how come atari "redistributes" some 3rd party titles?

[lucifershalo]

look at the MOUSE TRAP entry

I noticed that atari distributes that title too

does someone know any story about those "repackaging" that Atari did of 3r party games?

[crunchysuperman]

Just a guess, but with the Coleco games, I'd say Atari picked up the rights after Coleco got out of video games.

[Tempest]

Just a guess, but with the Coleco games, I'd say Atari picked up the rights after Coleco got out of video games.

 

Yep, they picked up the rights sometime in 1986. They also got the rights for Frogger and Q*Bert, but I believe that's because they were originally developed by Coleco and only distributed by PB (I could be wrong on that). They were also supposed to release Turbo and Zaxxon, but that never happened. I do have an EPROM for Frogger that came from Atari, but it's the same code as the PB release (they didn't change anything).

 

Tempest

[shadow460]

For what it's worth, I think the red label carts have a sharp look to them. They go well with the labels used on 7800 games, and perhaps their design was meant to make those old favorites look better on the shelf next to Atari's own titles.

 

I do have an EPROM for Frogger that came from Atari, but it's the same code as the PB release (they didn't change anything).

 

Tempest

 

My, you have everything! Is my name in your will?

[Rom Hunter]

That's interesting info, Tempest.

 

Never knew that.

 

Could you please make a picture of it, so I can add it to our database?

 

[Lord Helmet]

I had never heard that QBert and Frogger were developed by Coleco. Those are both well done by Coleco standards. Especially Frogger.

[SINGLE TOOTH]

I had never heard that QBert and Frogger were developed by Coleco. Those are both well done by Coleco standards. Especially Frogger.

 

I dont know about Qbert, but I thought frogger was a sega game?

[Tempest]

I had never heard that QBert and Frogger were developed by Coleco. Those are both well done by Coleco standards. Especially Frogger.

 

I could be thinking about how Mr. Do's Castle was developed by Coleco and released by PB. So I might be confusing the two. But I could have sworn that I read about Q*Bert and Frogger somewhere...

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

That's interesting info, Tempest.

 

Never knew that.

 

Could you please make a picture of it, so I can add it to our database?

 

 

It's just an EPROM. Not very interesting. It's on my list to review though so stay tuned.

 

Tempest

[+Psionic]

I could be thinking about how Mr. Do's Castle was developed by Coleco and released by PB. So I might be confusing the two. But I could have sworn that I read about Q*Bert and Frogger somewhere...

 

Tempest

That's interesting Tempest...I always wondered why Coleco did Mr. Do! but Parker Brothers did Mr. Do!'s Castle...that makes sense. I'm not sure about Frogger and Q*bert though...if Coleco did those, did they do Frogger II and Q*bert's Qubes as well?

[Tempest]

I could be thinking about how Mr. Do's Castle was developed by Coleco and released by PB. So I might be confusing the two. But I could have sworn that I read about Q*Bert and Frogger somewhere...

 

Tempest

That's interesting Tempest...I always wondered why Coleco did Mr. Do! but Parker Brothers did Mr. Do!'s Castle...that makes sense. I'm not sure about Frogger and Q*bert though...if Coleco did those, did they do Frogger II and Q*bert's Qubes as well?

 

Well if Atari picked up the rights to the PB games, why did they just plan on releasing Q*Bert and Frogger then? The Star Wars games may have been off limits, but there were others that they could have released (Popeye, Gyruss, Sky Skipper, etc.).

 

Tempest

[+FujiSkunk]

Well if Atari picked up the rights to the PB games, why did they just plan on releasing Q*Bert and Frogger then? The Star Wars games may have been off limits, but there were others that they could have released (Popeye, Gyruss, Sky Skipper, etc.).

 

My understanding has been that Atari purchased the rights to the work done by Parker Brothers and Coleco after those two companies decided to exit the video game business. In other words, Atari probably could have republished both companies' entire catalogs if they really wanted to.

 

I'm betting they didn't simply because of licensing. Just about every game Coleco and Parker Brothers published required a licensing deal with another company, and those deals probably weren't transferable. Atari probably looked at what licenses they already had, which they could afford, and which were most likely to give them a return on their investment, and ran from there.

 

I believe Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior were selected because Atari already had an arrangement with Nintendo to publish those games for other consoles (including the 7800), and simply "extended" the agreement to include the 2600 also. Mouse Trap and Venture were probably selected because Exidy was a cheap sell (or perhaps these were part of a package deal that included Crossbow). Q*Bert may have been chosen because it was still enjoying some popularity, and may have constituted Atari's one big gamble they could afford in the whole exercise.

 

The other games would have required dealings with other big companies, and Atari probably wasn't willing to dig deep enough into their pockets to provide the right motivation. Frogger and Gyruss would have required dealings with Konami, Zaxxon would have required a deal with Sega, Popeye and Sky Skipper would have required new ink with Nintendo (extremely unlikely to happen at the time), and so forth.

 

So, the five games they did republish were all that were to be seen.

