We’ve featured a lot of Arcade to Amiga conversions/ports throughout the years, from the more recent Final Fight Enhanced to Super Xevious, Flying Shark and even Green Beret. Well if you’re looking for even more Arcade like updates on the site, then we have just been told by our good friend Tom, that AcidBottle together with JMD(Audio) is still working on the Arcade to Amiga game of Breakthru; A 1986 side scrolling shooter by Data East in which you must drive a military vehicle through enemy territory to rescue your PK430 aircraft.

Here’s what Mobygames says about the game which will need a beefed up OCS/ECS machine and a 2 button controller to play. “BreakThru is a 2D side-scrolling vehicle shooter. Your mission: race, jump, and blast your way through five levels (mountains, bridge, plains, city, and airfield) of enemy defenses to recapture the stolen jet fighter. A host of enemy soldiers, mines, vehicles, and aircraft will try to stop you, though. Oh yeah… and don’t forget to watch out for those rocket attacks and falling rocks!”

Links :1) Discussion 

The post Breakthru – An Amiga port of a Data East Arcade game is still coming to the Amiga appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

In this series, we’ll take a game that was ported to different platforms, pick five, and look at what went right, what maybe went wrong, and how they’re all related. Next up is Nintendo’s classic arcade hit Donkey Kong. We’ll look at the arcade original, the Atari 2600 version, the ColecoVision version, a 2-for-1 for the Commodore 64, and the 1994 Game Boy release.

Donkey Kong – Arcade

Arcade

Shigeru Miyamoto created the original arcade version of Donkey Kong, with veteran engineer Gunpei Yokoi supervising the project for Nintendo, and the reason is somewhat unusual. At the time, Nintendo’s most recent release in North America, Radar Scope, was a technically impressive arcade game that failed to find an audience with American arcade goers. They needed a hit that would utilize the same hardware, and Donkey Kong was the answer.

Originally, the game was conceptualized as a Popeye game, with the sailor saving Olive Oyl from the clutches of the evil Bluto. As the concept evolved, it shifted to a carpenter, Jumpman, saving his girlfriend, “the Lady”, from the top of an under-construction building from the giant ape, Donkey Kong. Of course, Jumpman would later become Mario (and change careers from carpenter to plumber), and “the Lady” would be known as Pauline. Donkey Kong would stick til this very day.

The game takes place over four different levels. Each one is a different configuration of levels, girders, and enemies. The ultimate goal of the first three screens would remain the same: get to the top of the screen and rescue your girlfriend. The fourth screen would change it up. Instead of simply reaching your girlfriend, Jumpman must cross eight rivets. Each disappears when crossed. Removing all eight undermines Donkey Kong’s platform, causing him to fall and temporarily reuniting the couple. Finish the fourth screen, and the cycle starts over.

Donkey Kong became a massive success for Nintendo, not only in Japan but in the US as well. Building the game around a story helped to draw players in. Solid platforming mechanics and a variety of gameplay mechanics kept them plunking quarters in for years.

Donkey Kong – Atari 2600

Atari 2600

It’s easy to make fun of the primitive visuals of the Atari 2600 conversion of Donkey Kong, especially compared to the ColecoVision and Intellivision versions, which were out around the same time. But the real beauty of this version isn’t the look; it’s what went into making this port happen in the first place.

Nintendo gave Coleco the license for Donkey Kong. In turn, they developed versions for the ColecoVision, as well as Mattel’s Intellivision and Atari’s 2600 VCS. Legendary programmer Garry Kitchen, who programmed the ColecoVision version, was the sole developer and programmer for the 2600 version. Kitchen recalls working on it during the summer of 1982 under an extremely short deadline. He had only limited assistance and access to an arcade machine for reference. The cartridge ultimately sold nearly 4 million copies.

Original 2600 cartridges contained only 4KB of space. This was the primary constraint that shaped the game’s design and the sacrifices it required. The detail of all graphic elements had to be turned down. Donkey Kong looks more like a giant orange gingerbread man than a gorilla. But even with the reduction in fidelity, everything is recognizable.

The other major tradeoff was fewer available screens. The 2600 version offered only two of the four original playfields: the initial girder level and the final rivets screen. While the game didn’t have the wide variety of the original, including two different screens instead of simply repeating the first screen over and over gave the game the sense of progression from the arcade original.

