Games for Atari 8-bit computers

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Pole Position game module

1979 to the end of 1983

In addition to the early shoot-'em-up games such as Star Raiders or the board game implementation 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe , other action games, adventure games and arcade implementations were added only a little later. The published titles also included many "bad" ports of, for example, Apple II games without the unmistakable "Atari look", namely a mixture of various colorful and smoothly scrolling graphics, supplemented by typical POKEY music and sound effects.

The games released for the Atari 400 and 800 include many that were considered video game classics back in their day: Star Raiders (probably 1979), Asteroids (1981), and Pac-Man (1982). In particular, the 3D game Star Raiders was seen by many game designers at the time as a defining experience and a reason to opt for an Atari computer and not an Apple II or Commodore PET. Subsequent works such as Miner 2049er (Bill Hogue, Big Five Software, 1982), Eastern Front (1941) ( Chris Crawford , APX, 1982), Capture the Flag (Paul Edelstein, Sirius Software, 1983), Archon (John Freemann , Electronic Arts, 1983) and MULE ( Daniel Bunten , Electronic Arts, 1983) are among the outstanding titles of their time and enabled software companies such as Microprose and Electronic Arts to quickly rise to become industry giants.

1984

In the course of 1984 a whole new quality began to emerge in computer games in general. Atari himself pushed these developments, for example through the collaboration with Lucasfilm , a company that gained worldwide fame through the Star Wars films , which were very popular at the time, with their many animation sequences. As part of this collaboration, the first preliminary versions of titles such as Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus were published in 1984 , which set completely new standards in terms of graphics and density of the game atmosphere. In the area of ​​adventure and role-playing games, an ever-increasing amalgamation of previously stand-alone game types and technical improvements to significantly more complex and seemingly realistic games was emerging. In particular, the role-playing game Alternate Reality - The City, announced at the end of 1984, with its three-dimensional and partly animated visualization of the game environment, promised to take the entire genre to the next level, as did Synapses graphic novels ( Mindwheel , Brimstone , Essex ) with their superior interactive input system (Parser ) and a content that is comparatively demanding in literary terms for text adventures. The top recommended games of 1984 include The Mask of the Sun ( Brøderbund ), The Seven Cities of Gold (Electronic Arts), Boulder Dash (First Star), Archon II: Adept , Bruce Lee ( Datasoft ), Montezuma's Revenge ( Parker Brothers , Ultrasoft), Skyfox (Broderbund), Flight Simulator II (Sublogic).

1985

Contrary to the generally declining commitment in North America, the European countries recorded increases in software manufacturers and new games in 1985. New providers also began to establish themselves in West Germany. Axis Komputerkunst , founded by former Atari employees, published numerous games of various genres with Cavelord , Atlantis , Slotmachine , Cromwell House and Mythos . Not only did they break new ground with the presentation in German, but also with the long-playing record packaging, which is unusual for computer games. There were also Mike's Slot Machine and Pyramidos from AMC Verlag and various cassette games from the Europa Computer Club. Nevertheless, the selection of new and high-quality games for the Atari computers remained small compared to the market leader Commodore 64 at the end of 1985. This was followed by additional restrictions on the availability of games due to indexing by the Federal Testing Agency for writings harmful to minors - popular games such as Blue Max , Beach Head , Raid over Moscow and River Raid were no longer allowed to be publicly advertised and sold in West Germany. According to Atari magazine Antic with the highest circulation in the world, the 1985 favorites included the games Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus by Lucasfilm Games, Spy vs. Spy from First Star Software, The Great American Cross-Country Road Race from Activision , Trivia Quest from Royal Software, F-15 Strike Eagle, and Kennedy Approach from MicroProse Software.

1986

A large part of the 1986 releases were games that were produced in the UK and sold at low prices. These included titles from Mastertronic ( Crystal Raider , Kikstart , Ninja , Spellbound , Storm , Vegas Jackpot ), Americana ( Nuclear Nick , Scooter ), Code Masters ( BMX Simulator ), Firebird Software ( Micro Rhythm , Warhawk ) and Creative Sparks ( Java Jim ), the Atari magazine, the high-circulation English Page 6 , 1989 in its all-time recommendations recorded. Some of these “low-budget” games, often only available on cassette, appeared on the West German market in 1986. Following on from the previous year's successes, other games from local production such as the German Axis Komputerkunst were added, including Schreckenstein , Sereamis and Null Degrees Nord . The German magazine Aktueller Software Markt recommended its readers in 1986 mainly full price games like International Karate from System 3 Software, Colossus Chess 4.0 from English Software, Topographie Deutschland from Radarsoft, Leader Board from US Gold and Infiltrator from Mindscape . The contemporary game recommendations in the USA were almost exclusively full-price games such as Star Raiders II from Atari, Karateka from Broderbund, Hacker from Activision, Ultima IV from Origin Systems , The Eidolon and Koronis Rift from Lucasfilm Games, Colossus Chess from English Software, Silent Service from Microprose, various titles from Infocom and SSI, but also sports games such as Microleague Baseball from MSA and Hardball from Accolade .

