Forgotten Atari Prototype FOUND & FREE to Download & Play on Your VCS: Snark!

[@ataribowlingcgc4465]

I love that 45 years later, early prototypes are still being discovered. This game feels more or less complete. I'm surprised it was never released.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

I love hearing about prototypes and rarities lost to time being rediscovered.

[@McLovin_2007]

I love the topic of unreleased prototypes. They're like a time capsule that's been hidden for decades and then discovered. There is always a story as to why a game was canceled. I've been keeping up with prototypes for NES, SNES, Genesis, and Atari systems.

[@jeffmill]

Newer subscriber here. Also a "GenXGrownup". Love your videos, and really appreciate how there's no filler, like so many other channels. Keep the great content coming.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching and for the kind words, Jeff. You made my Saturday! 😁

[@RCfromtheNYC]

This game is like a mix of an Atari version of Table Hockey mixed in with Tron Deadly Disc. I'm in!

[@ButterSpider3]

Jon, you are on FIRE!!!! Another great find! I look forward to trying this out. But it does look hard.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks, Butter! Always love knowing you're out there watching. 😀

[@drasher25]

I think that looks really fun. Hopefully some wizard will tune it up like Sonar.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

There have to be more disks like that out there full of unfinished Atari games for all platforms. They went KAPUT so quickly when Tramiel came in and fired nearly everyone.

[@Real_Sgt_Tom]

Really really appreciate the guys that are willing to rom dump these lost treasures for all of us to enjoy today. Big Kudos to ya'll for sure!

[@sleekflash16]

Wow, this game actually looks pretty fun to play. I wish it was released. I would have bought it.

[@obxmay]

Excellent channel & episode. Keep up the good stuff!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching, Bob!

[@basketballsteve54]

WoW what a great find, what a great video!!!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks!

[@TiltingT]

Cool finds for sure!

[@thetommygunshow]

Hopefully more will come out.

[@victormercado4478]

So envious of you, saw in your background the following Mask-a-tron, The 6 million dollar man (Steve Austin), and Oscar Goldman action figures. 😢 Wished I still had them.

[@GenXGrownUp]

A fellow Bionic fan, I see. Wonderful. Our next podcast coming this Thursday is all about The Six Million Dollar Man... 😉

[@victormercado4478]

@@GenXGrownUp to be a kid again in the 70's. Not realizing that the toys we got to play would become rare over time. Every boy wanted to be Steve Austin and the girls wanted the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle. I have the complete DVD series on both their shows. If ever a reboot were to take place I hope they do justice for it and not make it crappy and stupid. I look forward to your take on that podcast. Hmm maybe Lee Majors might get wind of this.

[@GenXGrownUp]

@@victormercado4478 Steve has made guest appearances on my videos before. This is the most recent: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nX6ViaunqriFaZY

[@originalfred66]

Slot Racers was also in 1978 and was similar.

[@infraredux]

"Snark" -- the perfect game for a social media age.

[@SchardtCinematic]

I finally got a Retron 77 so I can finally easily hook up a system and play old games again and also put rare roms on the SD card to play. I now downloaded Snark and will probably try it tommorow. I also plan to put the first original 9 Atari VCS games Atari released for the VCS. Combat was the only one I had the actual cartridge for. But that's because it came with the system.

[@brandonsanchez8197]

Pretty much the "bouncing bullet" mode of Combat meets the board game Crossfire

[@wallacelang1374]

This is interesting to see, but I am happy that the original Atari 2600 VCS game of Superman was made and released instead. However if I choose to add some prototype game cartridges to my Atari 2600 VCS collection than I think that I might include this one.

[@JustinEmlay]

Interesting topic. I wonder when seizure issues became something we actually protected against. C64 had crazy flashing screens for a very long time. I don't think people cared back in the 2600 days. I want to say the first serious warnings I ever saw, myself, was from Nintendo for the NES. Google says first reported issues was 1981 but with one report no one would even think twice about it until thousands of reports came in and then whatever study would follow.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

I didn't care because I was not epileptic. My cousin was though so the awareness was high for me in 1981.

[@JustinEmlay]

@@edwardmclaughlin719 Absolutely. Not discounting anything. For those affected I imagine it's always top priority. It' still a problem people have to deal with today. I confronted a store owner that put a strobe light in his window to attract people. I was nice about it. Told him why it's a problem and why it's illegal to do it. He told me to leave and never come back. Ok. One call to code enforcement and it was gone a day later. Why can't people just play nice?

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

@@JustinEmlay If it doesn't happen to them it doesn't exist.

[@freddymccowan]

Love reading about things that 'almost existed'

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

After seeing this great video, I did a quick search on seizures. First thing that popped up was this little factoid. "In 1997, a Pokémon episode that aired in Japan sent roughly 700 people, mostly children, to the emergency room suffering nausea, headaches, vomiting, and epileptic seizures. The culprit turned out to be light - specifically red and blue flashing lights during a battle scene in the episode."

[@tomz500]

Hey, this game looks like it's a blast! I can only imagine all of us kids across America going into convulsions with "Video Seizure Mode" and all the mother's raising heck and news reports. And kids wanting to buy the game just for this reason. Hahaha! It looks fun and I'd have played it over and over again with friends.

[@Stephan5150]

Jon, I don't know if you read these comments but I wanted to let you know that while I don't get the appeal of these old games, I do enjoy watching you as a host and watch most of your videos! Would love to see more GenX content that isn't game related please and thanks. One last thing, I've been watching that fake (or so I thought it was fake) commercial for the VR channel and it just dawned on me now that it may not be fake and a real channel after all, haha! So yeah, I don't think that promo works as it comes across as a parody instead of a real AD, sorry. My .02 watts.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I read every comment Stephan. 😉 Thanks for your kind words. I appreciate when people take the time to comment and I reply to as many as I can. I hear you loud & clear on the GenX experience videos. That's something I'd like to return to, but at the moment I have to chase what does well consistently as I try to make a go of content creation - that fickle algorithm! (youtube.com/@jonofgenxgrownup) I find that different content works better on different platforms, so if you're at all interested, I'd like to invite you to sample our weekly podcast. In that show we're able to take much more time and dig into so many things we love from the '70s, '80s, and early '90s. genxgrownup.com/pod

[@intel386DX]

Looks very fun 😊

[@syntaxerror9994]

Here's hoping a prototype for Gotcha! The arcade game wasn't a huge hit, but the rolling maze seemed like something that could of easily been done on the 2600. Game modes could of been interesting... aside from normal arcade style some of the ideas I had are players shooting missiles or a bouncing ball in a either a tag or "combat" (death match didn't exist yet) style. Different or random maze patterns, or a Dodgeball mode where you got to hit the button at the right moment to avoid getting scored on (holding the button doesn't work)

[@opa-age]

When I was a kid my uncle worked at Atari. He once gave me a Atari 2600 dev kit plus a ton of games loaded on EPROMs. I wonder if there might have been some prototypes on some of those chips. But unfortunately I lost all of it during a fire.

[@GenXGrownUp]

That's what makes these finds so much more amazing. Over those intervening decades, so many way to lose this material. (Sorry about your fire loss.)

[@Gaming-Enthusiast]

Great video 👌👌

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks, GE.

[@xxnoxx-xp5bl]

With a bit of polish, Snark actually looks like it could be a brilliant game.

[@jbponzi1]

This looks like fun.

[@jacobbaranowski]

New games yes 👍 thank you

[@dr.awkward9075]

I'm gonna watch the Snorks & then play some Snark.

[@atarileaf]

What are the chances this gets finished and released in cart form. I'd love a complete copy from atariage

[@djgrom9542]

I've got an original Krokodile Cartridge for the 2600. I know there are better ones out there now, but have you ever done a vid on these devices? They're great/ Multiple ROMS on a programable cart. Just curious if you've seen these. I put all my 'top 10' on there

[@GenXGrownUp]

I have a Harmony cart though it's still in the shipping package and I've yet to try it out! 😜

[@marcospadis]

Awesome. Is it possible to wonder how would be ET fully developed?

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

Fully developed?

[@GenXGrownUp]

I think I get what you mean. There already has been a homebrew tweaking of E.T. to improve things like collision detection around the holes, etc. It available to download and play.

[@wadeeugenecasaldi8872]

I don't think that people could call this boring. This was up against Tank Plus, this seemed more action orientated than Tank Plus. Sort of a cross between Tank Plus and Space Combat.

[@beyondobscure]

Someone shopped at Sears.

[@perfectionbox]

i have to get management at my game company to add spin mode to all their games

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hahaha! Please don't. 😜

[@mr.pavone9719]

Drink every time he says "frenetic" or "chaotic".

[@GenXGrownUp]

🍻

[@westhamwilko]

❤️💯🇬🇧🇬🇧💯❤️

[@kiwirocket64]

Dam Atari games really didn’t care about people getting seizures

[@GenXGrownUp]

Quite the opposite, kiwi. The potential for seizures is cited as the key reason Atari chose not to release it.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

Ears👂 are made for listening and eyes 👀 are made for seeing. Fingers🖐should be used for typing after the first two have been applied. 🤡

[@mwwhited]

Just wait for another 40 years when no one remembers the XBox One because you can't play online only games offline.

[@GenXGrownUp]

That'll put a hiccup in future "retro" gaming. But I have faith in our future generation - smart people will figure out a way to spoof the online component and allow them to be played, I bet. Industrious game fans find a way!

[@thegamesninja3119]

Cool! A game dedicated to my attitude when I post comments 🥷

[@GenXGrownUp]

Zing! 😉

[@thegamesninja3119]

@@GenXGrownUp BAzingGA! Ninja star! 🥷