What If Star Wars was Release in 1977 on the VCS

[Atariboy2600]

For a long timeI aways had that dream of what if in 1977 as Atari VCS was first release that same year they had a 10th game on that relase date and that one game was Star Wars. I love to see how and if they did made a Star Wars game with the 2600 game list so here's my take on how the game and or box labels may had look like. I know that the TEXT cart was first but I like the Picture image better^_^ Im also wonder if some one can HACK a old Atari Star Ship with a Star Wars image like remake the flying ships into Tie Fighters and one asteroid in to the Death Star.

[frogstar_robot]

For a long timeI aways had that dream of what if in 1977 as Atari VCS was first release that same year they had a 10th game on that relase date and that one game was Star Wars. I love to see how and if they did made a Star Wars game with the 2600 game list so here's my take on how the game and or box labels may had look like. I know that the TEXT cart was first but I like the Picture image better^_^  Im also wonder if some one can HACK a old Atari Star Ship with a Star Wars image like remake the flying ships into Tie Fighters and one asteroid in to the Death Star.

858288[/snapback]

 

At that point, the 2600 was still seen as a PONG on steroids. A "Star Wars" from this time frame would most likely have been a 2K ROM. It would be very blocky, have a limited palette, and either very few moving objects or a lot of objects moving in only one direction. Others can speculate about gameplay scenarios.

 

By the time Empire Strikes Back rolled around, a bit more was known about how to get more of the 2600 and 4k carts were getting more common. Come to think of it, we did get a fairly timely Snowspeeder game from Parker Brothers that wasn't half bad.

[Atariboy2600]

For a long timeI aways had that dream of what if in 1977 as Atari VCS was first release that same year they had a 10th game on that relase date and that one game was Star Wars. I love to see how and if they did made a Star Wars game with the 2600 game list so here's my take on how the game and or box labels may had look like. I know that the TEXT cart was first but I like the Picture image better^_^  Im also wonder if some one can HACK a old Atari Star Ship with a Star Wars image like remake the flying ships into Tie Fighters and one asteroid in to the Death Star.

858288[/snapback]

 

At that point, the 2600 was still seen as a PONG on steroids. A "Star Wars" from this time frame would most likely have been a 2K ROM. It would be very blocky, have a limited palette, and either very few moving objects or a lot of objects moving in only one direction. Others can speculate about gameplay scenarios.

 

By the time Empire Strikes Back rolled around, a bit more was known about how to get more of the 2600 and 4k carts were getting more common. Come to think of it, we did get a fairly timely Snowspeeder game from Parker Brothers that wasn't half bad.

858300[/snapback]

 

Well yea I know the fect that it was soo limited and I dont mean the Star Wars from Arcade game I mean at the times as was made they had to use what ever they had so here's two screen-shots from a Star Ship game and I use Photoshop in how it may had looked back then with ships from the movie like From Tei-Fighter, Star Destoyer to the X-Wing landing on the Death Star.

[the 5th ghost]

Very cool looking box and manual!

 

Did you consider making it a numbered text label cart to go along with the other 77 released games?

[Atariboy2600]

Very cool looking box and manual!

 

Did you consider making it a numbered text label cart to go along with the other 77 released games?

858338[/snapback]

 

 

As Im speaking Im doing it now^_^

[Atariboy2600]

Very cool looking box and manual!

 

Did you consider making it a numbered text label cart to go along with the other 77 released games?

858338[/snapback]

 

Here you go a Label Tex for Star Wars and BTW some did hack the Star Ship into Star Wars^_^

StarWarsHack.zip

[vdub_bobby]

Here you go a Label Tex for Star Wars and BTW some did hack the Star Ship into Star Wars^_^

Linky

There's a newer, final (?) version in that thread also.

[Atariboy2600]

Here you go a Label Tex for Star Wars and BTW some did hack the Star Ship into Star Wars^_^

Linky

There's a newer, final (?) version in that thread also.