Even though it is one of the least faithful translations of the original game, Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 is one of the most commercially important versions, having sold nearly 4 million copies during the life of the system. It showed that, while the system could not necessarily handle arcade-perfect conversions, it could produce versions that captured the original’s spirit at home.

Donkey Kong – ColecoVision

ColecoVision

If the 2600 version demonstrates compromise, the version developed for the ColecoVision demonstrates aspiration.

It is often thought, since Coleco had their own console to think of when developing Donkey Kong for home systems, that they intentionally sabotaged the other versions, the 2600 version in particular. In reality, the systems’ constraints at the time allowed them to develop a version closer to the arcade original for the ColecoVision than for Atari’s console.

Even though the ColecoVision port looks nearly arcade-perfect on the surface, sacrifices were necessary to bring it home. The Cement Factory level (screen 3 of the arcade game) had to be eliminated to fit the game on a cartridge. And while the graphics are much closer to the arcade version than the 2600, many elements still have reduced detail.

One of the biggest reasons that the ColecoVision version was so successful was that it was included as a pack-in game for every ColecoVision system sold. Many credit the bundle with helping drive early hardware sales. While Atari could claim that they had a version of Donkey Kong, Coleco was able to show that they had a game that actually looked the part, and a system that could provide that experience at home.

Donkey Kong – C64 (Ocean)

Commodore 64

Donkey Kong on the king of 8-bit computers is a tale of two developers. While Coleco owned the rights to home console conversions, Atari bought the rights to home computer ports. They created the Atarisoft label specifically for these types of arcade conversions.

In 1983, they released the first version of Donkey Kong for the C64 in North America. Without the same space constraints as the home console versions, Atari could include all four screens in the C64 conversion. The graphics, while nearly as detailed as the arcade version, were stretched from the original’s vertical orientation to fill the entire home computer screen. The 64’s advanced sound capabilities allowed programmers to produce sounds and music that, while obvious versions of the originals, were recognizably Commodore creations.

Three years later, publisher Ocean commissioned a new version of the game for European users, developed by Arcana Software Design. In the three years since the original’s release, developers had gotten better at creating arcade ports closer to the originals, and users had come to expect much more sophisticated versions. Ocean’s version also included all four screens. The graphics were redesigned to look closer to the originals, while the playfield had been compressed to more closely emulate the arcade’s vertical orientation.

Comparatively, the Atarisoft version is generally seen as a slightly slower, more precise gameplay experience, while the Ocean version is mechanically closer to the arcade original but sacrifices some of the Atarisoft version’s smoothness. Both versions are worthy entries in the compendium and should be experienced by any 8-bit computer fans.

Donkey Kong – Game Boy

Game Boy

This is the true wildcard of Donkey Kong conversions. Released in 1994, Donkey Kong on the original Game Boy starts out as a standard but impressive version of the arcade original. Once you make it through the fourth screen, instead of starting over at the first screen again, after Donkey Kong grabs Pauline and exits the top of the screen, Mario follows. Then the actual game begins.

It turns out the original four levels were merely an introduction to the actual game, which consists of 97 levels that, while borrowing their mechanical vocabulary from Donkey Kong, turn the game into a modern puzzle platformer. Mario must find the key on each level and unlock the exit to the next.

Mario gains a number of new abilities here, like backflips, handstands, wire swings, and the ability to carry and throw objects. The backflip and side-somersault ideas are particularly notable because similar moves would later appear in Super Mario 64.

The level mechanics are expansive. Enemies can be stood on, thrown, and used to help Mario reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Some stages let Mario temporarily create ladders, platforms, and springs to move around the level. Mastery of these tools will be important to completing each level. While retrieving the key may be easy, getting both Mario and the key to the exit may be another challenge altogether. You can drop the key temporarily and pick it up again, but if you leave it alone for too long, it will return to its starting place, and you’ll need to backtrack to get it again.

Donkey Kong for the Game Boy is also notable as the first game to support the Super Game Boy adapter for the SNES. When used with the SGB, it gains specially assigned color palettes and presentation enhancements designed specifically for television play.

Unlike arcade Donkey Kong, which is fundamentally an endless score challenge, the Game Boy version is a substantial adventure and therefore includes multiple save slots. This illustrates how much game design had advanced in the 13 years since the original’s release.

