In the mood for necromance: Atari 2600 beyond the crash | NES Works Gaiden 74

Rounding out the exploration of Nintendo's 8-bit competition in the U.S. comes the Atari 2600. The original hit console may have found itself diminished by the time NES launched, but that didn't mean it had tapped out. Atari Inc. would continue to push the 2600 as a budget-priced starter system until shortly before the NES's 16-bit successor arrived. This episode looks at what the 2600 represented in the late ’90s as a preamble to a brief series of game retrospectives that may just surprise you with the quality of the material developers and publishers were putting together for this most elderly of consoles...
You can learn more about the Intellivision's history during the INTV days by preordering The NES Era Vol. III: NES and the Peak of 8-Bit, a comprehensive photographic atlas of every console game released for NES and its competitors-including the Intellivision-at the height of their power, from January 1988 through the advent of 16-bit systems in August 1989. Take a deep dive into the prehistory of NES with this limited-edition oversized (12x12"!) photo book: limitedrungame...
Production notes:
Video Works is funded via Patreon ( / gamespite ) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its KZbin debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!
Atari 2600 footage captured in RGB from Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 4K with RetroTink 4X.

[@RndStranger]

The fun is back, as you can see, new 2600 games from Jeremy!

[@nate567987]

nice ryme rnd

[@SynopsisGrim]

Under 50 bucks... FIFTY BUCKS????

[@gartrellwhite7504]

Isn't that nice?

[@lungcancer69]

The fun IS back, oh, yessiree. It's the 2600 from Uh-tar-ee.

[@hybrismc4105]

Love your videos! Also, nice rhyme.

[@FakeNate-t4y]

This is the KZbin programming I look forward to each week. Thank you for making these excellent shows week after week.

[@Nemo2342]

Those cheap 2600 carts certainly helped bulk out the library of games I had for my 7800 until I finally got an upgrade to a NES.

[@RowdyRodimus]

I had the 2600, then got an NES and 7800 (I think I got the 7800 first because it could play the 2600 carts but in not 100%) But I loved going into Kaybee and getting a few games for a little over $5. I can vividly recall getting Galaxian for $3, change from buying my little brother a birthday gift for his first birthday, so it was 1987. My Dad and I probably spent over 100 hours on that game alone, the memories and time spent makes it the best $3 I ever spent.

[@malted.coffee]

My local Kay-Bee was clearing them out for a quarter a pop at one point.

[@mrp4242]

Same. We got a 7800 in 1988, well after the NES was out, but my mom couldn’t afford the more expensive system and it took a lot of her convincing my dad just to get that at its lowest prices. The bargain bin 2600 titles--in addition to those neighbors would either give away or sell super cheap at yard sales, pushed my collection to about 25 games-a dozen for the 7800 and another 13 that were 2600. I had many of the ‘top’ 2600 games--Pitfall, Space Invaders, River Raid, Kaboom, Keystone Kapers, Mario Bros, Millipede. Great times for my early to mid teen years. I didn’t get another console upgrade until I purchased a SNES in the mid 90s with my own money.

[@PaulSoth]

I remember being utterly ecstatic the first time I saw that "2600 is back" commercial as a kid. As someone who still had an old six-switch VCS hooked up, the idea of 2600 games on store shelves again along with new titles was seen as very happy news. Reminds me how in Atari 50, David Crane and Dan Kitchen spoke about how demand for games still existed even after retailers gave up on them. That's the biggest reason why we'll never see something along the lines of the 84 crash again. Even with the industry in the state it's in now, the demand still exists and publishers are no longer reliant on physical retailers.

[@jackbuser]

I remember trying to convince my parents in 1987 to buy an NES when I already had a “perfectly fine” Atari 2600…that I was still playing all the time. My primary argument was that the NES was so good you could actually see the mustache on Mario’s face! Incredible! 😂

[@JetstreamGW]

... Did it work?

[@jackbuser]

Indeed it did but I had to wait for Xmas!

[@RemnantCult]

Thanks for talking about the aftermath of the crash in more detail like this. The crash and its aftermath is more complicated than stated.

[@Sixfortyfive]

I remember reading forum discussions about 10(?) years ago about mid-to-late '80s Atari sales charts that had then recently resurfaced, and people were surprised that 2600 software was more represented than everybody expected. No 2600 game was going to be a hot Christmas item in a post Super Mario Bros world, but a lot of those cartridges eventually found their way from store shelves to the home one way or another. The twilight period of a long-lived console often showcases some incredible technical achievements due to advanced understanding of the hardware coupled with cheaper/bigger ROM storage, only for those titles to be overlooked to some degree because the world at large has shifted focus to the next generation. Kirby's Adventure for NES, Alien Soldier for Mega Drive, etc. The post-crash 2600 library is that much more interesting because the console had anything but a gentle decline like most of its successive mainstream competitors did.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, I really love the look of late-era 2600 games. You'd never mistake them for proper 8-bit titles, but all those raster and H-int visual effects gave the Atari a totally unique vibe and art style. It's honestly pretty amazing what devs were doing with the stock hardware, a decade later.

