CX 2632, Space Invaders!

Happy Hanukkah and Thanksgiving everyone! Let us celebrate and give thanks for the mighty Space Invaders, savior of the Atari VCS (later the 2600). We'll talk a little about the arcade game, the 2600  programmer Rick Maurer, and a whole lot about the different packaging variations. One thing I didn't mention in the podcast was my assumption that Atari had an iron grip on the US console rights for Space Invaders for many years. It came out on many systems in Japan, but didn't see any kind of US release until the 90s. That's pretty amazing. Next week, I'm going back to the Activision well with Freeway and one of my very favorites, Kaboom. Hopefully I can get my USB paddle adapter to work so you can hear my amazing prowess at this game! I am good at some games! As always, send your stories and memories to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Also, please send me your Christmas and Hanukkah Atari related memories by December 20th, there will be a special Christmas show released (he says) on December 24th. I am thankful for all of you! Enjoy your holidays!

Pertinent Links

Space Invaders on KLOV
Excerpts from James Hague's interview with Rick Maurer
Pepsi Invaders page at Atari Protos site
Coke Wins article at Digital Press Archives
2005 CGE Keynote Address: Jerry Lawson
2004 CGE Keynote Address: Atari 2600 Programmers (with Rick Maurer) mp3
Feb 2012 World Coin News article by Mark Fox disproving the yen shortage thing (I also forgot to mention this on the show, dammit!)
Now You're Playing With Podcast's Comic Sans Invaders shirt
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of FocusRS - Space Invaders
Double bullets trick on Youtube
How To Beat The Home Video Games - Space Invaders

RC100-X 02, Pooyan, RC101-X 02, Strategy X, & RC102-X 02, Marine Wars!

This episode deals with Konami's entire released output for the Atari 2600, Pooyan, Strategy X, and Marine Wars. I tried not to be too heavy handed with the editing, because it was taking forever. I hope that it's still an enjoyable listen! I heard some mistakes during editing that I couldn't go back and fix: I said NTC where I should have said NTSC; I misused the words "diatonic" and "chromatic;" I forgot to mention the islands in Marine Wars that block you from hitting the ships; and lastly, Gakken released the PAL versions of these games. Next week is a big one: Space Invaders! I forgot to mention on the show that I am working on Wednesday next week, so the show may be released later on Wednesday instead of early in the AM. If you can, please send your stories to me as early as possible next week. Upcoming games include Freeway and Kaboom by Activision, Night Driver and Golf by Atari, Ghost Manor and Spike's Peak by Xonox, and Turbo and Venture by Coleco. Send your stories and memories of these games to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Also, please send in your Atari-related Christmas stories! Listen to the episode for full details, but please have those in by Friday, December 20th. Thank you all so much for listening, I am very grateful to all of you!

Pertinent Links

Pooyan at KLOV
Strategy X at KLOV
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of Focusrs - Pooyan!

7-001, King Kong, & 7-002, Jawbreaker!

King Kong and Jawbreaker are two games that I was pretty unfamiliar with prior to this episode. I only own 3 out of the 10 Tigervision games, they are pretty rare. I wasn't pleasantly surprised by both of these games for the most part! I hope you'll give them a try. Next week I'll be talking about the 3 Atari 2600 games made by Konami, Pooyan, Strategy X, and Marine Wars. On Thanksgiving Eve (I hope), I'll be looking at the first killer app for the Atari 2600, Space Invaders! I am expecting a lot of feedback for that show, you can send that to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I love hearing your stories, please keep sending them in! Thanks to all of you who have done so so far, and of course I thank you for listening and making my show so much fun for me to do! I am very happy that you are enjoying this as much as I am.

Pertinent Links

Tiger Electronics page at Handheld Museum
John Harris interview by James Hague
John Harris interview (about the AmigaDE OS) by Boing Attitude
Paul Slocum's 2600 Music and Sound Programming Guide
Atari 2600 Console Repair Tutorial on Youtube

CX2630, Circus Atari, and CX 2631, Superman!

This week's extra large episode deals with Circus Atari and Superman, another two of my favorite games for the Atari 2600. (I have a lot of favorite games.) Big giant extra special thanks this week to John Dunn, Susan Jaekel, and Mike Lorenzen for graciously sharing their memories of their time with Atari! It was very cool hearing from all of them! Next week I'll be doing King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision. If you have any memories of these games that you'd like to share with the class, please send them to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Please check out the episode for more upcoming games, I am running late and don't want to type them all. As always, thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy it!

Pertinent Links

Exidy's Circus
Bally-Midway's Clowns
James' interview with Jerry Lawson
John Dunn Interview by RH Ball
John Dunn's Algo Art website
Susan Jaekel's website
Atari art article by Andrew Webster
Superman map by Maurice Molyneaux
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of Focusrs - Circus Atari
Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Atari Protos
Nurmix' post about the TCM prototype

007, Halloween, and 008, Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

This special Halloween episode deals with the very rare games Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the only games released by Wizard Video, which was previously a video cassette distributor. Big, big thanks to Rob O'Hara for helping me fit into my costume! Thanks to all of you for listening, I hope you enjoy this episode!

Pertinent Links

Wizard Video web site
Activision 10 in 1 Plug and Play unit review

AG 007, Tennis, & AG 008, Laser Blast!

