SoundX and Edtris 2600!

This time I talk about the first two homebrew games made for the Atari 2600, SoundX and Edtris 2600, both written by Ed Federmeyer. There are arguments that some other games are the first, but these were first after the 2600 ceased to be. SoundX is a sound utility program, and Edtris 2600 is a version of Tetris. Next week I'm looking at In Search of the Golden Skull, AD&D Treasure of Tarmin, and Burgertime by M Network. Only one of these games was actually released! Coming up I'll be yakking about Frogger and Amidar by Parker Brothers; Swordquest: Fireworld by Atari; Sssnake and Airlock by Data Age; Fire Fighter and Sky Patrol by Imagic; Math Grand Prix and Raiders of the Lost Ark by Atari, and Mega Force and Alien by 20th Century Fox. If you have any feedback for any of these games or any of the games I've covered so far, please send it to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thanks for listening everyone!

Homebrewed Links

Hozer Video Games web site (order the games here)
Inverse Atascii Podcast
Player/Missile Podcast
Player/Missile Podcast Space Invaders contest! Submit your guesses!
Channel F Files podcast
Colecovisions Podcast
Arcade USA on Youtube

CX 2656, Swordquest: Earthworld!

This week I am looking at Swordquest: Earthworld and the ill fated contest that this game started off for Atari (SPOILERS). Very interesting stuff, please make sure you check out the links for great photos and even more info. Next week I am discussing Edtris 2600 and Sound X, both homebrews by Ed Federmeyer. From what I have read, Edtris 2600 is considered the first Atari 2600 homebrew cart. Upcoming games include In Search of the Golden Skull, AD&D Treasure of Tarmin & Burgertime by M Network; Frogger and Amidar by Parker Brothers; Swordquest: Fireworld by Atari; Sssnake and Airlock by Data Age; and Fire Fighter and Sky Patrol by Imagic. Got any feedback for these games, or any of the other games I've covered so far? Send it to me in text or mp3 form at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net.  

Don't forget, Rob from Player/Missile Podcast is very generously sponsoring a contest! He is giving away an e-book copy of Racing the Beam, by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost (it is an Amazon gift e-book, you need to be in the US and have an Amazon account, sorry about that). The next episode of his podcast is devoted to Space Invaders; both of us will be playing the game on the other's system, and you have to guess our combined scores (without going over) to win the book. You have until October 6th, and you can send your guesses to my email address above or post it to the pinned post on the Facebook page.

Thank you for listening everyone!                                              

Earthlinks

2600 Connection Earthworld Solution page
2600 Connection Swordquest Revisited article (Lots of links here)
John Michael Battaglia's web site
John Michael Battaglia interview by Scott Stilphen
Contestant James Schweitzer interview
Robert Ruiz's Earthworld solution
AVGN Swordquest Video
Swordquest: Earthworld at Atari Protos.com
Contest EPROM entry on Atarimania
Masquerade book
The Secret book Wiki (FASCINATING and still unsolved for the most part)

5001002, Death Trap, and 5002002, London Blitz!

Hi there. Thank you for your patience for this show, I had some issues that I talk about in the episode.

Today's episode talks a little about Avalon Hill and the first of their games on my show, Death Trap and London Blitz. Coming up next week is Swordquest: Earthworld by Atari. There's a lot of info on that game and the accompanying contest, so I thought each of those should get its own episode (except Airworld, which never came out). Coming up will be Edtris 2600 and SoundX by Ed Federmeyer; In Search of the Golden Skull, AD&D Treasure of Tarmin & Burgertime by M Network; Frogger and Amidar by Parker Brothers; Swordquest: Fireworld by Atari; Sssnake and Airlock by Data Age; and Fire Fighter and Sky Patrol by Imagic. If you have any feedback on any of these games or any of the games I've already covered, please send it to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I love hearing from you!

In the meantime, Rob from Player/Missile Podcast is very generously sponsoring a contest! He is giving away an e-book copy of Racing the Beam, by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost (it is an Amazon gift e-book, you need to be in the US and have an Amazon account, sorry about that). The next episode of his podcast is devoted to Space Invaders; both of us will be playing the game on the other's system, and you have to guess our combined scores (without going over) to win the book. I will give a cutoff date soon, but it will be sometime in early October. That will be fun!

Extra thanks this week to Avalon Hill CEO Jackson Dott, and Avalon Hill artist Jim Talbot for contributing to my show. Thank you for listening!

Links, Jolly What!

Rebecca Heineman interview by Scott Stilphen
Rebecca Heineman's web site
Jackson Dott's Realtor page
Jim Talbot's web site
Avalon Hill's current site (now owned by Hasbro/WOC)
Now You're Playing with Podcast
Player/Missile Podcast
Atari Age thread about new 4k Pac-Man rom (you can download the rom here)
London Blitz manual

AG 013, Barnstorming, and AG 014, Grand Prix!

