How Atari Tried to Appeal to Kids

[@BradTheProducer]

Snoopy and the Red Baron was an S tier game. I played it constantly as a kid. The music sounded amazing, and it was also the first game I ever found an easter egg in! In the summary screen after each level, if you let it just sit for a while, a secret song starts playing. I found it when I left it on the screen to take a bathroom break, and came back to a mysterious march playing and was totally freaked out at first.

[@Larry]

They could have gone for kids as the 2600 was getting older at that point, so maybe Atari thought the system might become a hand-me-down to younger brothers/sisters while the older kids upgraded to newer hardware like the 5200.

[@blarghblargh]

as a person who personally went from 2600 to NES, that would make some sense, from the perspective of atari's marketing department.

[@Azzie_S]

Makes sense, usually the late adopters of a system will skew younger because any adult interested in a system can get it pretty early on. It's a bit like how for Switch Nintendo out Princess Peach Showtime 7 years into it's lifespan.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

0:35 love the new dye job, really digging the green(screen) highlights..... LOL

[@SylveonTrapito]

I still have a bootleg argentinian Atari multi cart with the Mickey, Snoopy, Smurfs and the Donald Duck. I never knew is was never released. But the game was here around 1989 or 1990.

[@pojr]

Nice, that's a pretty solid collection of games, and cool that Donald duck got an unofficial release

[@SylveonTrapito]

@@pojr if you want to, I can send you pictures :)

[@SylveonTrapito]

@@pojr I can send you some pictures if you want, so you can show them in your videos :3

[@AloanMoreira1]

8:33 - wow the charlie brown game had amazing graphics for the 2600! clever use of all 7 game elements to make a cartoony display! similarly they did with the Smurfs game which also added 2 channel music!

[@brandong.1857]

It was cool seeing footage of some of these unreleased games. Another great video pojr.

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@nightbirdds]

My parents had given me those Sesame Street games. Got a lot of fond memories about those. The Big Bird one in particular got a lot of play. Those levels with the invisible chutes were kind of brutal, though.

[@Yousef77077]

Thanks a lot for the shoutout, Pojr! It really made our day :)

[@RetroJack]

Almost 12,000 subscribers - so cool seeing your channel grow! 👍👍

[@HelloMyNameIsRED]

I remember first time seeing that controller was in the AVGN intro, thinking that it was one of the most bizarre controller I've ever seen by that time.

[@blakegriplingph]

The edutainment angle was explored in an ad for the 2600 when it was sold in the Philippines during the early 80s. Ferdinand Marcos banned all electronic games at the time (or at the very least, arcade games and pinball machines) in response to a moral panic, so some video game resellers attempted to downplay the consoles as a games machine and present them more as an "educational" tool through software such as BASIC Programming.

[@8ozz220]

Correction for the second part of the video at about 2:20. This definition of consoles not having software built in mostly applies to hardware made after the 1st generation. Every console before the fairchild had all their games built into them, and even after the fairchild and 2600 consoles like the vectrex had a game prebuilt into the machine.

[@Gojiro7]

Dang this video is a double whammy, I never realized how many novelty controller is the Atari had or that it had so many canceled games, this is quite the rabbit hole that has potential for more videos if you ask me

[@skRapKlan]

I recommend you check out the ancient history of "Sierra" and their development of Disney game for the Atari and other home computers before they went full in and focused on the home computers, where they made their brand! A worthy search would be Al Lowe ( he was one of the lead developers for those games in the early days of Sierra)

[@pojr]

Interesting, I'll have to look into it. Nice find!

[@skRapKlan]

@@pojr Happy to share some old knowledge! And thanks for staying strong and keep putting out these awesome videos you do! I love it..!

[@chrisp1601]

Another excellent episode on underlooked video game history. Great job!

[@Digiflower5]

Wow the animation on these games look great. Thanks for shortening the intro a bit. The intro still feels a tad forced though. You may want to convey the intro info with visuals a bit more and less audio to help with flow. Awesome video though I had no idea this stuff existed. :)

[@JohnMartin-ll9cw]

Hard to believe Atari managed to make a controller like the Wii Balance Board before it was even a thing...

[@mr.pavone9719]

Keep in mind it was NOT an analog controller, it was more a giant D-pad in an NES than a Wii balance board. The only analog controllers were the paddles and they only controlled the player sprite on a horizontal OR vertical axis, not both at the same time.

[@FeralInferno]

I wonder if "Miss Piggy's Wedding" was intended to be a movie tie-in with The Muppets Take Manhattan.

[@pojr]

You're most likely correct. Before making this video, I didn't know pigs in space was a reference to the show. So perhaps miss piggy's wedding was a reference too.