The post One Game, Five Systems – Donkey Kong appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

This is the story of how fighting games became one of the most compelling and influential video gaming genres in history. Early Fighting Games
The history of fighting video games began during the 1970s when SEGA released Heavyweight Champ in 1976. Heavyweight Champ was a technically simple arcade game that pitted two boxers in a boxing ring to slog it out against each other.

Read the rest of this article on page 6 by clicking here!

Be sure to sign up to get Old School Gamer Magazine for free by clicking here!

The post The History of Fighting Games – by Matthew Adams appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

For Colecovision cartridges, this might mean the difference between the labels saying the cart is “for Cole- covision” and saying it’s “for Cole-covision & ADAM.” For Intellivision, it’s probably the difference between the colorful Mattel labels and the black and white Intellivision, Inc. labels, which also featured slight name changes to avoid licensing fees (e.g. “Football” instead of “NFL Football”). For the Atari 2600, it’s more complicated. – Read the rest of the article here from Classic Gamer Magazine (courtesy of Old School Gamer)!

Be sure to sign up to get Old School Gamer
Magazine Digitally for free by clicking here!

The post When is a Combat not a Combat? By Lee K. Seitz appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Do you remember your first video game/arcade you played and what do you remember about it?

My brother and I played Pong at my cousin’s house in 1975—they had gotten it for Christmas. We were amazed that you could play it on television. Prior to this, I had played Gun Fight, Pong, and a few others in the arcades. When Breakout hit the arcades in 1976, I began liking video games even more than pinball, which I loved.

What are your opinions about today’s generation of video games?  How do you compare them to older, classic games?

Most of today’s console games require more of a time investment. Unless you’re playing some of the simple download titles, you can’t really sit down and kill a few minutes like you could on the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, or Odyssey2. Having said that, there are some I enjoy, such as Bayonetta and God of War. I really enjoy some of the third-person 3D hack-and-slash titles. The arcade industry is largely comprised of these giant quarter-gobbling games and ticket-dispensing games that pale in comparison to Asteroids, Defender, Ms. Pac-Man, and the like.

Did you ever think when you were younger you would be on a Video game Trading card?

Ha! It never would have occurred to me. I had a few baseball cards growing up, and I collected KISS cards, so it’s pretty cool to be on a card now. It is quiet the honor.

Have you ever received any media coverage for your appearance on the Trading Card?

Not that I know of, but I have received media coverage for my books about video games, such as in different newspapers and on various websites.

When did you first meet Walter day and where was it at?

I met Walter at the 2003 Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. I asked him about a Mr. Do! Tournament that was coming up—he was patient with my questioning.

If you could describe Walter Day in one word, what would that word be and why?

Kind – He has a smile, a warm handshake, and a kind word for everyone he meets.

What is your favorite portable gaming device and why?

Game Boy Advance SP. Lots of cool titles, and it was awesome to finally have a Game Boy system that was backlit.

Do you prefer PC or Console gaming and why?

Console. I very rarely play PC games, because console gaming is easier to hook up, access, and play. However, I do play the old cartridge-based computer games for the Commodore 64 and Atari 800.

What games today do you play and what are your favorite genres of games?

I largely prefer the pick-up-and-play titles of old, such as Asteroids Deluxe, Millipede, Robotron, Dig Dug, Galaga ’90, Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision), and Lady Bug. I love maze games, action games, 2D shooters, and climbing games. I also like 2D platformers, and, as I mentioned before, I like third-person 3D hack-and-slash titles when it comes to the modern stuff. My favorite game of all time is Mr. Do! My favorite modern game is Maximo: Ghosts to Glory for the PS2.

If you could own one arcade game or pinball game, what would it be and why?

Monster Bash, the pinball machine based on the Universal Monsters. I love classic horror movies, and that machine looks, sounds, and plays great. Challenging, but not frustrating. I could also go for the Tron arcade game—it looks so cool and has four great screens.

Growing up were you team Sega or Nintendo?

Growing up I was an Atari guy and a Coleco guy, because I’m old. Before I got my own console for Christmas when I was 15—a ColecoVision in 1982—I would go to everyone’s house I knew and would play their Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Odyssey2, and Intellivision. When I got my NES in 1986, the year after it came out, I was almost 20, but I loved it as well and starting assembling a collection, including such titles as Super Mario Bros., Ikari Warriors, Double Dragon, and Contra. I didn’t get a Sega Master System until later, but I got a Sega Genesis in 1990, the year after it came out, and a Super Nintendo in 1991, the year it came out, and I loved both consoles.