[@JeremyParish]

You guys are gonna love the Solaris episode.

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@JeremyParish Yep, looking forward to it!

[@absolutezeronow7928]

I share the other commenter's enthusiasm for Solaris. Post-crash 2600 is interesting and I'm glad we've finally come to it.

[@bltxlettuce3444]

I'm Gen Z so I never got to experience at the time, but was quite impressed with Solaris considering the technology when I tried the Atari 50 collection

[@jessragan6714]

Solaris is probably the best game on the Atari 2600. I honestly can't think of any games that measure up, although Midnight Magic was very good for what it was.

[@creepingnet]

Its like a crossover episode of AtariArchive and NESworks without being one.

[@boatofcar3273]

I’d never heard of Atari Archive-thanks for the heads up!

[@Bant_Panorama]

Excited for the Solaris video, one of the few 2600 games I still own and play on my Jr. There doesn't seem to be a lot of material about it online, and I know Kevin at AA hasn't covered it yet.

[@JeremyParish]

It’s an amazing piece of work for the 2600

[@MCastleberry1980]

There are some really interesting late era 2600 games that pulled off minor miracles. Unfortunately there are also "Why did you even try this?" releases like the 2600 version of Double Dragon that was forged by Lucifer himself.

[@jessragan6714]

A 1987 arcade game on a game console released ten years earlier? What could possibly go wrong?

[@michaelboone3087]

The kid down the street had a 2600 Jr and we played Dig Dug, Winter Games, and Snoopy vs the Red Baron. I had no idea that it was the same system as my dad's wood-grained six switcher that he hooked up to the TV (maybe) twice a year. I was that clueless as a kid! Then when I was in 6th grade my dad bought a 7800 and I played that every day, but always wished I was playing Super Mario Bros on NES.

[@dalemuir1105]

I got a new Atari 2600 Jr. for Christmas 1991. I was 6 years old and living in Scotland, and it was a pretty decent introduction to video games. Nobody really had the NES over here, and the SNES and Mega Drive hadn't quite taken over our lives yet (although the Master System was very popular). All the older kids had Spectrums, Amstrads, Commodore 64s and Amigas. My Atari came with a 32-in-1 cartridge, and a bunch of games handed down from a relative. The first video games I ever played were the Atari 2600 versions of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

[@danielespeziari5545]

It's incredible how many times the 2600 died and was then resurrected. Nowadays not only do we have the officially branded 2600+ and officially released cartridges, but also new products from former Activision developers, under the Audacity games name. This is just amazing, it feels like the 80s again

[@OptimusNiaa]

I got Circus Convoy last March, and it's incredible to think that in terms of hardware that game could have been played on a Heavy Sixer VCS in the Fall of 1977. I've got to get Alien Abduction and Casey's Gold.

[@makaveli4205]

@@danielespeziari5545 I think it's cause the games are really simple. Modern games are very complex.

[@CarlWatkins]

I just remember being a little kid and Odd Lots just having giant bins full of Atari games. I had so many 2600 games by the time I actually got an NES 😅

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I was seeing 7800 titles being sold in dollar stores around 1989.

[@PaulSoth]

@@ChristopherSobieniak Same. Managed to get a few of the red box games in one of the really early dollar stores that opened up around here at that time.

[@leegoldsmith2028]

Fabulous research and historical storytelling. Thank you.

[@iLO80]

That Nestle Alpine White commercial always brings me back 😄. There’s a vid out there of Faith No More lead performing that song between sets.

[@makaveli4205]

Commercials now suck. Nothing but prescription pills and insurance lol.

[@JeremyParish]

Ask your doctor if boners are right for you

[@thejackal007]

I sometimes forget that other people knew that Demon Attack existed. I played the crap out of it growing up, myself.

[@rubberwoody]

I remember when my grandma gave me her intellivision there was a receipt for Donkey Kong , $5 at radioshack in 1992. That seems really expensive for that time.

[@jessragan6714]

Poor kids were eatin' good during the video game crash. Games in stores were slashed to clearance prices, and anyone who didn't have an Atari 2600 could easily get one from a yard sale for a small fraction of the original price. Heck, I even remember seeing games in mall discount stores, complete in box, for a dollar each! A dollar!

[@Blur2040]

2600 now too? Late stage 2600 games are super interesting, thats for sure. Some of my earliest memories as a kid, born in 1985, involve futzing with my Dad's 2600. 4 Switch woody. Label art for Super Breakout and Missile Command really resonated. Only game I remember on the screen was Missile Command and I remember not really getting it. We weren't rich and I would guess my dad got it used at a yard sale or similar. The games we had were all early 80s ones. Then again, maybe he got it when it was newish and he was younger with more disposable income. We got on the NES bandwagon by 1989 or so. OK, that aside. You're giving me XEGS --- a computer -- (one of my favorite platforms, btw) and still no MSX? I feel like I'm personally being attacked. So important, practically a console.