1987

In 1987, many more low and mid-range games came on the market in Europe. Among the best was one of the high-circulation Atari Magazine 6 Page manufacturer's products alligata ( Loco ), Rhino Marketing ( AstroMedia ), Master Tronic ( 180 , Amaurote , Despatch Rider , Gridrunner , Henry's House , LA Swat , The Last V8 , Milkrace , Molecule Man , Panther , Powerdown , Red Max ), Bulldog ( Colony ), Firebird Software ( Druid , Spiky Harold ), Domark ( The Living Daylights ), Tynesoft ( Mirax Force ), Players Software ( Dizzy Dice , Excelsor ) and various games from Red Council software. The prosperous market for Atari cheap games attracted another well-known British manufacturer, Atlantis Software, which eventually resulted in titles such as Pothole Pete , Spooky Castle and Daylight Robbery . The West German AMC publishing house enriched the software offer with Bilbo and Tales of Dragons and Cavemen , from the end of 1987 R + E Software started publishing Alptraum and Der leise Tod . In addition, numerous new editions (English re-releases ) of popular older but often no longer available games were published in 1986 and 1987 . These included, for example, Bounty Bob Strikes Back from US Gold, Caverns of Khafka from Top Ten, Decathlon and Space Shuttle from Firebird Software and Adventure International's Preppie from Americana. However, the newly emerged buyer-friendly pricing could not stop the general trend: The Atari 8-bit computers had meanwhile been dropped by most of the well-known game developers - probably due to poor sales accompanied by illegal copying. Software houses that were still represented largely only implemented games for the Atari 800XL half-heartedly, with the poor conversion of the 1987 best-selling home computer game Gauntlet by US Gold aroused international displeasure. The American press recommendations for 1987 consisted mostly of older software, with a few exceptions such as the newly released The Guild of Thieves by Rainbird, Ogre by Origin, and Mercenary - The Second City by Novagen Software.

1988

With the Zybex from Zeppelin Software, published in early 1988 , the quality in the low-price segment reached a whole new level, the presentation and playability left little to be desired by critics. Atari was also very active in the area of ​​new editions and launched plug-in module versions of popular games such as Rescue on Fractalus , Archon , Blue Max and Ballblazer as part of the broad-based marketing campaign for its new XE Game System ( XEGS ) . Atari's range was supplemented by the newly developed cassette titles Thunderfox and Twilight World . In the full price segment, Level 9 released new adventures and Tynesoft contributed another highly rated game with Winter Olympiad '88 . In West Germany, AMC-Verlag published Herbert , R + E Software, recommended by the current software market , developed Fiji , Tigris and In the Name of the King . The highlight in the full price segment , however, was the Draconus by Cognito, which was released in Great Britain at the end of the year , a game that has prompted the specialist press to rave reviews again since Zybex. In the still underserved US, Antic magazine continued to recommend mostly older software, with the exceptions of Alternate Reality - The Dungeon and Bismarck from Datasoft, Bridge 5.0 from Artworx and Sons of Liberty from SSI.

1989 to 1995

After Atari had added new editions for the XEGS to its range of programs in 1988, so-called Atari Games Centers were established on a large scale in Great Britain . These official sales outlets were also intended to distribute the new cassette games such as Tiger Attack , Nucleus , Cygnus , Black Lamp and Heartache . In the field of cheap games, the British companies Kixx and Byte Back entered the Atari home computer market in 1989 for new editions. Nevertheless, the software sales in the British home computer market did not reach more than five percent, whereupon the support of the last larger still remaining manufacturers and also the large-scale software supply in Europe collapsed. From then on, purchasing options were limited to smaller mail order companies and manufacturers. For example, the newly founded manufacturer and distributor KE-SOFT in 1989 tried to close gaps in software supply in West Germany with titles such as Drag , Oblitroid , Sogon , Zador , Tobot and Bros. Due to the extensive computer sales in the Eastern Bloc and the resulting demand for software, a separate manufacturer landscape developed for a few years after the fall of the Wall, especially in Poland: New establishments such as Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon , Mirage Software and ASF produced and sold more than 140 games, Mirage Software even until 1995.

