased. Box revisions are not the same thing as the second wave of 2600 games.

[gavv]

Solaris was playable but was a smaller game (8K I believe).  Doug added more levels and other refinements between the crash and when the game got picked up by the Tramiels that brought it up to 16K.

 

 

Well i think it was 'complete' pre-Tramiel because what became Solaris was originally made to be the The Last Starfighter game, and when the movie underperformed as well as the takeover, the license was scrapped

 

gavv

[shining slade]

Those games were never re-relaeased. Box revisions are not the same thing as the second wave of 2600 games.

Ok, so now I'm confused. If these games were not re-released then why are mine dated as such? I thought they were considered as re-releases?

[shining slade]

Not only that, but games like Defender II and Solaris were never released in another form besides red labels. So wouldn't that make it their first release? How can they be re-releases if they were never released prior to the red labels?

[Agent X]

Those games were never re-relaeased. Box revisions are not the same thing as the second wave of 2600 games.

Ok, so now I'm confused. If these games were not re-released then why are mine dated as such? I thought they were considered as re-releases?

 

They are. I interpreted Chris-in-NJ's question as wanting to know what games had their development completed before the crash, but were not released to the public until after the crash. This wouldn't cover games like the ones in your picture, which were previously available to the public before the crash occurred.

 

Not only that, but games like Defender II and Solaris were never released in another form besides red labels. So wouldn't that make it their first release?

 

For Solaris, yes, that was its first release.

 

Defender II, though, is a different story. That game was released before the crash as Stargate. It was also rereleased after the crash under the Stargate name (my own copy has a 1985 copyright on it). I think it was 1987 when that game had its name (on the package and on the title screen) changed to Defender II.

[shining slade]

I remembered Defender II was released as Stargate after I posted! Doh! I was only using it as an example anyway, so instead of that one, how about Midnight Magic? Anyway you get my point.

[Lauren Tyler]

If I recall correctly, Defender 2 was originally released under the name of Stargate when it was first put out in the arcades, as Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar had their own programming group called Vid Kidz, and so they wanted to release it under their own title. When the game was no longer being produced, they renamed it Defender 2 so Williams (now Midway) could retain the copyrights to the game.

 

My guess is since Stargate came out pre-crash, then there was an Atari 2600 port of it made under that title. Post-crash, the game was renamed Defender 2, so when the game was rereleased, they had to rename it. I remember reading that the programmers had to create a new title screen for Defender 2.