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10 custom Atari 2600 cartridges based on movie video games

Posted in Atari, movies, Tron, video games, War Games with tags Atari, Cavalcade Arcade, movies, pop culture, Tron, video games, War Games on March 2, 2012 by Paxton

In May of last year I wrote an article talking about video games in movies that I thought were fake but were actually real. Then, CT over at Nerd Lunch used an image of a Nerd Lunch Atari 2600 cart for Episode 26 of the Nerd Lunch podcast. This immediately got me thinking about all those movie games I want to exist. So, I went out to the custom Atari 2600 label generator and just went buck wild.

Here are some of my creations (click the images to make them BIGGER).

Global Thermonuclear War (War Games) – I did a bunch for WarGames. This was the first one that popped into my mind. How cool would this game be?

Falken’s Maze (War Games) – Another WarGames creation. The name of this game appears in the scene where David Lightman lists the games available from Joshua (aka WOPR). I think Eddie Deezen even tells Matthew Broderick to research Falken’s Maze to learn about the enigmatic programmer. Atari released a similar maze game called Maze Craze (from which I got the picture on the cartridge).

Joshua’s Tic Tac Toe (War Games) – Essentially just a themed Tic-Tac-Toe game. This may seem a bit thin, but Atari actually released a 3D Tic-Tac-Toe game which could probably be re-branded and maybe skinned to match the movie game.

WarGames: NORAD (War Games) – This is not necessarily based on anything specific in the movie. It could be a conglomeration of all the Joshua Games or maybe even a video game recreation of the final NORAD sequence in the film. I just thought it sounded cool.

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Video Games in movies that I totally thought were fake…but aren’t

Posted in Atari, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, video games with tags Cavalcade Arcade, movies, pop culture, video games on May 18, 2011 by Paxton

So, the other day, I was watching one of my favorite movies, Midnight Madness.

In case you didn’t know, it’s about a group of college kids that take part in a city-wide game of chase. They are given clues that lead to specific destinations which eventually end up at the finish line. It’s a great movie and is one of Michael J Fox’s earliest roles. Anyway, about 3/4 of the way through the movie there is a great scene that takes place in a video arcade. It’s always been one of my favorite scenes, especially now, because you can see a bunch of old school video games as the camera changes perspective.

So, after arriving at the video arcade (which is run by a young Paul Reubens in a cowboy costume), the players discover they must play the game Star Fire, and beat it, in order to get the final clue. They gather around the machine with like a million quarters and start playing.

Star Fire 1 Star Fire 2

For years, I thought this game was a creation of the movie. The logo was obviously a rip off of Star Wars and the game play was disjointed and just looked manufactured. You could even see images of TIE Fighters in the game.

Star Fire 3 Star Fire 4

How could this crappy ass game be real? Am I right? However, just recently, while searching around the Internet I discovered that Star Fire was an actual video game. It was manufactured in 1980 by a company called Exidy. The graphics, game play and cabinet were slightly altered in the movie for the purposes of the script (which explains why it felt fake), but the game was most definitely real. Not only that, it is considered a ground breaking shoot ’em up. It was the first arcade game to use the sit down cockpit (however the movie used the stand up version) and was also the first game to keep track of player initials and high scores. Here’s a flyer from 1979 advertising the Star Fire arcade game.

(Via the Arcade Flyer Archive)

I was blown away. I couldn’t believe this was real. I’d seen Midnight Madness thousands of times and I just assumed Star Fire was fake. For me, this is nearly akin to finding out Mattel actually made hoverboards back in 1989. Earth. Shattering. I’ll have to see if I can download an emulator ROM for it.

This got me thinking about other movies with awesome video game machines that I assumed were fake but are, in fact, real.

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14 vintage ads for video games based on movies

Posted in Activision, advertising, Atari, Back to the Future, Batman, movies, Star Wars, video games with tags advertising, Back to the Future, Batman, Cavalcade Arcade, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, Star Wars, video games, vintage on February 21, 2011 by Paxton

I love movies. I love video games. So, obviously, I love video games based on movies. Well, I love the idea of video games based on movies. And this type of corporate synergy has been going on for years. Ever since the enormous popularity of the Atari 2600, both video game companies and Hollywood have tried to capitalize on popular movie brands to boost sales. And it makes for awesome pop culture ephemera.

