I have never seen what Space Attack looks like before. I haven't thought about it in 35 years, but when I was a kid that was one of the cartridges my parent had, however it never worked when I tried to play it. So I've never before seen what that game looks like, just now remembering seeing that cartridge.
I think I heard some M-Network games had the names changed because management was worried that a bad version would negatively affect sales of their Intellivision games. Space Battle > Space Attack, AstroSmash > AstroBlast, Armor Battle > Armor Ambush, Night Stalker > Dark Cavern, etc. From this video, it sounds like multiple developers worked on these game conversions to Atari, one doing programming, one doing graphics, which was new and a better way to make games in my opinion.
Yeah, as soon as they put up a date for that to come out I recognized I had a pretty timely series of videos coming up and should probably work on that
Several M Network games were on the Atari Flashback Classics compilations for XBox, Switch etc. from AtGames. I think they were the *only* games in those collections that had any kind of non-Atari license! Put together with Atari's own repeated cracks at doing sports games, it meant you had a *lot* of football and baseball games to compare.
Yes. I think Donkey Kong for Atari is one of the few games that didn't use the mirror or repeat function for making the screen, but they got the ramps to be sloped!
The M-Network equivalent of "Running Man" looked great on the VCS. But you can hit a homer on the baseball game. I can still hear that "EH eh-EHH" when you hit it hard enough... though the outfielder can step in front of it and steal it away.
I thought so too, though didn't see it say so in the manual, which I just pulled out where it says grounders only. However, it does say you CAN bunt, 17:20 which can be pretty upsetting for an opponent who doesn't know the controls well enough to activate the catcher!
Thanks for a great video and showing that sports ad from Intellivision, that launched a few console-wars TV ads. The next one being Atari's kid saying "Nobody compares to Atari" for Missile Command, Asteroids and Warlords. Mattel responded spoofing that ad with a similar-looking kid and their spokesman, saying Intellivision had great space games: Space Battle, Space Armada and AstroSmash. The kid says "I didn't know." (It seemed weak to me at the time to essentially say "We have space games too.") Then William Shatner's Commodore VIC-20 commercial spoofed that one, saying you can get games and a computer. "We didn't know."
I need to ask my parents to dig out their photo albums and figure out which Christmas they got me and my brother a VCS. I'm pretty sure it was 84, if not 85, but Super Challenge Baseball was one of the half dozen games they bought with it and those sound effects will always be burned in my brain. Thanks again for another great video, I never even heard of Astroblast before and will check it out this weekend with my UNO cart.
Man, I can't wait for the next video now! As regards this lineup, I never have cared for sports games and cared even less as a little kid so it's only the last 2 I ever played/owned respectively. While I enjoyed Astroblast I preferred the Intellivision version my buddy had. But he didn't have Space Attack's analog, and that game was a HOOT, I loved it then I love it now. I just wish the Cylon analogs had the looping and off-angle flights the Intellivision ones did. Great summary!
M-Network is definitely another great third party, and playing Astroblast with the paddle controller sounds like a blast. This week feels like an Intellivision week with this video and Jeremy Parish's video on INTV. And Donkey Kong next? Well, that will be a good time.
I had Astroblast for awhile either on the cheap from the thrift store or a hand-me-down when someone gave me their Atari and games. I haven't tried it with the paddle controller. In my notebook of high scores I don't have that game listed, so maybe I didn't really play it! Or perhaps it was one of the dirty ones that wouldn't work, so it wasn't until I learned to clean it? Of course losing points during the game was a "feature" that doesn't sound fun on the first outing.
Some great context at the front end of the video! It is truly a bizarre, fascinating moment in video game history with platform maker cross-platform software.
I remember seeing the TV ad for M Network's launch--with the jingle to the tune of "Summertime Blues", "M Network's got the cure for the video blues". I was shocked, because it was obvious what Mattel was doing, porting their Intellivision games to Atari's console, and I'd thought hell would freeze over before that happened. I was an Atari kid, myself, but did it mean George Plimpton had done his product comparisons for nothing?