[@thewingedavenger1007]

Fascinating. I had an Atari 2600 when I was a little kid but never knew about this stuff. Your voice is very similar to that of Rerez. That channel only talks about rubbish games nowadays, so I tuned out, but you just reminded me of it.

[@Solidier1]

I'm sure kids back then really don't care what games they're playing. Something like the Atari in the 80s was like getting a PS5 or a Gaming PC. The revolution was extraordinaire as technology advance. Seeing their favorite cartoon characters on a video game was like seeing a celebrity on the Sega Genesis in the 90s. Will say though that adding a cassette player that played games like the Commodore was very impressive. Heck using a vinyl to play games like Mario would of been cool.

[@frankchiappetta6600]

Fun fact: The joy board was one of the first products made by Hi-Toro/Amiga Corporation. Apparently this was to raise money and serve as a front to throw off any corporate spies as to what they were really making which was what became the (Commodore) Amiga 1000.

[@toxicmule]

As a kid once, I can assure you, we loved anything and everything we could play. Even E.T. was fun if you paid attention to what you were doing and where you were when symbols appeared. I can't wait on your great grandkids wondering how you managed to have fun playing in only 3d...well, actually almost everything recently made is a throwback to 8-bit..sooo...game on!

[@blarghblargh]

agreed. I think with a bit of a spit polish (specifically, fixing the "get out of the well, fall immediately back in the well" problem), E.T. could have been remembered as one of the best 2600 games today, or at least gotten a "late re-review" treatment by youtubers and considered a misunderstood classic.

[@johnellis3383]

Hey pojr, great video about an interesting subject. Keep up the awesome work man!

[@lunarmodule6419]

Your vids just bring so much memories. I totally understand why you like vintage tech, I love mainframes computers which were before my time. Thx!

[@ScriptCatz]

The good ol ibm big irons, never used one as I’m quite young but I have a deep appreciation for the history of computing

[@MrPoestyle]

Great video again , POJR !!!! I have all of those released games except for the Mickey Mouse game . I made a video on the Sesame Street Games and the Kids Controller last year . They were actually pretty cool games .

[@c6jones720]

I remember having star raiders on the 2600, and the keypad (the single version), but no overlay, so it was anyones guess what the buttons were supposed to be doing.

[@BlueMSX.]

I hadn't ever heard about these until recently from griz, i suppose there's always something new to learn. great video going over this obscure bit of atari history pojr!

[@pojr]

Thank you! If it weren't for grizz, this video would have most likely never happened.

[@caucasoidape8838]

The green screen tinge on Pojr's hair, makes him look like a caveman ninja.

[@retrojoe85]

Most of these Disney unreleased games were often available as pirate multigame cartridges, at least here in some parts of Europe. Today we know that these have never been officially released, but back in the day we saw them just as weird, badly controllable games without knowing the truth about them. Times changes everything, even culture and technology!

[@StarRightStarTight]

Omg that Sesame Street Oscar’s Trash Race game on Atari scared the living $%#@ out of me as a kid when the loud thunder happened.

[@brothersly8294]

That trak and Feild controller was needed for that game... it killed so, so many joysticks that game

[@pojr]

I couldn't imagine playing with a regular joystick, that's gotta be rough lol. But I could see it being fun with the track and field controller.

[@owllymannstein7113]

I never knew Track & Field had its own controller. Trying to play it with a joystick was nearly impossible, though I did find you could get superhuman results if you used the trackball.

[@MengoOfficial]

How would a game console designed for young kids look like today? This is assuming this is on a console with retro hardware and the console was initially designed for older audiences.

[@btr3k]

Not to be too picky, but there's actually another screen to the Sorcerer's Apprentice game... adds a bit to the gameplay? As far as all the canceled games, these licensed games really came at the end of the Atari 2600's (first) life. Shortly afterwards, discount bins of 2600 games for $1 were showing up and then everything being worked on was scrapped.

[@nekokonata]

Just discovered your channel, pretty entertaining retro content. Subbed.

[@zabustifu]

9:41 looks vertical to me. :)

[@pojr]

Yeah I messed that up lol

[@jameslocke1416]

I get the feeling that game developers wanted the flexibility to make those kid-friendly overlays that made some games less cryptic, especially since kids are notorious for not keeping the instructions. But also, if a bunch of kids’ games could work with a regular joystick, it’d hurt the few that really did benefit from the odd controller. Why buy the extra controller if it only was necessary for a couple games, you know?

[@blarghblargh]

I had all of them except the muppets ones as a kid. I remember all of them pretty well, except alpha beam. I remember playing sorcerer's apprentice several times. I don't see you mentioning the second screen at all in this video, with the brooms. I had to look it up on youtube to see if I was just imagining that the other screen existed.