So here are 14 awesomely vintage ads for video games based on popular movie franchises.

ET (Atari 2600 – 1982) – This is it. The game that felled the house of Atari. Yes, I owned this game and hated every second I played it. I know a lot of people now retroactively say they enjoyed it, but I HATED it. You can only fall into an empty pit so many times before you throw the controller through the TV screen. Surprisingly, this game was designed by the same guy that did Yars’ Revenge, the highest selling original Atari game (and one of my all time favorites). Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. Seanbaby rated ET #1 on his list of 20 worst video games OF ALL TIME.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600 – 1982) – Around the same time ET was released, Atari also released this game based on the first Indiana Jones movie. And it’s starring YOU!

Total Recall (NES – 1990) – Video game based on the popular Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall. Seanbaby rated this game #15 on his list of 20 worst video games OF ALL TIME.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure (NES – 1991) – Bill & Ted. It is amazing this movie was as popular as it was. I mean, the movie spawned a sequel, a cereal, a cartoon show and a live action show at Universal Studios. And Keanu is even talking about making another one. Most excellent. I never played this game but I loved the first movie.

Rambo (NES – 1988) – A side scrolling shoot ’em up adventure game that very closely resembled the Zelda sequel, The Adventures of Link.

(via oldmanwinters)
Star Wars Arcade (Atari – 1983) – The original vector based Star Wars game by Atari was extremely popular with fans. So, of course Atari was going to port it to their home consoles. Here’s an ad for the Atari port of the Star Wars arcade game for the 2600 and 5200.

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Awesomeness Elsewhere – Feb 11, 2011

Posted in 80s, Atari, cartoons, pop culture, TV shows, video games with tags Atari, cartoons, pop culture, TV shows, video games on February 11, 2011 by Paxton

Here’s what I’ve been up to around the Internets:

– On Strange Kids Club I wax nostalgic about CBS’ Saturday Supercade. It was a block of cartoons back in 1983 based on popular video game characters like Donkey Kong, Q-bert and Frogger.

– I also talk about all the new DVD releases this week which include a trio of terrible Brad Pitt movies and Barb Wire starring Pam Anderson’s breasts.

Hope everyone had a great week. Check back next week, we have a big 20th movie anniversary on Monday. It’s not a movie you would expect to have a birthday on Valentine’s Day.

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11 Kool-Aid products you probably didn’t know existed

Posted in Atari, comic books, ice cream, Kool Aid, pop culture, video games with tags Atari, comic books, Kool Aid, pop culture, video games on November 23, 2010 by Paxton

Kool-Aid Man animated gif

Everyone knows the famous Kool-Aid drink packets. Purplesaurus Rex, Cherry, Berry Blue, etc, etc. But drink packets aren’t the only thing Kool-Aid made. There is a plethora of items made under the Kool-Aid banner trying to capitalize on the popularity of one Mr Man (Kool-Aid Man).

Here are 11 items made under the Kool-Aid brand that you may not have known existed.

Kool-Aid Man comic books – Kool-Aid and Marvel Comics collaborated on issues #1, #2 and #3 of The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man comic book. Archie Comics then published issues #4 and #5. Several of these issues were given out free in a mail away premium, and several issues were also available in stores. You might think it would be difficult to come up with engaging stories involving a talking pitcher of Kool-Aid quenching the thirsts of little children, and you would be mostly right. However, the stories were zany and mostly entertaining, considering the entire comic is an advertisement for drink mix.

Kool-Aid Man video game – Yes, there was a video game based on Kool-Aid Man. It was released for the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Sears video game systems. The ad and box above are for the Intellivision version. Here is the box for the Atari 2600 version. If you really want to understand the meaning of the word tedious, then download a ROM of this game and play it.

Kool-Aid bottled drinks – For a while back in the 50s and 60s, Kool-Aid offered their flavors pre-mixed in glass bottles. I’m not sure if they were carbonated or not, but I don’t believe so.

Kool-Aid Kool Pumps – This was a fast food promotion with Burger King. The “push-up” style sherbert bars were flavored with the elusive Sharkleberry Fin. Matt talked about them on X-Entertainment a while back.

Kool-Aid Kid’s Trivia Game – From 1985. This actually existed. It played like Trivial Pursuit, but I would hope the questions dealt with more than just Kool-Aid. How many questions can there be about Kool-Aid?