[@JeremyParish]

I promise to cover all MSX games released in the U.S. on cartridge during the NES’s lifetime.

[@Blur2040]

@@JeremyParish Your comment is very funny, but I'll hold you to your word if I find that anyone put out a game cart for the Yamaha CX5M. My classic console collecting/interests tend to align very well with the Works series. Very US-console-centric, but including important foreign games. XEGS was a watershed moment though. It was a console in name only. I was playing computer games. Quickly my lines seemed arbitrary and I ended up with a C64, Atari ST, Apple IIGS, etc. Man, most 8 bit computer games suck. Though I like to whine re: MSX about every six months, C64 seems highly relevant too. It was a games console (though not in name), especially post 1985. Anecdotally, an older kid in my neighborhood would show me his C64 once or twice. I remember an off-road racing game, I think it was Epyx's 4x4 Off-road Racing. Really nice guy, he loved games too. Took his life very young. Oh bitter nostalgia. If you ever get to a post retail NES post script I'm going to send you my weird NES homebrews. They're not NESMaker.

[@Megoodfilmguy]

Surprised we didn't hear the "Under Fifty Bucks!" tag during the episode. That phrase was ubiquitous on the tv shows I watched as a kid in those days. Still a great roundup Jemmy, looking forward to seeing some of these releases we were buying at the Pamida for $1!

[@themilobarboyzfoodtryouts8280]

I remember going into KB Toys and 2600 games were in a giant bin at .50 a piece!! I had a laundry basket full of games lol

[@BryceStradling]

I had a 2600 and played it faithfully until I got a snes...in 1996. So ya those kids definitely existed.

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

Resurrecting the 2600 was one of the few smart moves I think Atari made at this time. The NES had made kids fall in love with video games again, but millions of families couldn't afford one. And here comes Atari, with decade-old hardware so cost-reduced you can buy it for $50! And the games cost less than half of what NES games do, which has to be good value even if they're often less than half as good! If you were growing up poor in the 80s, the 2600 meant you could play SOME video games, even if they weren't exactly on a par with what your richer, NES or Master System owning school chums had, and that was a powerful driver of sales. Every Transformers needs a Gobots, and Gobots probably made a lot of money, at least initially, by being a bit cheaper and a bit worse than Transformers. It turns into a car, doesn't it? What more do you want?

[@makaveli4205]

The 5200 was a good system. But the controllers broke easily.

[@MaidenHell1977]

I still remember seeing Atari systems, especially the 2600, featured in retail catalogues well into the NES/Master System dominance of the second half of the 80s. One next door neighbour had a 2600 and the other had a 7800 if I recall correctly. Almost bought a Master System until another neighbour down the street showed me games like Super Mario Bros. 2, 1943, Iron Tank and so on. Man those days were just wild.

[@OptimusNiaa]

"The 2600 never actually died. It just had a few rough patches along the way." I like that. :)

[@Choralone422]

I'm so glad you dove more into what happened post crash and more about what led up to it in the first place! It was a wild time to visit retail for 2600 games back then. As a young child I can remember going to KB Toys & JCPenny in our local mall to check out video games, yes JCPenney sold electronics and video games back then! Pre-crash around 82 or 83 video games had prominent signage and placement in the stores. Post crash sometime in 85, KB Toys kept most video games in cabinets behind the cash register with the closeout games piled in bins between the entrance to the store and the register counter. By late summer 85 JCPenny had moved what was left of the electronics they sold to a corner of the upper level of the store with nearly all video games piled up in bins with prices like $10, $5 and $.75. Yes 75 cents! On one trip I was with my best friend whose mom took us shopping. He begged her to buy a bunch of 2600 games out of the 75 cent bin. He got 10 different games and all of them were complete crap. Not even worth the $7.50 + tax his mom paid for them.

[@spahr001]

My best friend at the time had a 7800 and was mostly stuck buying the new 2600 games to play on it. His next console he decided to get something that surpassed what all the other kids had at the time.... the Panasonic 3DO.

[@JeremyParish]

Damn... R.I.P.

[@dpgreene]

Awesome. I love this and really look forward to it. There’s a lot of impressive late 2600 stuff! I actually got my 2600 in 1995 which technically was our first home console. Second hand from my uncle but we only had early titles. It seemed like a primitive relic to me then, but it probably awakened my fascination with retrogaming even if it was only a few years discontinued!

[@murphiverse]

I still sometimes sing that Nestle commercial song to myself for no good reason at all! :)

[@Aloiv]

2 seconds in and I'm already fully zoomed in on that froggy pin.

[@JeremyParish]

I uploaded in 4K just for you

[@fangjokerLS]

That VH1 esque Nestle's eye catch takes me back

[@rootbeer_666]

@@fangjokerLS I’d still get that jingle stuck in my head years later, finally satisfying the earworm in the early ‘00s by finding websites dedicated to ‘80s commercials and TV themes, all on glorious RealMedi-Buffering…27%

[@makaveli4205]

@@fangjokerLS mentos the fresh maker lol

[@Larry]

I'd love to know if Atari's endless lawsuits at the time affected them in the long run too.