I was watching some other videos about Astroblast, and I played the hell out of that game as a kid. But it wasn't until this year that I learned it even HAD paddle support.
The next video featuring Donkey Kong for Atari (unless things change) looks to be a really good one! I'm interested in how they made the sloping platforms when the Atari was set-up for symmetrical playfields (right side is the mirror of left) or right is repeat of left (used in Armor Ambush). Donkey Kong was a must-have game (after Space Invaders and Pac-Man). There's talk of how Coleco made the Atari version cheesy to help sell Colecovisions, but some videos have debunked that, so we'll see.
I didn't get Super Challenge Football when it came out, but just on the cheap at the thrift store years later. The "Super Challenge" is to find an opponent willing to learn the controls. It's too bad it too didn't have a one-player option. I heard in a video that there was some problem with Intellivision not having functionality for A.I. to do that, but I forget the specifics. But they probably should have made the attempt for the M-Network version. Video game systems in 1981-2 were largely selling one-player games, and Intellivision's advantage on two-player sports games seemed to be out-of-date. It's also too bad they didn't get their M-Network division going sooner, to beat the huge number of games released in 1982, since the writing was on the wall that Mattel's Intellivision wasn't going to beat Atari. Kids in the neighborhood in 1980 didn't want to play Atari Football (1979), but did enjoy playing the Odyssey² Football! (1978) which was one of two games better than Atari's, though also using a one-button joystick which is limiting for sports games. It's also too bad they didn't think to make a sports game where both players were on the same side against console A.I. That could have worked for games like Football and Basketball. I can't remember whether the football game I played at the arcade in 1989 had that feature.
I'll still never get Mattel thinking so many of their games were fine not having single player modes on both the Inty and the 2600. Especially given the original prices even if we ignore inflation.
When the VCS and Intellivision first came out, Pong was still kind of the archetype of what a video game was and I think they could be forgiven for thinking a two-player-only game was fine, particularly for a sports title. But by 1982, I think they should have known better.
My understanding is that for the Intellivision it was primarily a cartridge space limitation - later cartridges were bigger and therefore could fit the additional code needed to include a computer opponent. I suspect the same issue was present with these early 2600 releases coupled with the extremely tight development time period.
I really liked Space Battle. It was faster than Star Voyager with more intense battles but easier than Star Raiders and Star Master. It hit a good middle ground and the difficulty switches made it a bit more customizable for my kid brain to optimize.
I think Space Attack, the conversion of Space Battle was the weakest of the four versions of "Star Raiders." If I'm not mistaken you don't even get a score at the end if you win, so that limits replayability. Though I got Star Raiders when it came out, I didn't like it much and haven't completed it on highest difficulty.
I got Super Challenge Baseball new (i.e. regular price) in either 1982 or 1983, as one of only three 3rd-party games I bought for Atari. The "Super Challenge" was to find a worthy opponent since it doesn't have a single-player option. But the learning curve for fielding is pretty high. Atari's Home Run (1978) looked so bad that I never wanted it, even for $1 at the thrift store. I think they should have retired it like they did other games from 1977-1979 that look bad. Kids enjoyed playing Baseball! on my friend's Odyssey² system (also from 1978). Somehow that is one of the few games on that system that beat Atari's version. It also has a one-button joystick, which is limiting for sports games. I didn't think of it at the time, but fewer-innings options would have been good to make for quicker games so others could get a turn sooner. Also, apparently no one thought to have a two-player option in sports games where both players are against the computer A.I.
I actually spent a fair bit of time playing Home Run and enjoyed it. I was not that good at baseball or associated games anyway so the lack of resemblance to the real thing didn't bother me much.
@@MattMcIrvin It would be interesting to see videos by a guy and his brother (or best friend) who played the 2-player Atari games of the '70s and early '80s.
I have never seen what Space Attack looks like before. I haven't thought about it in 35 years, but when I was a kid that was one of the cartridges my parent had, however it never worked when I tried to play it. So I've never before seen what that game looks like, just now remembering seeing that cartridge.
I think I heard some M-Network games had the names changed because management was worried that a bad version would negatively affect sales of their Intellivision games.
