Author Topic: Game Shows on the Atari 2600? (Read 5904 times)

ilb4ever2000 · « **on:** May 14, 2005, 03:04:47 PM »

Over at the video game website Digital Press, journalist Leonard Herman has a column about the International Toy Fair. He talks about Toy Fair 1983 and a bit about The Great Game Company, who wanted to adapt a bunch of game shows to the Atari 2600 (some of you may already have heard of them). There's also some interesting promotional material to look at. Take a look...

Link: http://www.digitpress.com/columns/gamescholar.htm

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 14, 2005, 03:12:08 PM »

Heh.
Matt Ottinger--did you know this?

saussage · « **Reply #2 on:** May 14, 2005, 05:34:12 PM »

Since I own an Atari 2600, even though game shows woud've been nice to have, it would've been hard to accomplish. There was just enough memory to process crude gfx and sound, let alone programmers to worry about how much ram to cram in a few hundred questions and answers. I wish some of the amiga games were ported over to the PC since they were the most authentic.

NES, Commodore 64, and the Amiga had some good game shows on their machines. The NES was better built for game show games than the Atari and Gametek pulled it off. Unless the Great Game Company was to include additional hardware embedded in the cart itself, game shows on the 2600 would be next to impossible to do.

If I was to program a new game show video game, I would cg from original footage and include original tape voiceovers (similar to Louie FF that came out on PC a few years back). Louie's FF PC game looked pretty good and felt authentic (although Louie in my opinion is annoying). Adding original footage would also help out for intros and endings if cg were not being used.

Oh yeah, one gripe: if anyone tries to do another WOF for the PC, Pat Sajak better be there! Vanna, stick to your letter turning or touching or whatever you do

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2005, 03:37:16 AM »

It was a good thing there were no game show games for the Atari 2600 because of those strict menory limitations. My first experience with a videogame based on a game show was Classic Concentration back in 1989 for the NES. I was amazed how videogames have progressed even from the Atari 2600 to the NES back then. Of course, it's almost commonplace to try to replicated game show material in the form of a videogame. Now we have plug n'play models(can't wait for the TPIR version next year hopefully).

Johnissoevil · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2005, 09:03:59 AM »

[quote name=\'saussage\' date=\'May 14 2005, 05:34 PM\']Since I own an Atari 2600, even though game shows woud've been nice to have, it would've been hard to accomplish. There was just enough memory to process crude gfx and sound, let alone programmers to worry about how much ram to cram in a few hundred questions and answers. I wish some of the amiga games were ported over to the PC since they were the most authentic.

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This is what TJW would've sounded like on the Atari 2600 during a spin..

"J-kur (choppy edit) J-kur (choppy edit) J-" (glitch)

aaron sica · « **Reply #5 on:** May 15, 2005, 09:28:25 AM »

I can't imagine the puzzles on WoF for the 2600 would have been that involved.

Category is "person": "MR T"

saussage · « **Reply #6 on:** May 15, 2005, 09:28:51 AM »

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' date=\'May 15 2005, 08:03 AM\']This is what TJW would've sounded like on the Atari 2600 during a spin..

"Jo-kur (choppy edit) Jo-kur (choppy edit) JO-" (glitch)

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There wasn't enough RAM to process Jo, only the Ker

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #7 on:** May 15, 2005, 10:44:16 AM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'May 14 2005, 03:12 PM\']Matt Ottinger--did you know this?[/quote]
Indeed I did. Here's a much more relevant article from more than twenty years ago:
http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/library/grtgamco.html

And here's my webpage take on the subject:
http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/elec/index.html#console

The only thing that I didn't know before that article is that The $25,000 Pyramid was also planned as a Great Game Company release.

I've never heard that these games got any further than the planning stages for the 2600. It took the greater sophistication of the Nintendo NES before Great Game Company (by then rechristened "GameTek") could pull off their adaptations. And given the "sophistication" of the NES games, it's hard to imagine just how crude an Atari 2600 adaptation would have looked!