[@nate567987]

well for Atari games yes it hurt corp got to stall the amgia and get there ST out to fight

[@Obscusion2]

By the time Atari Corp did the reverse merger with JT Storage in 1996 the general agreement was that Atari actually had plenty of money (partially from winning its various lawsuits) but had nothing anyone wanted to buy with the Jaguar, while JTS had plenty of product that people wanted to buy with its hard drives but didn't have enough capital to cotinue getting their product out. In theory the merger would have benefitted both sides. In reality, though, JTS wound up squandering all of Atari Corp's money anyway, because it turned out that JTS' hard drives were pretty crappy & weren't worth buying.

[@8bitrocketstudios]

Incredible summary of the crssh, Jeremy.

[@HeroJournalism]

3:39 - an often overlooked element of demo stations were the ones created by the stores themselves, not the video game mfct; in fact, the first documented demo station I've been able to find was created by a local store. I have personal memories of my local mall having demo stations at Daytons (a Macy's type store), Radio Shack, and Sears, and all of them were store-made. The other two were pretty shabby, but Daytons ha a really slick set-up, with a counter-height bar type station an employee could stand behind and pull new carts from under the bar to switch them out, and then behind him was a series of 3 TVs, and they'd have up to 3 or possibly 4 consoles on occasion. It exposed me to SO many more games than I could ever get my parents to buy me. Mainly they'd have out Atari consoles, but I remember INTV out sometimes, and that demo station was the only time I was ever able to play an Odyssee 2 game. The demo station is actually an important part of my gaming history & memories, and it happened mainly for me in 1982, the year the crash began, so I've been researching it to try and put a spotlight on this forgotten area of history. I got a little help from Ethan Johnson, and am really looking forward to his new book that you're publishing. He'd reached out to me after he saw my YT video on contempory (80s) Atari 2600 clone hardware, and has really been helpful, giving advisce on my research. And I'm a big fan of yours, so when I realize I had something to add to the convo your video started, thought I'd give a holler. Keep up the fantastic work, Jeremy!

[@rodneylives]

That clip of 2600 Jr. Pac-Man reminds me how it's a better game than the arcade version.

[@JeremyParish]

That is the conclusion I came to as well in next week's episode. I don't like the arcade game at all, but the 2600 version is a good time.

[@malted.coffee]

My Dad got one of those 2600 emu decks this Christmas specifically so he could relive Demon Attack. Hating those "Blinkin' Blinkers" around level 14-ish are still a family tradition 40 years later.

[@jessragan6714]

I always held a slight grudge against 2600 Demon Attack for not having a boss. Phoenix had a boss! The Intellivision version of Demon Attack had a boss! What's up, Imagic?

[@cooltaylor1015]

My cousin's never had video games at all until they got an Atari in 1994. They never got another console either. But they had dozens of games, and we always had fun.

[@vatica40]

I have the vaguest of memories of seeing a bin of Atari games at KB Toys in what must’ve been 87. We had a garage sale 2600 at the time and I remember picking Haunted House. It all seemed “new” at the time being young and unaware of the past half decade of games.

[@jessragan6714]

It's like NBC used to say... if you haven't seen it, it's new to you!

[@leadbones]

My first console was an Atari 2600 acquired right when the crash hit, from an abandoned next door apartment. I didn't know about the crash because I was only 5 or 6. It was a good time, but it wasn't until Metroid and Zelda that video games became the best thing ever, for me.

[@Kayma]

Seeing clips of that 2600 Pac-Man port caused psychic damage.

[@JeremyParish]

I finally sat down and recorded my own B-roll of the game after years of sourcing footage externally, and my brain is still recovering from the experience

[@Kayma]

@JeremyParish Your sacrifice is recognized and appreciated!

[@rootbeer_666]

@@Kayma I didn’t even know how good Pac-Man could be until we got the Atari 8-bit port, as the 2600 version was my sole frame of reference for far longer than it had any right to be (which is honestly a very low threshold)

[@Kayma]

@@rootbeer_666 it was one of my first games! Honestly surprised I made it past that...

[@Dorelaxen]

Oh wow, that's Jason Brassard from Trade 'N' Games. I haven't talked to him in years. Used to see him around the convention circuit all the time. Bought a lot of stuff from him over the years.

[@DrTedNelson]

Great video. It all looks so quaint today under the ubiquity of cross-platform game design, but all of the 70s/80s tech (and no Internet) led to weird game experience ecosystems among friends. I went my entire childhood without knowing anyone with a Commodore 64 but the Internet talk today makes it feel like everyone had one. One friend had an Intellivision and another had an Atari 800 computer. From 1980 to 1987 all I had was a 2600 and various models of the Radio Shack Color Computer. I so desperately wanted an NES starting in '86 and was certain Santa would deliver that in Xmas '87, but my parents went the "hey here's a 7800! It plays all the games you already have!" route (I played Xevious for hours though). I remember buying Ghostbusters in '85 as featured in the video and Solaris and the port of Kung Fu (Kung Fu Master?) later on in 1987 after the system was already "dead". Finally got an NES in summer '88 and all was right with the world.