Notes and individual references

Remarks

  1. ↑ The prices for these cassette-based games were around 3 British pounds in Great Britain and around 10 to 15 DM in West Germany.
  2. ↑ Most of the games already available in Great Britain in 1986 were only sold in West Germany the following year.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, p. 12.
  2. ^ Winnie Schäfer: Game consoles and home computers. Gameplan, 3rd expanded edition, 2009, p. 34.
  3. ↑ Michael Ciraolo: Lucafilm Ltd. & Atari. Antic Magazine, August 1984, pp. 40-42.
  4. ↑ Michael Ciraolo: Adventure Trends. Antic Magazine, November 1984, pp. 22-26.
  5. ↑ Michael Ciraolo: Coming Adventures. Antic Magazine, November 1984, pp. 29 f.
  6. ↑ Lenhardts Games 1984
  7. ↑ Linda Tapscott: Games. Antic Magazine, December 1984, pp. 42-45.
  8. ↑ James Delson: Games - 84s finest. Family Computing, January 1985, pp. 26-28.
  9. ^ Peter Finzel: New games for Atari. Computer Kontakt, December / January 1985/1986, p. 68 f.
  10. ↑ See corresponding entries in the Atari software database at www.atarimania.com
  11. ↑ Lothar Neff: AMC-Verlag - veteran on new paths. Atari Magazine, October 1988, p. 10.
  12. ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: Which computer plays best? Happy Computer, Dec 1985, p. 158.
  13. ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: Games on the black list. Happy Computer, Nov 1985, p. 160.
  14. ↑ Fourth Annual Antic Shopper's Guide. Antic Magazine, December 1985, pp. 37-39.
  15. ↑ a b c Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies. Page 6, June / July 1991, pp. 12-17; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies continued. Page 6, August / September 1991, pp. 16-19; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies continued. Page 6, October / November 1991, pp. 26-29; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies continued. Page 6, December / January 1991/1992, pp. 12-15; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies continued. Page 6, February / March 1992, pp. 20-23; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies continued. Page 6, April / May 1992, pp. 20-23.
  16. ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: New cheap games label. Happy Computer, November 1986, p. 14.
  17. ↑ Heinrich Lenhardt: Schreckenstein. Happy Computer, February 1986, p. 160.
  18. ↑ Peter Finzel: AXIS gets started. Computer Kontakt, February 1986, p. 58.
  19. ↑ ASM annual review. Current Software Markt, January 1987, pp. 70-73.
  20. ^ Fifth Annual Antic Shopper's Guide. Antic Magazine, December 1986, pp. 19-26.
  21. ^ Welcome to the Lost Continent. Page 6, July / August 1987, p. 7; 8-bit games. Page 6, December / January 1987/1988, pp. 47-49.
  22. ↑ News for the gift table. Computer Kontakt, December / January 1986/1987, p. 66; R. Knorre: Tales of Dragons & Cavenmen. Computer Kontakt, April / May 1987, p. 55.
  23. ↑ Nightmare and The Quiet Death. Atari Magazine, May 1987, p. 5.
  24. ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: Trade fair trends. Happy Computer, December 1987, p. 12; Heinrich Lenhardt: Playmates, fun & excitement. Happy Computer, Jan 1988, p. 163.
  25. ^ Heinrich Lenhardt: Playmates, Fun & Excitement. Happy Computer, Jan 1988, p. 163; Kirk Ruebottom: The AZ of Golden (and not so Golden) Oldies. Page 6, August / September 1991, p. 19
  26. ↑ Sixth Annual Antic Shopper's Guide. Antic Magazine, January 1988, pp. 43-45.
  27. ↑ Paul Rixon: Atari is back! Page 6, July 1988, p. 75.
  28. ↑ Paul Rixon: Atari is back! Page 6, July 1988, pp. 72-74.
  29. ↑ John Sweeney: Ingrid's back. Page 6, February / March 1989, p. 24 f.
  30. ↑ Winter frolics ... Atari User, May 1988, p. 26.
  31. ↑ Duck good, all good. Current software market, April 1988, p. 16.
  32. ↑ Zeppelin flying high. Page 6, December / January 1988/1989, p. 6; Paul Rixon 8-Bit-Games - Draconus. Page 6, February / March 1989, p. 47.
  33. ^ Gregg Pearlman: Seventh Annual Antic Shopper's Guide. Antic Magazine, January 1989, pp. 39-41.
  34. ^ Atari Corp: The new Atari Games Centers have hit the Town. Page 6, February / March 1989, p. 22 f.
  35. ↑ A new label with classics at budget prices. Page 6, August / September 1989, p. 6 f .; Byte Back brings em back. Page 6, December / January 1989/1990, p. 6.
  36. ↑ The Amiga is dead… Long live the Atari! Page 6, April / May 1989, p. 6.
  37. ↑ German Goodies. Antic Magazine, February / March 1990, p. 9.
  38. ↑ P. Konrad Budziszewski: Poland . In: Mark JP Wolf (Ed.): Video Games Around The World . MIT Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-262-52716-3 , pp. 406 .