[@jetfrog4574]

Atari tries to appeal to kids with Sesame Street. What really appealed to them, Custer's Revenge, Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em.

[@TheDarkThunder]

Was there some sort of “push” to make children’s entertainment more educational and kid friendly, similar to what happened to Saturday morning cartoons in the 80’s? Where there kick backs to companies making these “children positive” titles?

[@pojr]

This is a good point, and not something I considered.

[@jackofallgamesTV]

I noticed you're missing 1 controller, but in all fairness to you, it's not an Atari one. It's the CBS Booster Grip. Is uses the 2 paddle pots to add 2 extra buttons to a standard Atari Joystick. It was only used for CBS's Omega Race. Also, the 3 different keypad controllers are all electronically equal. Use could use the Keypad. Touchpad. And Kids Controller with all Keypad. Touchpad and Kids Controller games. The only thing that won't fit is the overlays. Try it. It works. If I can have a suggestion for another topic, the crazy cross-pollenation days where Atari had Atarisoft, Mattel had M Network, and Coleco had red and blue label games for the 2600 and INTV. Also Coleco had an interesting 2600 kids lineup with Smurf and Berinstain Bears on the Kid Vid. A cassette adapter that's different from the Starpath Supercharger. It mixes audio on a cassette with 2600 gameplay logic.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

Sunny day...playin' video...games today... Can you tell me how to get...past this level on Sesame Street?

[@MorreskiBear]

Chick at 1:41 was trying to nuke Seattle

[@LodgeMemphis23]

Excellent vid. Keep em coming

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

I never had any of the weirder controllers. I want that big number pad!

[@pojr]

It's a very interesting controller. If I planned the video better, I could have purchased one and actually played the games.

[@MobiBit645]

I liked as soon as I heard the pac-man arrangement music, goated

[@dennissmith5017]

I clearly remember playing the Big Bird Egg Game with a regular controller. Am I being Mandala Effected?

[@CommunistHash]

i swear i see number on controller/gamepad ima lose it xDD

[@MrClawt]

Its a bummer I missed out on the Snoopy game as a kid. Also the Charlie Brown game looks interesting.

[@pojr]

Yeah I wonder what would have happened if the Charlie Brown game were released. It did seem cool, although very early in development.

[@MrClawt]

@@pojr It looks like your goal was to keep your kite flying and avoid the stuff in the air. I could see maybe harder difficulties the wind would change direction or cause the kite to go up or down on its own. The presentation did a good job presenting a common Charlie Brown trope as a game.

[@nevets0007]

there is a keyboard add on for the 2600 i have one the start up plays twinkle twinkle little star

[@JasperTedVidalTale]

Nice catchy kid's egg game

[@ChaossX77]

I've never seen sponsor blocks skips like this in a video before. And it's in your others too. Possibly why you don't have more subs?

[@ajackson1451]

Very interesting, never seen those kid’s games before.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

This was my crappy childhood.

[@LenCrockett]

@pojr how do I DM you? I’m trying to send you a gift for making such awesome content. I think you mentioned you had a Discord but I have no clue how to join.

[@Volcell-85]

I'm curious when some channels say it helps 'our' channel is there more than you involved

[@MarquisDeSang]

Now Atari appeal to old men like me

[@TronBonneVonne]

And me.

[@MarquisDeSang]

@@TronBonneVonnehow old are you?

[@josepha3805]

Atari kids are the only games I play in 2024

[@skRapKlan]

Whow - you left out so much stuff...

[@jamesburke2759]

Never lose the smile :D

[@mr.pavone9719]

The content worth watching (the stuff you clicked ont he thumbnail for) starts at about 6:00

[@gaeshows1938]

Dos and donuts?

[@pojr]

I would also subscribe to a newsletter about dos and donuts

[@cinestubborn]

FIRST❤

[@catsaregovernmentspies]

Noice

[@MrJgsmith]

Your definition of computer and video game is very off. Not every computer has an os.

[@blarghblargh]

I personally think he's describing it in terms of how companies were trying to contrast consoles against consumer home computers in their marketing back then, since the buyer's previous experience with consoles might have been things like pong set top boxes. journalists with a tiny bit of technical acumen might have been confused since the underlying base hardware and architecture was very similar between all of them, and consumers might have just said "thing that plugs into my TV and plays games? I already have one of those...". but yeah, there were plenty of examples of computers that didn't come with an OS at the time. a lot of them were much more expensive or more obscure, so wouldn't necessarily appeal to the less technical customer.

[@stephaneauger1036]

no commentgreat videovery well explain

[@pojr]

Thank you!