[@professorbadvibes695]

I can confirm that my dad and his siblings were among the less fortunate kids in the mid-late 80s who had to settle for a 2600...probably picked up from a yard sale, knowing my grandpa

[@dalemuir1105]

I got mine in 1991.

[@Mechanicoid]

Watching this with my plethora of 2600 and other Atari consoles in my "office" warms my heart. Are we in Post Post Post Crash Atari with the 2600+ and 7800+ now?

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

You aren't kidding about stores selling Atari games at a loss. ET for just $3? Thanks to actually reading the instruction book, unlike most kids apparently, it's ironically my first happy memories with a home console. And later release games like Solaris, Kung Fu Master, Xenophobe, and Off The Wall meant it still felt very alive...albeit, in that painful, just barely a scrappy survivor way I'd learn to associate with Sega systems and the Vita. Thank you for this. And for acknowledging it never died. Most people don't give the 2600 its due, but considering it was a two monochrome sprite and a square ball system with 128 bytes to play with, one scanline at a time? It might be gaming's biggest overachiever. Especially in the 21st century. I still can't believe Star Castle was ported to it, twice...

[@JeremyParish]

I have an old Atari game with a $0.25 sticker on it. Not 25 dollars, 25 cents

[@ralang999]

I remember being 10 in 1984 and basically buying the whole Imagic 2600 back catalog at Montgomery Wards for VERY cheap! My meager kid money spent well lol

[@jasonblalock4429]

Holy crap, I had completely forgotten those vaporwavey Nestle commercials. Sigh. Sometimes I do miss the 80s. And 8:15 I've also long thought the 80s SatAM cartoon\toy boom was largely due to the video game collapse, and parents buying more traditional toys again. Especially considering how the cartoon market started wavering once Nintendo became super popular circa 1987-88. The 'golden age' of 80s toys is basically the exact years that video games were less popular.

[@JeremyParish]

Video games flatlining certainly didn't hurt ’80s toy lines, but the sudden blast of toys-as-TV had more to do with Reagan-era deregulation than anything else-check out my NES Strider video from a few months back. The FCC eased a bunch of broadcast restrictions, and suddenly, 18-30 months later, bam... toy-based cartoons everywhere.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I miss that Nestle used to sell candy in the US, now they simply license to someone else. 😢

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

​​@@JeremyParishSad, but not surprising that's what happened.

[@jessragan6714]

What sucks about the video game lull of 1984-1986 is that they had all kinds of awesome cartoons that never found their way to the Atari 2600 OR the NES. No Thundercats game, no Voltron game, no Orbots game, no Galaxy Rangers game. That didn't really change until the Disney Afternoon.

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@jessragan6714 Not to mention a certain four turtles. I think the reason TMNT succeeded even as other new cartoon IPs at the time were faltering is that TMNT embraced video games as the 'third pillar' of the brand, along with the cartoon and toys. Before that, cartoon to game adaptations weren't guaranateed, and they were usually terrible. Konami might have truly been the Turtles' greatest ally.

[@tidq]

Since there never was licensing, is there even a distinction between 3rd party 2600 games and “homebrew” games? Is the 2600 version of Halo made in 2010 just as valid a part of the console’s library as an Activision game from 1982?

[@AlexeiAugustine]

Glad I'm not the only one who's thought of that.😂 Like, where's the line drawn between a "Homebrew", "Indie", or, let's go there, a "Doujin" developer?

[@JeremyParish]

I will tackle this very question in two episodes

[@OptimusNiaa]

Best left to the philosophers....and Jeremy. :)

[@jeremygregorio7472]

The 2600 was still in demand. The video game crash was caused by a massive recession but that recession only lasted a few months. As soon as it was over people went looking for video games again and when they couldn't find them in retail they called Atari directly to order. Once Atari sold out of the stock of 2600 hardware they had they made the 2600 junior to keep selling it. Atari probably could have gotten consoles into stores sooner but they thought everyone would just switch to PCs.

[@Athesies]

Oh my gosh, we're getting to respect our seniors today :)

[@jaymzjulian]

Honestly every poor kid I knew had a 2600 in the late 80s and as late as1991/1992, and since the rich kids didn't really associate with us, this was just fine We got ours in 1988 and it was amazing at that time

[@JeremyParish]

Man, we were too poor to even afford a 2600. We had bupkis until we saved up enough for an NES in 1988.

[@EriChanTheRetroGamerNerd]

Poor kid in the 90's, got a brand new 2600 Jr. with a brand new copy of E. T. for Christmas in 199X. It's a wonder I'm still gaming...