This week's episode is a fond look at 2 early Activision games, Tennis and Laser Blast. Lots of feedback for these two, plus another audio submission from Rob O'Hara! By the way, I know it's Willy Higinbotham, I had already put the mic away when I caught it in editing. Thank you Willy for video games! Next week I'll be looking at Circus Atari and Superman, two more of my childhood favorites. Upcoming games include King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision, Pooyan, Strategy X, and Marine Wars by Konami, Space Invaders, Night Driver, and Golf by Atari, Ghost Manor and Spike's Peak by Xonox, and Turbo and Venture by Coleco. Please send your stories and memories of these games, any game I've already covered, or anything you'd like regarding the 2600 to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I love reading your emails! Thank you so much for continuing to download, listen to and enjoy the show!

Pertinent Links

David Crane interview by Chris Bienik
Now You're Playing With Podcast
Classic Console Gamernews podcast
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of Focusrs: Laser Blast

CX 2628, Bowling, and CX 2629, Sky Diver!

This week's episode goes into two more of my favorite early Atari games, Bowling and Sky Diver. There's three audio submissions today, I think that's a record! Next week I'll be looking at Tennis and Laser Blast by Activision. Upcoming games include Circus Atari and Superman by Atari. King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision, Pooyan, Strategy X and Marine Wars by Konami, Space Invaders by Atari, and Karate and Spiderdroid by Froggo. If you have any stories about these games that you want me to read on the podcast, please send them to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thanks for listening, I really appreciate it! You guys are awesome!

Pertinent Links

Owen Rubin's web site
Sky Diver on KLOV
Sky Diver on Owen Rubin's site
Cannonball on Owen Rubin's site
Focusrs' Youtube video about Bowling

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Blog page
Listen to the show on the Retro Junkies website!

PB 5060, Death Star Battle, & PB 5065, Ewok Adventure!

This episode is about two more Parker Brothers Star Wars games, Death Star Battle and Ewok Adventure. I didn't mention this in the episode, but the reason that an unreleased (by the company) prototype (Ewok Adventure) is included in the show is because it was assigned a part number. This will be the same for all companies that have prototypes with part numbers, as long as they have since been discovered. Did that make any sense? Also, please continue to bear with me as I try to break away from using a script. I need to practice, and I'm sorry I have to practice on you. It will get better.

Next week I'll be looking at Bowling and Sky Diver, both by Atari. Upcoming games include Tennis and Laser Blast by Activision, Circus Atari and Superman by Atari, King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision, Pooyan, Strategy X, and Marine Wars by Konami, and the original killer app for the 2600, Space Invaders. Send your thoughts and memories of these games to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thanks so much for listening!

Impertinent Links

My guest spot on Throwback Reviews
My guest spot an Adventure Club
Kevin Horton's list of bankswitched 2600 games
Kevin Horton's Atari 2600 mappers
Atari Age's Ewok Adventure page
Video Game Pricecharting's Ewok Adventure page
Scott Stilphen's 2001 interview with Larry Gelberg

1001, Coconuts, & 1002, Cosmic Creeps!

In this week's episode I talk about the 3rd party company Telesys, and two of their games, Coconuts and Cosmic Creeps. Both are enjoyable games, but there's not a whole lot of info available for this company. I certainly make up for that in listener emails! Also, I am trying to get away from having a script for my shows, because it is extremely time-consuming to write and I don't read as well as I would like. This week's show is virtually script free; please bear with me on this, in order to get better I have to practice, and it will get better, it's just going to take some time! I hope you understand and can get past my stammering that I didn't edit out of this episode. Next week I'll be doing two more Star Wars games, Death Star Battle and Ewok Adventure. After that it's Bowling and Sky Diver by Atari, Tennis and Laser Blast (paging Rob O'Hara) by Activision, Circus Atari and Superman by Atari, King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision, and all three of the Konami games, Pooyan, Strategy X and Marine Wars. Please send your thoughts and memories of these games or anything you'd like relating to the 2600 to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Text or audio, your choice, but try to keep it clean; I had a lot of people working blue this week! Well, not really. Thank you all so much for listening and have a great week!

Pertinent Links

Newspaper article on game violence mentioning Telesys, from 1982
Earl Green's Escape Pod podcast
S1500's Classic Console Gamernews podcast
Chris' Classic Gaming Webcast on Youtube
James' People Playing Atari on Youtube

CX 2626, Miniature Golf, & CX 2627, Human Cannonball!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these two games this week! Not everyone feels the same as I do, and that's okay. To each their own. No audio submissions, but lots and lots of emails! And I even remembered all of them this time! Go me! Join me next week as I discuss Telesys and two of their games, Cosmic Creeps and Coconuts. Upcoming games include Star Wars Death Star Battle and Ewok Adventure by Parker Brothers, Bowling and Sky Diver by Atari, Tennis and Laser Blast by Activision, Circus Atari and Superman by Atari, and King Kong and Jawbreaker by Tigervision. If you’d like to send me stories about any of these games, you can send them in text or mp3 form to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. You guys rock, thank you for listening!

This week I appeared on episode 19 of the Throwback Reviews podcast, and we talked all about the Atari 2600 of all things. You can check the show out here. I had a hard time getting used to listening to myself talk while I edit. Listening to yourself talk with other people is even weirder.

Pertinent Links

Cannon Man thread on Atari Age
FocusRS' Favorite Games of the Atari 2600 - Human Cannonball
Craig's blog about his trip on the Pacific Crest Trail