Greetings programs! This week I'm looking at Barnstorming and Grand Prix, both by Activision. Next week I'll be discussing the Avalon Hill company and two of their games, Death Trap and London Blitz. Upcoming games include Swordquest: Earthworld by Atari; Edtris 2600 and Sound X by Ed Federmeyer; AD&D Treasure of Tarmin, Burgertime, and In Search of the Golden Skull by M Network; Frogger and Amidar by Parker Brothers; and Sssnake and Airlock by Data Age. If you have any stories about these games that you'd like to share, or about any of the games I've already covered, please send them to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. All get read or played on the show, and it is my favorite part of recording the podcast. Thanks for listening!

Prixotic Links

Barnstorming patch
Grand Prix patch
Grand Prix patch accompanying letter
Grand Prix medal (scroll down to bottom for large pic)
Willie's Grand Prix video! Awesome!
Willie's Barnstorming video
Steve Cartwright's web site
How To Beat the Home Video Games - Barnstorming
Super Action Pak Easter Egg
1984 Info World David Crane interview
James' Howard Scott Warshaw interview CGE 2005
James' HSW Once Upon Atari commercial

CX 2654, Haunted House, and CX 2655, Yar's Revenge!

Today I look at two of my favorites for the 2600, Haunted House and Yars' Revenge. There's a lot to talk about, and now that I've finished recording I forgot to mention the Kids Stuff records. Yars' Revenge had an LP and a book and 45, each having some exclusive content. Like Asteroids, the LP is online but I could not find the 45. Now that's 2 videos I have to make, maybe Willie! will give me some pointers. :) Next week it's Barnstorming and Grand Prix by Activision! Seems like it's been awhile for Activision on my little show here. After that, it will be Death Trap and London Blitz by Avalon Hill; Swordquest: Earthworld by Atari; Edtris 2600 and Sound X by Ed Federmeyer; AD&D Treasure of Tarmin and Burgertime by M Network (I may add another game here, as Tarmin was not released and remains unavailable), and Frogger and Amidar by Parker Brothers. If you have any feedback or memories you'd like to share for any of these games, or if you're getting caught up with my show and want to talk about a game I've already covered, please send it to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net, in written or audio format. I love hearing from you! Thank you all so much for listening!

Haunted Links

Haunted House Easter Eggs
How to Beat The Home Video Games: Yars' Revenge
Willie's awesome Haunted House Video
Willie's Yars' Revenge video (featuring Clutch Cargo as Yar)
Yars' Revenge Kid Stuff album
Mystery Mansion (Haunted House prototype)
Howard Scott Warshaw interview by Scott Stilphen
HSW Keynote at Electronicon, 1997, filmed by Scott Stilphen (this is part 1 of 5, the other parts will show on the right)
HSW on Matt Chat (part 1 of 2, see above)
HSW's Once Upon Atari site
HSW's personal site
HSW's books on Amazon
Original Steve Hendricks Haunted House artwork (scroll down)
Hiro Kimura's web site
Brian's Yars' Revenge review

1001, Custer's Revenge; 1002, Bachelor Party; and 1003, Beat'Em and Eat 'Em!

This week's episode is about the adult games released by Mystique, Custer's Revenge, Bachelor Party, and Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em. Controversial games all, please be advised that this episode has the explicit tag, so do not listen if you are offended by sex or if there are children anywhere near the mp3 player of choice. Next week will be much safer, it will be about Yar's Revenge and Haunted House, two of the better games that Atari made for their system. If you have any feedback about these two games, please send it along to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. It should be a fun show. Thank you for listening!

Palm Beach Post article
White Mountain Apache tribe resolution (PDF)
Porn and Pong book by Damon Brown
Ocala Star Banner article
NY Times article
People Magazine article
Info World magazine article
Canadian news segment
American Indian Community House
American Indian Movement

CX 2651, Blackjack, CX 2652, Casino, and CX 2653, Slot Machine!

This week's episode talks about Blackjack, Casino, and Slot Machine by Atari. I apologize for the delay, I am still trying to get over being sick. Thankfully, my dad should be getting out of the hospital on Friday, and again, I thank you all for your patience and your well wishes. It really does mean a lot to me. Next time, since I am a 12 year old boy at heart (as I mention in this episode and should be readily apparent), episode 69 will be about Custer's Revenge, Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, and Bachelor Party. These are the three Mystique adult games that cause a lot of controversy and at least one lawsuit when they were originally released. I will have a warning at the beginning of the episode and it will also be labeled explicit in iTunes. I realize this will be offensive to some. I don't want to leave these games out because they are part of the game library, so if you are offended by this kind of material or if you listen with your kids, please skip this episode and come back for the Haunted House and Yar's Revenge episode right after this one. As always, if you have any feedback, please send it to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I am thinking that episode 69 will probably not be out until the 13th; hopefully after that I can go back to once a week, because all of this stuff is driving me crazy. Thank you for listening everyone, see you next time!