[@jaymzjulian]

​@@EriChanTheRetroGamerNerd I was super lucky, the pack on for ours was midnight magic and Solaris A bunch of my friends had the one with the 32in1 which was even better

[@ellipticalsoul]

A kid I knew at school (in the UK) got a 2600 from his parents in the 90s, I'm gonna say 92 or 93. I thought it sucked at the time and was surprised he actually ever had it hooked up because he also had a Master System and Amiga

[@sentientbutdumb]

@9:55 Wow, Nintendo sure was ahead of the curve releasing a system with USB and HDMI a decade plus before they were standards! :) I remember seeing Atari games in our local dollar store back when I was a kid. Still wish I had bought one of each, but they felt ancient to kid me by that time.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Thanks for reminding me of the long-dead Castle Vidcons with the peasant revolt comparison.

[@JB_Hunkamunka]

The grand narrative of videogame history tends to go straight from "the ubiquitous slurge of crappy Atari releases crashed the market" to "drunk with power, Nintendo bullied third parties and retailers alike with its restrictive licensing deals" (both mostly true) with only minimal lip service paid to Nintendo's licensing model being an overall beneficial and damn-near necessary component to the industry's on-going health - probably the most overlooked aspect being that the licensing agreement at least ensures console makers and third parties HAVE a relationship with each other. I think it's because Atari and Nintendo tend to be covered separately in these things. The games crash really is a massive, massive partition when it comes to its history: before- and after- crash aren't just different generations or eras, they're downright separate eons! It's almost strange to think that technically Atari and Nintendo did overlap for a number of years.

[@michaelturner2806]

I'm excited to see this diversion but I hope scope creep doesn't overwhelm you.

[@JeremyParish]

I like that people keep saying "scope creep" about a sidebar topic that can't sustain more than about 10 videos in total but at the same time keep demanding to know when I'll get back to covering the thousands of games for N64/Game Boy Color/Game Boy Advance

[@michaelturner2806]

@JeremyParish I wouldn't want to downplay the amount of work that ten side videos would entail. I'm happy with whatever you want to focus on. It's not like all those other games will go away and be unable to be reviewed in the future.

[@goranisacson2502]

Had no idea that this went on for as long as it did, and I'll be very interested to learn more and see where it goes- the Atari is overall not something I'm familiar with as I got my start with the NES. Will be interesting to see what it did in this, it's lonely wandering era after the hey-day was over.

[@JetstreamGW]

I dunno. A video giving an overview of notable latter day Atari releases might be something neat to do for some special occasion.

[@Bro3256]

The VCS/2600 is a good example of a platform technically lasting far longer than was expected. At least you can create cutoff points for the different eras with the present consisting of hobbyists and """Atari""" selling new games for decades old hardware. That in-between from post-crash and discontinuation of the hardware is really interesting though.

[@steveafulton]

I love your videos. I just want to say it was "Atari Corp." after June 1984, not "Atari Inc". but please don't take that as criticism in anyway, your work is superb. Also, please consider an episode about AtariSoft.

[@JeremyParish]

Yes, I’ve been trying to make that precise distinction here but occasionally misspeak

[@steveafulton]

@@JeremyParish It's only in the text description. No big deal, awesome episode! Cosmic Commuter looks like it's generic "Activision" game. Like if you took all Activision 2600 games and trained generative AI with them, that is what it would slop out. It's actually fun game though.

[@PhantomHarlock78]

Is amazing how the best 2600 game come just after the crash. Hero, Enduro, Frostbite, Riveraid, Keystone Kapers. Would be huge 1 year before. They Create Worlds podcast has a serie of episodes about how Atari company mismanaged the sales and overflow the market in 82.

[@dragonchaserkev]

Here in Alberta Canada I know we kept playing the 2600 to about 1986-87 at least. Midnight Magic was a later release I loved and is one of my top 5 games for the system. I remember bins of 2600 games in the big stores for 1.99 or so. Same at rhe end of the NES life, bins of NES gsmes for $9.99. I recall one whole bin of Final Fantasy games which is how I first got that game... And it was decent, I was a huge Dragon Warrior fan but I think my cart glitched and I returned it. Wish I had RHE knowledge to buy the whole bin and keep them about 25 years.

[@andrewkaye2108]

The Atari 2600 (or, as it was called when I first got it, the Atari VCS) was the first console I ever had. By 1983, it was pretty worn out and my Colecovision expansion device #1"played all of its games, so I never got any more 2600 games after that, so this will be, I am sure, interesting AND sad.

[@gartrellwhite7504]

I was more listening than looking, but was there mention of the redesigned 2600? I occasionally think back to the Christmas of '86 or '87 when I was given the choice between a 2600 or Nintendo. And I stayed loyal to what my family knew.

[@MiguelPaulettePerez-bj8ml]

All stores except for Big Lots well into the 1992 shopping season.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

Oh what a time it was during the crash for the poor gamers like me. I was one that was buying lots of games during those years, and prior to 88 the kids at the school were trading games around like trading cards I won a lot of good hands, and yet I also got suckered into some really lame games (like Journey Escape, and a few others). Also our local KB Toys did get new titles, but those were strictly by either Atari, Parker Brothers, or Activision. The rest that they sold came in were from their backroom or other stores to do quick & dirty sales at $5 or under. There was one retailer that sold the largest selection of Atari games even till the spring of 1990 that was Venture (they had a whole isle just for them). Service Merchandise had the second largest selection after the crash however their stock remained until early/mid 1991, and was all the Atari Red Box titles only no third party. Toys R Us did not open in my area until 89, and had only a small 7800 selection (like a dozen total) & Lynx stuff.