859078[/snapback]

 

Oops I may had uploaded an old rom

[Cobra Commander]

In '77 Star Wars was a bit of an upstart as well. All new special effects that have never been seen before, and the make-up for all the alien races. In '76 who knew that Atari and Star Wars would be so huge in the coming years? If there was a Star Wars for Atari they probably would have sold more consoles. I'm not sure how they did the first year (anybody know?), but everything Star Wars sold back then.

[Big Player]

In '77 Star Wars was a bit of an upstart as well. All new special effects that have never been seen before, and the make-up for all the alien races. In '76 who knew that Atari and Star Wars would be so huge in the coming years? If there was a Star Wars for Atari they probably would have sold more consoles. I'm not sure how they did the first year (anybody know?), but everything Star Wars sold back then.

859104[/snapback]

 

The 2600 didn't take off in popularity until 1980 when the Space Invaders cart was released.

[Feralstorm]

I think the implication is that a Star Wars game then might've jump-started the VCS's popularity. I wouldn't bet on it though, since the game would likely be 2K then, 4K tops (Atari Superman sold gangbusters, right? ) Actually the hack of Starship may well be on the nose, given Atari's penchant for re-adapting games to licenses on occasion (A-Team Saboteur, Dukes of Hazzard Stunt cycle)

[Atariboy2600]

Here's what the two Star Wars cart and manual should look like together.^_^

[Rob Mitchell]

I know you are wishing to be true to 1977 Atari carts .. but may I state the obvious by saying that the original "STAR WARS" logo would have been on the documentation and cart.

 

I saw Star Wars in the theatre in 1977. I bought Outer Space (Star Ship) in 1977. At no time did I equate Star Ship with Star Wars. So I never ever hummed the Star Wars theme while playing Star Ship. The game sucked in 1977!

 

If Atari had come out with Star Wars version of Star Ship .. then we would now be discussing the first great lousy cart sales fiasco. "Thousands of Star Wars carts were buried in the desert." notice I say thousands. OTOH .. there probably would not be a lousy ET cart .. and a lousy Pac-Man cart.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

(Since 1977 still bummed that "Lunar Lander" sucks worse than Star Ship.)

(Why did we buy it? It was the third game available after Tank Plus and Target Fun.)

Edited May 21, 2005 by Rob Mitchell

[mos6507]

Everything you see on the 2600 in theory could have been done in 1977, including Star Wars: The Arcade Game.

 

The game would have been really expensive, but it was doable. Remember that Indy 500 was an expensive game because of the extra controllers.

 

The technical know-how wasn't there, but the console was still capable of doing the game, obviously.

 

If by some miracle the game had come out via Atari Inc. in 1977 it would have been a huge hit.

 

More to the point, I do think that when Star Raiders came out for the 400/800 in 1979 that it was the earliest, closest experience to SW dogfighting on a home console. It's just that the 8-bit home computers were so expensive it was out of the mainstream. I remember when I first heard about it in the early 80s I was envious of those who had it. Starmaster, Star Voyager, and the 2600 version of SR were just not the same.

[Atari_Jaguar]

Very cool looking box and manual!

 

Did you consider making it a numbered text label cart to go along with the other 77 released games?

858338[/snapback]

 

Here you go a Label Tex for Star Wars and BTW some did hack the Star Ship into Star Wars^_^

859072[/snapback]

Oh my god -- how much for the STAR WARS '77 VCS game you got there?! I will give you a blank check for the box, manual, and cart. Please sell it to me. I want it now!

[Lord Helmet]

Very cool looking box and manual!

 

Did you consider making it a numbered text label cart to go along with the other 77 released games?

858338[/snapback]

 

Here you go a Label Tex for Star Wars and BTW some did hack the Star Ship into Star Wars^_^

859072[/snapback]

Oh my god -- how much for the STAR WARS '77 VCS game you got there?! I will give you a blank check for the box, manual, and cart. Please sell it to me. I want it now!

859841[/snapback]

 

Dude, you do realize that it's a mock-up...right?

