M.U.L.E. - Atari 800/XL/XE [001] Playthru

Blog Entry for this Capture - www.retroplayt...
Twitter - / retroplaythrus
This game was part of the first batch of games from Electronic Arts, and one of my all time favorite games. It is hard to be objective for a game that might easily be in the top ten of my favorite all time games!
Electronic Arts was a much different company, having only recently been founded by Trip Hawkins when this game was released. I would go even further and say the 'Arts' in their name was much truer then, than now. Just look at the M.U.L.E. packaging, and other titles released in the same early time span!
This title was first developed on the Atari. One of the main features utilized in M.U.L.E. was the four controller ports on these first two systems in the 8-bit line from Atari. Too bad M.U.L.E. was released when Atari was eliminating those ports from the 1200XL, 600XL, and 800XL. The utilization of the joysticks for the selection of land plots and in the auctions just works well. Granted, I don't think I ever played with 4 people, but I did play a bunch of games with 3 players (plus the computer).
For the uninitiated, M.U.L.E. is sort of a colonization strategy game with very simple graphics. In this game we are colonizing planet Irata. The main goal is to colonize the planet Irata and become the richest. Try to reach the top of the leaderboard out of 4 total players, be they human or computer.
Gameplay is broken into three main action phases. First is selecting a plot of land for development, with the possibility of auctions of additional plots after that initial selection. Next is outfitting the land selection to mine/develop one of three or four types of commodities, along with the opportunity to check lots for a mineral, sell a lot of land, hunt the wampus (yes, I did say hunt the wampus), and finally close out at the pub. At this phase, players can then get good or bad news from an event.
After each player has developed their lot, there is a collection phase in which an additional event occurs, sometimes before collection, sometimes after, which typically affects the whole colony, but sometimes just a single player.
From there is the auction phase, buying and/or selling, while making sure to have what is needed to continue developing. After the auction phase, the game shows the leaderboard, and then begins the next turn. Depending on the difficulty selection, a game will last from 6 to 12 months or cycles. A typical game lasts from about 30 minutes to an hour from my experience.
And, what does M.U.L.E. stand for? Multiple Use Labor Element, which is used to develop land. And it looks like an AT-AT from The Empire Strikes Back!
I think this is definitely a fun game to check out!
Capture info -
This gameplay was captured on April 22, 2018.
Game was played on a heavily modified Atari 1200XL with SuperVideo upgrade, captured over SVideo with the output being captured by a Startech USB3HDCAP.
Video was edited with Shotcut.

[@Nemethon]

played so many hours with my sisters. Love this game. Still one of the 8-bit games you can play today with a lot of fun.

[@RichardM-kv4uu]

The NTSC version is crazy fast compared to the PAL version I used to play!

[@robertneptune8456]

played with my bro for hours too , it was a good and refreshing game !

[@dfxmonkeyhead]

I spent many hours playing this game with a buddy in 1983. Thank yo for helping me remember that experience!

[@elmoredneal5382]

Me and my former roommate used to play this game all the time on my vintage Atari 130XE. We played it so much that we eventually wore grooves into the floppy disc 😮 If you held the disc up to the light, you could see where the magnetic particles had worn away. Needless to say, the disc had error sectors and wouldn't boot once it reached this point

[@Greenlantern957]

My buddies and me spent many..many a fri or sat night hovering around my C64…junk food and Soda playing this game

[@zabagar]

I still play Atari 800 MULE to this day.

[@mah2126]

Played this with my friends as a kid often. You could play 4 humans if you had a atari 800 (4 separate joystickports) -the only game where you could play 4 people simultaneously. Good times! Nothing beats having monopoly on food, but rather let it waste away than selling your friends a single unit! Tried it later on the XL (or if it was the XE) with only 2 joystick ports and therefore 2 computer players. Still ok, but not nearly as fun.

[@yankeebest]

As for the energy. I would NEVER sell to critical level. I would always want to have at least 1 extra unit BEFORE critical level because of what the blue person did. He had ONE energy unit and put in TWO items that NEEDED ENERGY. BTW. I don't understand what this guy is doing, When I have an energy plot I would almost IMMEDIATELY get the plot next to it(even if it's a mountain plot) because the connected plots help with the production. That goes for ALL the items. Connected plots help with the production.

[@majama72]

the best game on atari which i meet

[@w1katari]

doom

[@gerakore8948]

i have no idea whats going on lol

[@michaelpayne1117]

Same here!

[@MadameSomnambule]

Yeah, it's definitely the kind of game where you need to read the manual before playing it. I barely understand the intricacies of what's going on here, but I get the basic gist of it, mostly because I've played strategy games before.

[@stephenchase2537]

Exactly 01 hour: 01 minute: and 56 seconds long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@GeekNArtist]

0:33 - is that the literature that came with the game?

[@puzzud]

Anyone play M.U.L.E. Online?

[@douro20]

I guess mechtrons are terrible food producers...

[@DaveMire]

NES slaughtered this game.