Pertinent Links

Bob Whitehead interview by Scott Stilphen
Ryan's Atari 2600 site
Player/Missile podcast
Zerbinator Land

Summer Special - Favorite Childhood Toys OTHER Than the Atari 2600

Hi everybody, I feel a little guilty about not having an episode this week. This one is not about the 2600 though; rather, it's about the other toys I had and enjoyed as a kid. I don't necessarily think of the 2600 as a toy, but it was the last toy-like thing that I remember getting. I was 11 when I got it and was 8 months away from Middle School, which changed a lot of things for me. I was also a year from my first job as a paperboy, so I had cash in my pocket for the first time. I would either save up for an Atari cartridge or blow it at an arcade, I don't remember buying toys. Not until my 20s at least, which you'll hear about soon on the Retro Junkies Mini episode I did. I hope you like this episode, but I won't blame you for skipping it. Don't forget, next week we'll be taking a trip to the Atari Casino with Blackjack, uh, Casino, and Slot Machine. If you have any feedback you can send it to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thanks everyone, enjoy the week and I'll see you on the 23rd!

Pivot Pool
Video of Pivot Pool
Earthquake Tower record
Earthquake Tower (with action photo!)
PlaySkool Holiday Inn set
Lego Swiss Villa set
Video of Swiss Villa by a collector
Mego Batman figures
Mego Magnetic Batman figure commercial
Atari Touch Me on KLOV
Police ripoff Simon commercial
More weird Simon commercials
Electronic Quarterback Android app!
Electronic Quarterback at Handheld Museum
Electronic Quarterback hilarious commercial
World of 2-XL
Play 2-XL online! It's awesome!
1978 2-XL commercial

2459, Mouse Trap, and 2463, Lady Bug!

Hello dere. This week I'm profiling a Coleco game, Mouse Trap, and what was supposed to be a Coleco game, Lady Bug. Lady Bug is actually a home brew done by Champ Games/John Champeau, it was never released by Coleco back in the 80s despite being advertised and given a part number. See, vaporware has been around forever! I am spending a few days next week with my dad who is visiting from Arizona, so the show will resume on July 23rd with Blackjack, Casino, and Slot Machine by Atari. If you have any feedback for any of these games, or for any games I've already covered, I would love to read or play it on the show! Just send it to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Enjoy your Cow Appreciation Day and I'll see you on July 23rd. Thanks for listening!

Pertinent Links

Mouse Trap on KLOV
Lady Bug on KLOV
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of Willie! Mouse Trap
Favorite Atari 2600 Games of Willie! Lady Bug
How To Beat The Home Video Games - Mouse Trap
Interview with John Champeau by Scott Stilphen
Champ Games fan page
Interview with John Champeau from the Champ Games fan page
Order Lady Bug from the Atari Age store
Nathan Strum's CheepTech web site
Henry Will's PM Lessons Learned Podcast

CX 2649, Asteroids, and CX 2650, Berzerk!

This week's episode is about Asteroids and Berzerk, two great early arcade ports for the 2600. Big thanks once again to Willie Culver for sponsoring the contest for this episode, where he gave away an Atari Flashback 4! Willie is a great guy, make sure you watch him on Youtube at Arcade USA or listen to the Colecovisions podcast and the upcoming Channel F Files! As I say in the show, I should have split these games up to make it a little easier on me, but then the Swordquest games wouldn't have been on the same show, and that seems wrong. So it works out. I'm still editing, but I think this may be the longest episode yet. In the future I may do more single-game shows for games I think will garner a lot of feedback. Next week I'll be talking about Mousetrap by Coleco and Ladybug by John Champeau. I'm hoping my copy of Ladybug is here soon! In future episodes I'll be doing Blackjack, Casino, Slot Machine, Yar's Revenge and Haunted House by Atari; Grand Prix and Barnstorming by Activision; Death Trap and London Blitz by Avalon Hill; and Swordquest: Earthworld and Swordquest: Fireworld by Atari. Send your feedback in any shape or size to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you everyone for listening!

Pertinent Links

Asteroids on KLOV
Berzerk on KLOV
Photo of Atari Asteroids tournament machine
Willie's Asteroids video
Willie's Berzerk video
Willie's contest winner video! Thanks Willie!
How to Beat the Home Video Games: Berzerk
How to Beat the Home Video Games: Asteroids
Kid Stuff Asteroids Album