Atarian was a very short lived magazine associated with Atari’s fan club. Only three issues were published and it’s not hard to see why given that 1989 was not exactly at the high point of Atari’s fortunes. The Atari 7800 had been out for a couple of years and while it was profitable for Atari and actually sold better than the Sega Master System in the U.S., it had nowhere near the success of Nintendo. The Atari 2600 was also still alive in 1989 but barely. The last licensed Atari 2600 game in North America was released this year (Secret Quest). One additional game system, the XEGS, was also available from Atari starting in 1987. Functionally it was essentially the same as an Atari 65XE computer so you could think of it as an enhanced Atari 5200 only 100% compatible with the Atari XE line of 8-bit computers.
Despite what the cover says, this is really the second issue so i don’t know why it says “Premier Issue”. The same label is on the real first issue. Contents include:
Interview
- Garry Kitchen – We talk to the pres of Absolute Entertainment
Reviews
- Crystal Castles
- Dark Chambers
- Super Football
- Super Skateboardin’
- Bump ‘n’ Jump
- Hardball
- Ballblazer
- Crack’ed
- Blue Max
- Crossbow
- Commando
Playing Strategy
- Jungle Hunt
- Thunderfox
- Double Dunk
Classics
- Super Breakout
- Jr. Pac-Man
- David’s Midnight Magic
…and more!
