Circus Atari

[Nukey Shay]

Yes and no Pong is the first home game of any arcade.

Whether or not Combat was the first game program completed for the new system prior to release is something that probably nobody would know for sure...especially since different programmers worked on each of them.

[Rob Mitchell]

I stand corrected...Video Olympics has a copyright of 1978...while 4 other ones have a date of 1977.

Air-Sea Battle (Sea Wolf)

Indy 500 (Sprint)

Starship (Star Fire)

Surround (Dominos)

 

Air-Sea Battle (Anti Aircraft)

Indy 500 (Indy 800)

Starship (Starship One)

Video Olympics (Pong)

Combat (Tank)

 

For those of us who purchased our Sears TeleGames in 1977 .. we got Target Fun (Air-Sea Battle) as the pack in game! We paid $20 for Tank Plus (Combat). We had 8 of the original 9 release games in fall 1977. Other than Pong and Indy 800 and Blackjack (with cards), each of the other 5 were new game experiences for me.

 

We purchased Breakaway (Breakout), Space War, Gunslinger, and Circus Atari in 1978 when they became available. I knew of Space War and I had played Circus, Boot Hill (Gunfight), and Breakout in the arcades.

 

Other early (1976-1977) arcade experiences: Death Race (alot), Steeplechase (once), Stunt Cycle(alot), Sea Wolf(electromechanical), Gunfight.

 

BTW: Did Sears ever release game catalogs? I don't remember them at all!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Rob Mitchell]

I'll add Canyon Bomber as a game that I tried in the arcades maybe once or twice. In 78 I bought it at Sears and then returned it just because I really didn't care too much for it.

 

Also Night Driver .. I tried it in the arcades but wasn't impressed with the VCS:2600 graphics.

 

Who knows about which games were programmed first? The word is that the VCS:2600 was ready for debut in 1976!! but was delayed for one year because of legal issues. So I suspect that the first nine were mostly programmed in 76. Maybe Indy 500 was programmed later (it is the most sophisticated of the first batch) and driving wheel games were all the rage back in 1976-77. Perhaps Indy 500 was programmed later and released early to distinguish the VCS:2600 from other competitors.

 

Surely Space War was programmed early .. and it has all the code included to make it play like the original 1960s version as evidenced by Thomas' easy hack! But it was not released until 1978! It could have been one of the 1977 release games! Maybe the sequence of product item numbers can help determine which games were to be first season and second season releases.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA