History of Video Games -- The Rise and Fall of Imagic

Imagic was the second 3rd party developer after it's founders left Atari. Well they weren't as well known as Activision they did make a bunch of interesting games. Most of their games had bright colors and were able to stand out from the other games at the time. They were only around for a few years, but they did leave a mark on the industry.
#HistoryofVideoGames #ImagicGames #AtariGames

[@PaulWerkema]

Thank you for watching! Let me know what you think or if you have a favorite game made by Imagic or Atari.

[@MrTBoneSF]

As someone whose first computer was an Apple IIe and was also an Atari 2500 owner, the Apple computers weren't considered significant as a gaming platform. They were seen as "serious" and "education" computers because Apple sold their very expensive machines (compared to their contemporaries) at a reduced price to schools. Most companies focused on machines like the C64 and Atari 8bit (and TI94) for arcade-style games because they vastly outnumbered the Apple computers in the homes and were seen as games machines that you could also use to learn programming. Apples were seen a learning machine and business machine first (its "killer app" was Visicalc). I did all my homework on the Apple II but most of my gaming on the Atari. While some games like text adventures would be best on the Apple II (with a monochrome monitor), even the lowly 2600 could do better sound and graphics (unless it was still pictures). Apples also didn't have cartridges- which were harder to pirate compared to discs. Imagic did release titles for the C64, Atari 8-bit and TI94. The reason they went bankrupt was timing and spreading themselves too thin- not because they didn't port stuff to Apple machines. If they started a little earlier they might have had more momentum and cash reserves to weather the crash like Activision did, but they spent big on expansion and advertising right as the crash started. Also, Activision is really the only third party console software company to survive the crash (and they bought out Imagic as the crash was ending). What happened to Imagic is the rule, not the exception.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

Ironic how both Imagic and Activision made the best 2600 games and they were all originally Atari employees until they left. I absolutely love Imagic game boxes.

[@PaulWerkema]

It really speaks to how badly Atari under Warner Communications treated their employees. Yeah Imagic had really cool box art.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

@@PaulWerkema Especially when there was no restrictions on development by third parties back in the day when cartridges were such a new idea. Activision went from nothing to a multimillion dollar company in such a short time. However, Warner's narrow view and mistake was corrected when Nintendo released the Famicom and NES. As you know Nintendo militantly controlled product and developer and even the volume of carts released no different than a dictator.

[@AngryCalvin]

Imagic games rocked on the TI994a. Especially Microsurgeon. What a far advanced game that was back in the day. The multiple screens and detail, along with speech and sound. It’s still an impressive game. It looks like a PC game from the 90’s. Yeah crazy Imagic is not around anymore. They had some memorable titles.

[@karasstig1207]

Great video. Well done! I appreciate that someone covered this! Thank you

[@PaulWerkema]

You're welcome.

[@Mike.Garcia]

I was searching for the documentary on this company and your video came up :)

[@PaulWerkema]

:)

[@bbb462cid]

Even as a kid I recognized the Imagic box art was cheezy as hell and I loved it.

[@mikemac6265]

I was such a fan of imagic games when I was 10 I used to send fan mail letters to the company stating how much of a fan I was. They sent me bumper stickers and posters for freeee. ICE TREK I probably played everyday for a few years. The silver boxes were a marketing breakthrough. Things of silver and gold attract people. I also used to swap out pricing stickers while at the mall. If a game was $29 I would find a $9.99 sticker and place it over the original price. Never got caught.

[@PaulWerkema]

That is really cool man!

[@DerivitivFilms]

I loved Imagic games on my Intellivision...Beauty and the beast was better than Donkey Kong!

[@PaulWerkema]

I had to look Beauty and the Beast. Looks like a fun game. Kind of wish I had known about the Intellivision when I was collecting games because it looks like it would have been a fun system.

[@CaptainGinyu]

oh man i used to live on that game

[@pierresavoie]

I have the entire Intellivision library of games including the rare Fathom game. I saw in the Mattel website at the time that most of the employees at Imagic were those of Atari, Mattel and other companies who were not satisfied with the working conditions. They could not write their own games or their ideas were rejected.

[@fredyboomboom]

Spent many hours as a kid playing demon attack. Imagic had some good games back in the day.

[@lurkerrekrul]

I always wished that they had ported Microsurgeon to the C64. Well, that and Cosmic Ark, and Atlantis, and Star Voyager, and Sword and Serpents (preferably fixed so that it could actually be beaten!).

[@AngryCalvin]

I would have liked a port of Microsurgeon also for the C64. But only if it could match or surpass the TI994a version which was top notch for just about any game back in the day. It’s the best cart ever for that system and still a great game to play 40 years later.

[@JyoAnime]

Demon Attack and Star Voyager were the top two Imagic games in my Atari collection from growing up. I always liked their cartridges. The versions I had were the plain rainbow label carts without the artwork on them.

[@PaulWerkema]

Demon Attack was probably the one I had the most fun with and had a better story behind it than the others. I probably should have looked more into when the cover art changed.

[@8penguin]

Just discovered your channel and I really love it! I wonder why you only have so few subscribers - but I guess it will grow soon!

[@PaulWerkema]

Thanks!

[@marbyyy7810]

totally bet this channel will blow up soon so its pretty cool to find it early on

[@PaulWerkema]

Thanks!

[@evildeceptigod3743]

Great video.

[@PaulWerkema]

Thanks

[@pepijn23]

I actually have both demon attack and phoenix, and personally while I like Demon attack I prefer phoenix over it, not because it’s bad because of that cool bossfight.

[@sulrich70]

These guys were great.

[@PaulWerkema]

Yeah they seemed like it.

[@3vi1J]

I saw a documentary somewhere that had interviews from inside Imagic in the 82/83 time period. It's obvious from the interviews that those guys had *zero* idea that the computer price drops in 83 were about to devastate their business and crater the aging second-gen consoles. I had lots of Imagic's Intellivision games (DragonFire, Demon Attack, etc.). Demon Attack on the Intellivision *did* have the boss battle like Phoenix; it was an obvious rip-off of the arcade game but we didn't care because we loved Phoenix and it was the closest we could get. I also recall Swords and Serpents being good, but also being punishingly difficult.

[@PaulWerkema]

I'll have to keep an eye out for the documentary!

[@3vi1J]

@@PaulWerkema This might be the one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p57Vi4iEfqmAaM0. It's been many many years since I saw it. :)

[@PaulWerkema]

@@3vi1J Thanks! I'll check it out.

[@Mike.Garcia]

@@3vi1J I was just looking for that... thanks!

[@johnmogavero8156]

Thank you

[@PaulWerkema]

You're welcome.

[@SonnyGTA]

I have so many of those! Dragon fire, cosmic ark, demon attack.

[@PaulWerkema]

I feel like they're multiplying in my storage space. Along with Combat and Pac Man!

[@SonnyGTA]

@@PaulWerkema hahahahaha

[@SonnyGTA]

@@PaulWerkema I still have the 2600 in the box and all the games still in THEIR boxes. Same with the Nintendo system with ROB the robot. I should prob sell it all.

[@PaulWerkema]

@@SonnyGTA That's really cool! Yeah it's getting to the point where you could sell the cib and sealed stuff for a lot.

[@Sinn0100]

I don't get all of this Mac talk at all. They were never big in the gaming industry. During the 1980's they made overly expensive machines centered around "education." The only time they ever tried to break into the gaming market was in 1994 with the Apple Pippin and it was an abysmal failure. They did try to snag Halo as an Apple exclusive but Microsoft put a stop to that.

[@CHEERSMEOW]

550th subscriber 🍺😺

[@PaulWerkema]

Thank you!

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

To be fair, Apple never was really a big game platform back in the day, at least compared to the others or the IBM PC. So I can understand why Imagic didn't support them much. The quality of their games, however, was generally high. Fairly close to Activision in my opinion.

[@SuperBoomshack]

I liked Imagic games the best on the 2600

[@PaulWerkema]

I really like the color palette of their games.

[@ultrairrelevantnobody1862]

It's a shame retail glut killed such a great third party. Their games were up there with Activision as some of the best on the system.

[@PaulWerkema]

They did have a lot of great games.

[@Nebulous6]

An Imagic interview: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn3YgZeha9Rph7M kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYGxm2l9o8SGp9k

[@mikecronis]

Imagic made games for the Odyssey 2 as well.

[@PaulWerkema]

Thanks for pointing that out.

[@petewilcox3354]

Demon attack looks like a clone of Phoenix. just IMO.

[@OriginalGrasshopper]

Imagic was an awesome company! So many of my all-time fave Atari games were made by them especially “Riddle of the Sphinx”. Imagic’s unique cartridges with that little black handle that jutted out were also really cool, as was their artwork. I remember getting both a free “Sphinx” and a free “Demon Attack” poster by mail from them (we had to send in proof of purchases from other Imagic cartridges). I wish I still had those two posters they were huge and really nice looking.

[@PaulWerkema]

They do have some awesome games! Those posters sound amazing. I'm going to have to look them up.

[@Hchris101]

Is it pronounced eh-magic or eye-magic?

[@PaulWerkema]

I don't think it matters. I always used eh-magic because it's a combination of imagination and magic.