[@bloatytoegaming246]

I watched this whole video wondering if "That weird Tax Avoiders game my grandparents bought me" would show up. Snuck it in right at the end.

[@guyvollen8357]

Ha, I bought that one at Kay-Bee Toys for a few bucks. I've never met another gamer in person who'd heard of it.

[@supercrownjosie7732]

I feel like I need a flow chart to understand the state of Atari's disparate video game systems in this era.

[@makaveli4205]

@@supercrownjosie7732 Atari had really good arcade games. They must of made millions off them.

[@beanburritos6393]

For me, the NES and the 2600 lived side-by-side for a long time. Sure, the NES looked far better and played far more advanced titles, but the 2600 was always good for a quick round or two when I had the share my NES with siblings.

[@rootbeer_666]

Watching your series over the years has made me question whether there even _was_ a “Video Game Crash” in the first place, that it was really just a matter of Atari’s wild flailing in the early/mid ‘80s plus the competitors dying out in the years before, because Nintendo came onto the scene pretty much right as Atari was finishing up on painting itself into the corner. How long was the period when video games _weren’t_ popular?

[@JeremyParish]

There absolutely was a crash in the U.S. in terms of new materials coming to market. If you check contemporary media sources, console games flatlined here in 1985. Retailers stopped buying new stock and slashed prices on existing product to get rid of it. Most console manufacturers bowed out, except Atari, but that wasn't even the Atari that made the consoles because Warner sold them off for parts. Third parties either went out of business or moved to computers. There were less than two dozen new console game releases in the U.S. for all of 1985 outside of the NES test launch! I'd call that a crash.

[@rootbeer_666]

@ hm, okay, yeah, I guess I was thinking in terms of video games never really going away, but the console market certainly did dry up for a while there, and I totally forgot to consider that Atari wasn’t even Atari by that point (and would once again not be Atari later on if I’m not thinking of something else). Appreciate the crash course (yeah, fine, pun, whatev) in the nuance of the industry of the time.

[@JB_Hunkamunka]

@@rootbeer_666 Mid-80s, 1984-1986 or so, was pretty much the time period of home videogame machines being thought of as a fad that had just passed. Keep in mind that Atari, Intellivision, and Colecovision were all on their way out by '84, and I don't think the Nintendo Entertainment System really became A Thing in pop culture until about 1987.

[@rootbeer_666]

@ that tracks, I only really became aware of the NES myself in ‘87 and I didn’t have one until the following Christmas. We had an Atari 2600 held over from before my parents became parents, and an 800XL that wasn’t really used for games until it was retired from my dad’s college work in the late ‘80s; the 2600 wasn’t a permanent fixture, having to be set up if we wanted to play it, and the other consoles of the era weren’t on my radar until many years later when I could read about them online. Adding to that, during the years you mention, I was barely even sentient, not having entered kindergarten until Fall ‘86 (I was still dumb enough to be terrified of countdown timers, associating them with explosions because of the Challenger disaster earlier that year). So my awareness of the state of the industry at the time is pretty much zero and 100% based on secondhand accounts from people who were there.

[@rabiroden]

"The fun is back!" is such a funny tagline for this time. Finally, a reprieve from all those pretentious, overcomplicated modern games like Super Mario 2.

[@tuckerrouse4850]

7:13 Four new games in 1985, of which, fully half are Asterix and Obelix

[@JeremyParish]

And later, Atari would be purchased by Infogrames. I sense a French conspiracy here.

[@ProBreakers]

Still bugs me Atari’s leadership did everything they could to make themselves fail.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

When one think "they can't do anything more stupid than this", they always find a way..!

[@IndieGamerChick]

Hey now, Gremlins for the Atari 5200 slaps. You should do a video on it because not only is it a unique game unlike any other, but the story on it is fascinating. Spielberg himself wanted to buy the inventory and sell it. And they said "no" and warehoused the already manufactured copies anyway.

[@JeremyParish]

If I can figure out a good way to record 5200 games without the need to actually buy a modded system, I'd like to cover it. It looks pretty fun, almost like Robotron had a baby with Food Fight or something.

[@IndieGamerChick]

@@JeremyParish You're VERY close. Think "Robotron as a spinning plate game" since you have to keep the Mogwais in the pen while also rounding up everything else and keeping them away from water puddles. It's much, MUCH slower than Robotron and the stop-and-go pace is the only weakness, but otherwise, nothing quite like it. It shares DNA with Robotron, but only in the level format. It's actually so convincing as an original '82 - '84 arcade-style game that I'd be stunned (and crushed) if Atari never seriously considered a coin-op version, especially since the property was hot. One of the most profitable movies of the era with instantly recognizable name and characters. Gremlins for 5200 might be the most tragic crash victim, because it should have been a big deal.