Edited June 26, 2007 by skunkworx

[Tempest]

Well if Atari picked up the rights to the PB games, why did they just plan on releasing Q*Bert and Frogger then? The Star Wars games may have been off limits, but there were others that they could have released (Popeye, Gyruss, Sky Skipper, etc.).

 

My understanding has been that Atari purchased the rights to the work done by Parker Brothers and Coleco after those two companies decided to exit the video game business. In other words, Atari probably could have republished both companies' entire catalogs if they really wanted to.

 

I'm betting they didn't simply because of licensing. Just about every game Coleco and Parker Brothers published required a licensing deal with another company, and those deals probably weren't tranferable. Atari probably looked at what licenses they already had, which they could afford, and which were most likely to give them a return on their investment, and ran from there.

 

I believe Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior were selected because Atari already had an arrangement with Nintendo to publish those games for other consoles (including the 7800), and simply "extended" the agreement to include the 2600 also. Mouse Trap and Venture were probably selected because Exidy was a cheap sell. Q*Bert may have been chosen because it was still enjoying some popularity, and may have constituted Atari's one big gamble they could afford in the whole exercise.

 

The other games would have required dealings with other big companies, and Atari probably wasn't willing to dig deep enough into their pockets to provide the right motivation. Frogger and Gyruss would have required dealings with Konami, Zaxxon would have required a deal with Sega, Popeye and Sky Skipper would have required new ink with Nintendo (extremely unlikely to happen at the time), and so forth.

 

So, the five games they did republish were all that were to be seen.

 

Well we know Frogger was planned since it's on the official list and I have an "official" prototype of it.

 

The really odd thing is that Turbo also appears on the official list, and Atari must have known that it wasn't complete at that point (unless they were lied to). This would mean that they either put it on the list in error (unlikely), or that they were planning on finishing it (also unlikely). Turbo was also Sega's baby, so that just further complicates things.

 

Tempest

[+FujiSkunk]

Well we know Frogger was planned since it's on the official list and I have an "official" prototype of it.

 

You have lots of prototypes of games that never saw an official release. I'm sure the stories behind the aborted republishings aren't all that different.

[espire8]

I remembered some of those red re-released titles sittin in store shelves way back, especialy Venture. I rememeber the original 2600 coleco release so I imagined atari added to the game and I looked at the back of the box and saw the screen pic did'nt look any different but I could'nt help but buy it hopeful there were an extra level at least. But it was the exact same game in a different package. I was disapointed.

 

Atari should have improved those games like the way many hackers and programmers do now ie: like batari did with venture's lost level and hacks like Haunted adv. Too bad the idea wasn't there back then as it were done presently for the FB2. I just wish most of those games were debugged and polished further.

[Foxsolo2000]

Well if Atari picked up the rights to the PB games, why did they just plan on releasing Q*Bert and Frogger then? The Star Wars games may have been off limits, but there were others that they could have released (Popeye, Gyruss, Sky Skipper, etc.).

 

My understanding has been that Atari purchased the rights to the work done by Parker Brothers and Coleco after those two companies decided to exit the video game business. In other words, Atari probably could have republished both companies' entire catalogs if they really wanted to.

 

I'm betting they didn't simply because of licensing. Just about every game Coleco and Parker Brothers published required a licensing deal with another company, and those deals probably weren't tranferable. Atari probably looked at what licenses they already had, which they could afford, and which were most likely to give them a return on their investment, and ran from there.

 

I believe Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior were selected because Atari already had an arrangement with Nintendo to publish those games for other consoles (including the 7800), and simply "extended" the agreement to include the 2600 also. Mouse Trap and Venture were probably selected because Exidy was a cheap sell. Q*Bert may have been chosen because it was still enjoying some popularity, and may have constituted Atari's one big gamble they could afford in the whole exercise.

 

The other games would have required dealings with other big companies, and Atari probably wasn't willing to dig deep enough into their pockets to provide the right motivation. Frogger and Gyruss would have required dealings with Konami, Zaxxon would have required a deal with Sega, Popeye and Sky Skipper would have required new ink with Nintendo (extremely unlikely to happen at the time), and so forth.

 

So, the five games they did republish were all that were to be seen.

 

Well we know Frogger was planned since it's on the official list and I have an "official" prototype of it.

 

The really odd thing is that Turbo also appears on the official list, and Atari must have known that it wasn't complete at that point (unless they were lied to). This would mean that they either put it on the list in error (unlikely), or that they were planning on finishing it (also unlikely). Turbo was also Sega's baby, so that just further complicates things.

 

Tempest

 

 

In the winter issue of TV Gamer 1983 they talked about the game and how it was expected to use a joystick controller to play it with gear changes being implemented by pushing up or pulling back on the joystick. They also talked about the planned Intellivision release which was suppossed to be released at the same time as the 2600 version. As we know the Intellivision version was released which makes me lead to believe that the 2600 version was probably close to completion before the company pulled out of the market.