Space Battle > Space Attack, AstroSmash > AstroBlast, Armor Battle > Armor Ambush, Night Stalker > Dark Cavern, etc.
From this video, it sounds like multiple developers worked on these game conversions to Atari, one doing programming, one doing graphics, which was new and a better way to make games in my opinion.
Timely video given that the M-Network DLC is now available for Atari 50.
Yeah, as soon as they put up a date for that to come out I recognized I had a pretty timely series of videos coming up and should probably work on that
Several M Network games were on the Atari Flashback Classics compilations for XBox, Switch etc. from AtGames. I think they were the *only* games in those collections that had any kind of non-Atari license! Put together with Atari's own repeated cracks at doing sports games, it meant you had a *lot* of football and baseball games to compare.
Great video as always, but I'm especially looking forward to the next one!
Yes. I think Donkey Kong for Atari is one of the few games that didn't use the mirror or repeat function for making the screen, but they got the ramps to be sloped!
The M-Network equivalent of "Running Man" looked great on the VCS. But you can hit a homer on the baseball game. I can still hear that "EH eh-EHH" when you hit it hard enough... though the outfielder can step in front of it and steal it away.
I thought so too, though didn't see it say so in the manual, which I just pulled out where it says grounders only. However, it does say you CAN bunt, 17:20 which can be pretty upsetting for an opponent who doesn't know the controls well enough to activate the catcher!
Great episode Kevin!
Thanks for a great video and showing that sports ad from Intellivision, that launched a few console-wars TV ads. The next one being Atari's kid saying "Nobody compares to Atari" for Missile Command, Asteroids and Warlords. Mattel responded spoofing that ad with a similar-looking kid and their spokesman, saying Intellivision had great space games: Space Battle, Space Armada and AstroSmash. The kid says "I didn't know." (It seemed weak to me at the time to essentially say "We have space games too.") Then William Shatner's Commodore VIC-20 commercial spoofed that one, saying you can get games and a computer. "We didn't know."
I need to ask my parents to dig out their photo albums and figure out which Christmas they got me and my brother a VCS. I'm pretty sure it was 84, if not 85, but Super Challenge Baseball was one of the half dozen games they bought with it and those sound effects will always be burned in my brain. Thanks again for another great video, I never even heard of Astroblast before and will check it out this weekend with my UNO cart.
Thank you again for the uploads! Love the retro game history, especially Atari
Man, I can't wait for the next video now! As regards this lineup, I never have cared for sports games and cared even less as a little kid so it's only the last 2 I ever played/owned respectively.
While I enjoyed Astroblast I preferred the Intellivision version my buddy had. But he didn't have Space Attack's analog, and that game was a HOOT, I loved it then I love it now. I just wish the Cylon analogs had the looping and off-angle flights the Intellivision ones did. Great summary!
M-Network is definitely another great third party, and playing Astroblast with the paddle controller sounds like a blast. This week feels like an Intellivision week with this video and Jeremy Parish's video on INTV. And Donkey Kong next? Well, that will be a good time.
I had Astroblast for awhile either on the cheap from the thrift store or a hand-me-down when someone gave me their Atari and games. I haven't tried it with the paddle controller. In my notebook of high scores I don't have that game listed, so maybe I didn't really play it! Or perhaps it was one of the dirty ones that wouldn't work, so it wasn't until I learned to clean it? Of course losing points during the game was a "feature" that doesn't sound fun on the first outing.
Watching videos about old games while playing new ones has a certain satisfying resonance
baseball and dark cavern 2 of my favorites i owned. still have… some glitch on one of my joysticks allowed for a tornado pitch if you wiggle it alot
Astro smash is such a lovely mix between Asteroids and Space Invaders. It's one of my favorite pick-up and play games.
Some great context at the front end of the video! It is truly a bizarre, fascinating moment in video game history with platform maker cross-platform software.
I remember seeing the TV ad for M Network's launch--with the jingle to the tune of "Summertime Blues", "M Network's got the cure for the video blues". I was shocked, because it was obvious what Mattel was doing, porting their Intellivision games to Atari's console, and I'd thought hell would freeze over before that happened. I was an Atari kid, myself, but did it mean George Plimpton had done his product comparisons for nothing?