[@baileywatts1304]

From the episode title I was wondering if there was a 2600 port of the Atari 8 bit title Necromancer. Sadly no. That was one hell of a game. Sometimes I wonder if that title would have became big in Japan the way Spelunker did if it was ported to the famicom.

[@JeremyParish]

You'll see Necromancer on XEGS, don't worry.

[@IanSane]

The 2600 being on store shelves as a budget console alongside the 7800 actually makes sense. Since the 7800 is backwards compatible any new 2600 game would also be a potential purchase for 7800 owners. It's not really that different than the PS1 stilling being available alongside the PS2. So maybe Atari would have done better at this time if that was it - just the 2600 and 7800 and nothing else.

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, that’s the thing. The problem wasn’t Atari creating a succession of software support in those two systems, it was their awful marketing and ham-handed decision to cannibalize their own markets with superfluous machines beyond these two.

[@AlexeiAugustine]

I gotta ask, Jeremy: Was covering all the Crash survivors of the NES era in the plan all along, or a result of the tried and true "Video Essay Rabbit Hole Conundrum"?

[@JeremyParish]

It’s been in the works since I started 7800 coverage many years ago, just hadn’t gotten around to pulling the trigger until now

[@jbanks979]

As a kid with a 7800, there’s no greater sadness then being excited “ooh Ms. PAC man” only to realize “dammit they bought me the crappy 2600 version” I know the backwards compatibility of the 7800 was a big selling point at the time, but it may have had the negative effect on my very specific generation “those who were too young to appreciate the 2600 in its heyday”. I think of the 6 or so games I had, only dig dug was the 7800 version. It lead to a feeling that the machine was seriously underpowered when compared to the NES and lead me to getting one of those the following Christmas

[@makaveli4205]

@@jbanks979 The 5200 had really good arcade ports. But the controllers broke easily.

[@jeremycline9542]

Around '84 we used to go to a place called Odd Lots and get Atari games for like five bucks. It was always a crap shoot. 9/10 games you'd get home, play it once, and stick it on the shelf. A lot of duds. We stopped playing for a while until NES and SMS.

[@wusstunes]

Let's gooooooooo

[@DuffCon]

@9:54 is the NES mini lol

[@lvclix]

Dreamy white…..alpine white

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Post crash 5200 would only be about three or four games. You should be able to crank that out quickly.

[@JeremyParish]

It's three games, two of which are by Lucasfilm Games and are probably identical to their XEGS releases (Ballblazer, Fractalus).

[@broy8172]

Sounds like less a "crash" and more a publisher-induced sewage leak that retailers had to put the foot down on.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Atari 2600 after the video game crash was a long one.

[@Progearspec]

Atari 2600 i guess you could say the console has nine lives. It dies only to come back with some kind of revision or clone with the recent atari 2600+.When i got a atari 2600 it was after the crash of 83 and retailers were selling it still through,kaybee toys and toys r'us.Far as for those late releases goes i think i miss those and by that point i change over to the nes.Some thing the console has life again thanks to modern atari,homebrew etc.Even the likes of david crane and garry kichen have come to back the 2600 with audacity games.

[@mikececconi2677]

The Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This rip off commercial! Core memory!

[@JeremyParish]

Be fair. That commercial was not just a ripoff of the Eurythmics, it's also straight up stealing from Maxfield Parrish, too

[@mikececconi2677]

@@JeremyParish That is also a good point!

[@Ratralsis]

Jeremy, it's one thing to call me a fool. I don't mind being called a fool. Lots of people call me a fool. I'm a fool! But a knave? That's going too far. I know you know the power of words, and that word hurts feelings.

[@JeremyParish]

All my videos are based in objective fact, sorry

[@Ratralsis]

@JeremyParish oh, well, in that case, I'm sorry.

[@docbadwrench-cdmg]

It doesn't surprise me that Cosmic Commuter slipped through to actual release. Activision had a reputation for making games that were often superior to Atari's own offerings, both graphically and with regard to gameplay. It's just a guess, but I'd wager that helped sway retailers who otherwise would have balked.

[@nate567987]

Activision kept fighting

[@JeremyParish]

Sort of… until then whole Mediagenic thing

[@zubizuva]

CREAMY WHITE, DREAMY WHITE…. sorry for singing so loud.

[@makaveli4205]

Atari was still putting out arcade games thru the 80s. They probably made a lot of money off them.

[@JeremyParish]

That was Atari Games, a totally separate company from Atari Corp. (the company that handled the home hardware)

[@digitalboy80]

Fun fact: Nestlé may be at least in the top three of shitty companies.

[@JeremyParish]

They have a lot of competition these days, but they certainly have a place in the Mt. Olympus of predatory corporations that have greatly diminished the future of humankind

[@holdingpattern245]

What amazes me about the 2600 is its terrible hardware, it boggles my mind that a console like this manages to have good and sometimes even great games.

[@CaptainRufus]

The 2600 had no reason to come back. It was just more things to divide Atari's attention.