• Tag Archives Parker Brothers

  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Atari 2600)

    The Empire Strikes Back was released by Parker Brothers for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It shouldn’t be confused with the vector based arcade game that was released in 1985. They are completely different games. While the Atari 2600 version is somewhat derivative of Defender, it is a decent game and one of the better Star Wars games on the 2600.

    The basic game play is much like Defender in that you can fly horizontally in either direction and shoot things. The difference is that instead of shooting down flying saucers and rescuing humans, you are trying to destroy Imperial Walkers. As the game progresses, they move faster as they try to destroy your shield generator. Your goal is to stop them. It is a little more simplistic than Defender and as such doesn’t have quite the replay value.

    Empire Strikes Back is a fun enough diversion in small doses but it can get repetitive (but then that can be said of most Atari 2600 games). For Star Wars and Atari 2600 fans I would say that it is definitely a game that you want to have. Fortunately, it is easily emulated and original cartridges can be found reasonably priced, particularly if you aren’t concerned about a complete in box copy. I don’t believe this one has been re-released and as a Star Wars movie license probably won’t be. However, there is also an Intellivision version of this game if you prefer that system.

    The screen shot above is from the Atari 2600 version of the game



    📂This entry was posted in Atari 2600 Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Frogger (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Allen Banks, Accountant by Day, Frog by Night. 1982 Frogger ad

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/172687109211/gameraboy1-allen-banks-accountant-by-day-frog

    Frogger was one of the first video games I played and probably the first home video game I played. It’s certainly the first one I remember playing. Sometime around Christmas of 1983 I was over at a friends house. He had an Atari 2600. I don’t recall if he had gotten it for Christmas or already had it but I know it was around Christmas time because he had a Christmas tree up. Anyway, the one game I remember playing is Frogger.

    Frogger was originally developed by Konami and released in 1981 as an arcade game. The Atari 2600 port by Parker Brothers came along in 1982 and there are way too many ports, clones, remakes and re-releases to mention. For the early ports, Parker Brothers was responsible for the cartridge based versions and Sierra was responsible for the disk based versions. This meant some platforms (like the Commodore 64) had two versions of the game. The Atari 2600 port was a good one for that system and of the contemporary ports was probably the most played.

    Frogger is kind of a platform game but played from an overhead perspective. Your goal is to guide five frogs from the bottom the screen to the top. You must pass through a number of lanes of traffic without being squashed. Afterwards, you have a brief respite and then you must cross a river by hopping across logs and the backs of turtles that may sink and drown you and alligators that may do the same or eat you if you get to close to their mouth. After successfully navigating five frogs, you will progress to the next level which is much the same, just harder and faster. Frogger was a very unique and popular game for its time and is definitely one of the all time classics.

    There are numerous ways to play Frogger today. If you want to give the Atari 2600 version a try I’m not sure there is an easy way aside from emulation. There is a version of frogger on some of the Atari Flashback consoles but it is a remake, not the original Atari 2600 version. There are of course many better versions out there including those that are arcade perfect.

    The ad and screenshots above are for the Atari 2600 version of Frogger.





    📂This entry was posted in Atari 2600 Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    1983 Star Wars Return of the Jedi Death Star Battle by Parker Brothers

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/169958637256/gameraboy1-1983-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi

    Both Star Wars and the Atari 2600 (then called the VCS for Video Computer System) came out in 1977. You would think they would be a match made in heaven with tons of Star Wars games coming out on the Atari. However, while there were a few Star Wars games that ultimately came out on the 2600, they all came pretty late in its life. Death Star Battle was only the second Star Wars game released for home systems and it didn’t come out until 1983.

    As Atari 2600 games go, this one isn’t bad but it also isn’t anything special. The goal of the game is ultimately to destroy the Death Star and there are two stages. In the first stage you must fend off TIE Fighters while trying to exploit a hole in the energy shield of the Death Star. Once through the shield you progress to the second stage in which you must shoot at various parts of the Death Star to clear a path to the reactor. Then once the reactor is destroyed you must survive the resulting explosion. Upon successful completion, these stages then repeat only at a greater difficulty level.

    In addition to the Atari 2600, Death Star Battle was also released on the Atari 5200, ZX Spectrum and Atari 8-bit computers. Gameplay is similar on all version but the Atari 8-bit and Atari 5200 versions have the best graphics (not that that is saying a whole lot in this case). I don’t think this game has been part of any compilations or otherwise re-released so you will have to track down an original (or use an emulator) if you want to give it a try. The Atari 2600 version is probably the easiest to find and it is close enough to the others in terms of gameplay and graphics that it isn’t going to make a huge difference which one you play. Despite the fact that this ad says “soon available for Intellivision”, I don’t believe it was ever released for that system.





    📂This entry was posted in Atari 2600 Retro Games 📎and tagged