I was watching some other videos about Astroblast, and I played the hell out of that game as a kid. But it wasn't until this year that I learned it even HAD paddle support.
The next video featuring Donkey Kong for Atari (unless things change) looks to be a really good one! I'm interested in how they made the sloping platforms when the Atari was set-up for symmetrical playfields (right side is the mirror of left) or right is repeat of left (used in Armor Ambush). Donkey Kong was a must-have game (after Space Invaders and Pac-Man).
There's talk of how Coleco made the Atari version cheesy to help sell Colecovisions, but some videos have debunked that, so we'll see.
I didn't get Super Challenge Football when it came out, but just on the cheap at the thrift store years later. The "Super Challenge" is to find an opponent willing to learn the controls. It's too bad it too didn't have a one-player option. I heard in a video that there was some problem with Intellivision not having functionality for A.I. to do that, but I forget the specifics. But they probably should have made the attempt for the M-Network version. Video game systems in 1981-2 were largely selling one-player games, and Intellivision's advantage on two-player sports games seemed to be out-of-date. It's also too bad they didn't get their M-Network division going sooner, to beat the huge number of games released in 1982, since the writing was on the wall that Mattel's Intellivision wasn't going to beat Atari.
Kids in the neighborhood in 1980 didn't want to play Atari Football (1979), but did enjoy playing the Odyssey² Football! (1978) which was one of two games better than Atari's, though also using a one-button joystick which is limiting for sports games.
It's also too bad they didn't think to make a sports game where both players were on the same side against console A.I. That could have worked for games like Football and Basketball. I can't remember whether the football game I played at the arcade in 1989 had that feature.
It's weird how a competing hardware company like Mattel would release Intellivision ports for the Atari 2600. It'd be like Sega ...
Oh, wait.
I'll still never get Mattel thinking so many of their games were fine not having single player modes on both the Inty and the 2600. Especially given the original prices even if we ignore inflation.
When the VCS and Intellivision first came out, Pong was still kind of the archetype of what a video game was and I think they could be forgiven for thinking a two-player-only game was fine, particularly for a sports title. But by 1982, I think they should have known better.
My understanding is that for the Intellivision it was primarily a cartridge space limitation - later cartridges were bigger and therefore could fit the additional code needed to include a computer opponent. I suspect the same issue was present with these early 2600 releases coupled with the extremely tight development time period.
I really liked Space Battle. It was faster than Star Voyager with more intense battles but easier than Star Raiders and Star Master.
It hit a good middle ground and the difficulty switches made it a bit more customizable for my kid brain to optimize.
I think Space Attack, the conversion of Space Battle was the weakest of the four versions of "Star Raiders." If I'm not mistaken you don't even get a score at the end if you win, so that limits replayability. Though I got Star Raiders when it came out, I didn't like it much and haven't completed it on highest difficulty.
I got Super Challenge Baseball new (i.e. regular price) in either 1982 or 1983, as one of only three 3rd-party games I bought for Atari. The "Super Challenge" was to find a worthy opponent since it doesn't have a single-player option. But the learning curve for fielding is pretty high.
Atari's Home Run (1978) looked so bad that I never wanted it, even for $1 at the thrift store. I think they should have retired it like they did other games from 1977-1979 that look bad.
Kids enjoyed playing Baseball! on my friend's Odyssey² system (also from 1978). Somehow that is one of the few games on that system that beat Atari's version. It also has a one-button joystick, which is limiting for sports games.
I didn't think of it at the time, but fewer-innings options would have been good to make for quicker games so others could get a turn sooner. Also, apparently no one thought to have a two-player option in sports games where both players are against the computer A.I.
I actually spent a fair bit of time playing Home Run and enjoyed it. I was not that good at baseball or associated games anyway so the lack of resemblance to the real thing didn't bother me much.
@@MattMcIrvin It would be interesting to see videos by a guy and his brother (or best friend) who played the 2-player Atari games of the '70s and early '80s.