[Lord Thag]

Dude, you do realize that it's a mock-up...right?

 

 

Shhhhh! Let him get the blank check first !

[Atariboy2600]

Dude, you do realize that it's a mock-up...right?

 

 

Shhhhh! Let him get the blank check first !

860212[/snapback]

 

Heh-heh-heh!

[AtariDude]

Dude, you do realize that it's a mock-up...right?

 

 

Shhhhh! Let him get the blank check first !

860212[/snapback]

 

No! checks bounce. Send the money via PayPal

[atarilovesyou]

...I'd like to see the mock-up of what the 'proper' cart would look like with the proper logo...other than that, it would look cool!

 

I don't know if I'd say that Star Wars would have made the Atari any more of a success earlier on, I mean, Superman didn't seem to be much of a hit...in fact, I remember it being more of a disappointment. I don't think a Star Wars game would have looked anything like Star Wars: The Arcade Game back in 77, just my thoughts....it probably would have you playing Luke (a white square), with R2 and C3P0 (respectively, smaller blue and skinny squares of blue and gold)...and and EVIL BLACK square, good ol' Vader.

[Atarifever]

Imagine if the movies had been released in order and episode 1 had been made into a VCS game in 1977. The text would read:

1-9 Table legislation at the senate

10-11 Wish Jar-Jar were dead

11-20 Ask for ticket money back

[yuppicide]

The real question should be.. what if the games that came out in 1977 were as good as some of the later games produced?! Do you think they'd have found ways to push the system even further and design even better games?!

[mvigor]

The real question should be.. what if the games that came out in 1977 were as good as some of the later games produced?! Do you think they'd have found ways to push the system even further and design even better games?!

862550[/snapback]

 

I think homebrewers have already found ways to push the system even further, so the original programmers definitely would have.

[G.Whiz]

Today, creating games and merchandising to go along with movies like Star Wars is a no-brainer, but in 1977 it wasn't the same way. In fact, in a lot of ways Star Wars started the whole idea of merchandising -- and not very smoothly. The big "thing to get" for Christmas '77 was a gift certificate saying that Kenner owed you a Star Wars figure that hadn't been produced yet. I think by the time they got the toys manufactured, the movie had already been out a year.

 

Atari was very new too -- in fact the whole gaming industry was. It probably wouldn't occur to them to make a game based on a movie. I think the first one to ever do so (and correct me if I'm wrong) was The Empire Strikes Back by Parker Brothers, but that was three years down the road.

 

For arguement's sake, if Star Wars was willing to sell the "game rights" to Atari, and Atari was willing to buy them, then yes, I think that Atari would have gotten more popular faster -- especially given that Star Wars toys were not available until Spring 1978. As for quality, that would have mattered little because at that point the games were not advanced even by Atari standards. They could have turned Outlaw into a laser shoot'em, changed the graphics, put "Star Wars" on the front, and have the world's first million-selling game.

 

But this is all hind-sight. I have read several threads on this forum questioning why this happened and why that didn't happen, but I think that we all fail to take into account the time period. Yes, there were video games before the VCS, but I would argue that they were mostly electronic toys that used the TV as part of its game play. And the simple fact is that Atari was the first video game company to become popular. They were the pathfinders, essentially creating the video game industry. Things that would seem like "common sense" to us now were difficult questions back then because there were no precedents to base their decisions -- both in terms of creativity and business/marketing.

 

Today co-branding and merchandising are run by formulas, but before Star Wars it didn't really exist on any great level. And that same year with the introduction of the VCS comes the first real steps into the video gaming industry. I would be more surprised today if there had been a Star Wars video game...

 

Great artwork! Blends the Star Wars and Atari styles beautifully.

[seventh sage]

Imagine if the movies had been released in order and episode 1 had been made into a VCS game in 1977.  The text would read:

1-9 Table legislation at the senate

10-11 Wish Jar-Jar were dead

11-20  Ask for ticket money back

862365[/snapback]

I'd be in favor of a simple 2600 Jar-Jar punching simulator.