BrandonFG · « **Reply #8 on:** May 15, 2005, 08:29:31 PM »

[quote name=\'saussage\' date=\'May 14 2005, 04:34 PM\']Oh yeah, one gripe: if anyone tries to do another WOF for the PC, Pat Sajak better be there! Vanna, stick to your letter turning or touching or whatever you do

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If I'm not mistaken, Pat will not allow himself or his likeness to be used to market Wheel, which would explain why you've never seen him on a Wheel computer or home game, as well as any Wheel clips shown in movies. I don't remember where I read it (might've heard it on the Wheel THS), but he is a very private person offstage.

pyl85 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 16, 2005, 07:17:52 PM »

Quote

Since I own an Atari 2600, even though game shows woud've been nice to have, it would've been hard to accomplish. There was just enough memory to process crude gfx and sound, let alone programmers to worry about how much ram to cram in a few hundred questions and answers.

I think you could pull off a decent Wheel on a 2600. Just some randomization for the wheel spin. Maybe some flashy colors. Use the joystick to spin (that would have been cool). Puzzles don't take up much memory. For solving, just do a string compare. No need to worry about spelling. It could have worked.

Maybe PYL.....

Quote

NES, Commodore 64, and the Amiga had some good game shows on their machines. The NES was better built for game show games than the Atari and Gametek pulled it off. Unless the Great Game Company was to include additional hardware embedded in the cart itself, game shows on the 2600 would be next to impossible to do.

Were there any U.S. game show adaptations for the Amiga? The only one's I've seen have been from JRJgames.

-Greg

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 16, 2005, 08:29:24 PM »

[quote name=\'pyl85\' date=\'May 16 2005, 04:17 PM\']I think you could pull off a decent Wheel on a 2600. Just some randomization for the wheel spin. Maybe some flashy colors. Use the joystick to spin (that would have been cool). Puzzles don't take up much memory. For solving, just do a string compare. No need to worry about spelling. It could have worked.
[/quote]
Doesn't take up much memory? You had 4K. FOUR. Eight if you bank-switched and were willing to deal with flickering like a mofo.

As for flashy colors, have you played with a 2600 lately?

aaron sica · « **Reply #11 on:** May 16, 2005, 08:39:00 PM »

Agreed with Chris Lemon.

About the flashiest Atari 2600 graphics I remember were some of the Activision games that showed a sunset in the background.Keystone Kapers was a good example, located here: http://www.retrocactus.com/consoles/atari2600/Keystone.gif

ObGameShows: Nick Arcade utilized another home system on its show, the Sega Genesis.

saussage · « **Reply #12 on:** May 16, 2005, 09:07:00 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 16 2005, 07:29 PM\'][quote name=\'pyl85\' date=\'May 16 2005, 04:17 PM\']I think you could pull off a decent Wheel on a 2600. Just some randomization for the wheel spin. Maybe some flashy colors. Use the joystick to spin (that would have been cool). Puzzles don't take up much memory. For solving, just do a string compare. No need to worry about spelling. It could have worked.
[/quote]
Doesn't take up much memory? You had 4K. FOUR. Eight if you bank-switched and were willing to deal with flickering like a mofo.

As for flashy colors, have you played with a 2600 lately?

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The Apple II's on TTD look pretty powerful now

As far as Wheel on the 2600, having only 4 puzzles memorized on the cartridge wouldn't
cut it for me

A modified cart would need to be used for extra processing power and more RAM embedded on the cart. Even then, only things like the "Big Showdown" or "High Rollers" bonus games could be on there. Classic Concentration would be doable but very limited (next to no puzzles, very simple pictures due to limited RAM and lo-res gfx, and a the smallest font is still too big that if you thought that TTD used too many approstrophes and hyphens, think again.)

Oh yeah... this thread is using more than 4k

A Colecovision would be an absolute minimum to put somewhat of a game show cart on it. The NES or C64 were better suited of course yet still not perfect by far.

sshuffield70 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 16, 2005, 10:38:21 PM »

Quote

Were there any U.S. game show adaptations for the Amiga? The only one's I've seen have been from JRJgames.

I'm kinda surprised "Lingo" never took advantage of their association with Amiga.

ilb4ever2000 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2005, 01:49:38 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 16 2005, 07:29 PM\']Doesn't take up much memory? You had 4K. FOUR. Eight if you bank-switched and were willing to deal with flickering like a mofo.

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There was one game with 32K, Fatal Run. Mind you, it was released in 1990.

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...wareLabelID=765