What does it take to be a Video Game Journalist?

Time, patience, and a love of gaming. Plus, you have to be able to write in a concise, entertaining fashion if you want to get published in respectable markets.

Do you believe some Video Games are too violent and lead to violence in America today?

I’m not a big fan of gore or overly violent games (unless it’s fantasy, like ripping apart and blowing away monsters in a 3D action title), but I don’t think violent video games lead to violent behavior. Extremely violent first-person shooters like Call of Duty make billions of dollars and are played by millions of people, but there have been far more violent times in the world than today. Most violence is the result of desperation, indoctrination, drug use, and the like, not pushing buttons while staring at a TV screen or computer monitor.

Do you learn anything from playing video games?

Video games can be a great learning tool (they are ideally suited to teaching geography, history, and math—schools should make more use of them), but the simple action games I play aren’t particularly educational.

Are video games good for relieving stress?

Whether you’re wandering around in a lost kingdom looking for a sword, flying through space while blasting aliens, or concentrating on a simple maze game, video games are the perfect escape from the worries of real life.

Are you still involved with gaming today, and what role do you play?

Yes, I write books about classic video games, and I write holiday gift guides, fall and spring previews, and the like for a major metropolitan newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I also attend conventions, co-host panels, and play games in my game room.

Where do you see Video gaming in the next 20 years?

Mostly downloads and, from what I understand, more and more virtual reality. People will don wearable technology and go out in the real world on treasure hunts (real and virtual), monster kills, and the like.

For more info, check out Brett’s website:  www.brettweisswords.com

This is one of an ongoing series of articles based on the Walter Day Collection of e-sports/video gaming trading cards – check out more information at thewalterdaycollection.com.

The post Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Brett Weiss appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Every aspect of the original machine has been carefully recreated, including the authentic cabinet artwork, illuminated marquee and coin doors. The iconic periscope viewer and original arcade step are both included and can be removed, allowing collectors to display the cabinet exactly as they choose.

Collector's Edition Official Atari Battlezone Quarter Arcade

The post Collector’s Edition Official Atari Battlezone Quarter Arcade appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Did you know at the time when Pac-Man fever was released, that it would be such a smash hit?

No not at all. We were just hoping it would get played locally and help our jingle business.  When we were in L.A. doing some TV shows we were driving through Beverly Hills when our song came on the radio. We looked at each other and laughed when Gary said, “Not bad for a couple of guys from Akron.”

Where did you meet your partner Gary Garcia?

Gary and I met in junior high school in Akron, Ohio. We played in several local bands including The Outlaws and The Rogues.

What was the first song or album you created together? 

The first song we ever recorded together was called “Gotta Hear The Beat.” with the artist name Animal Jack. It was meant to be a joke aimed at the record business, but it received radio play and ended up being released on 3 different record labels.

What is your favorite kind of music today and how do you compare music to the 1980’s?

I lean towards pop, rock, blues, and R&B but pretty much most music if it’s good no matter what genre. I’ve even grown to love some opera music. I don’t really compare today’s music with the 80’s. Music evolves, and styles change and I’m cool with that.

What are some of your other favorite songs you have created?

I liked two cuts we did on Steve Carlisle (singer on WKRP In Cincinnati) called Don’t Hang Up and You Told A Lie. I especially love the adaption we did for the Footprints in The Sand poem. But I think my favorite was E.T. I Love You. It was an emotional song with beautiful music and words. Unfortunately, it got caught up in record company politics and licensing issues that cut short its successful release.

Do you remember your first video game / arcade you played and what do you remember about it?

First video game I played was Pong. We were playing in an Atlanta hotel bar. I remember thinking how cool and different it was.

If you can design your own video game, what would it be about and who would be the main character?

Actually, we are working on a mobile game right now which I am not at liberty to reveal. Keep checking our website for details when it will be released. www.bucknergarcia.com.

What are your opinions about today’s generation of video games?

I think many are too violent, but the technical/graphics effects are amazing.

Do you believe some Video Games are too violent and lead to violence in America today?

As I previously mentioned, yes, I do think some of them are too violent. Whether that contributes to the violence in this country or not I don’t know but I do think they can desensitize kids towards violence. On the other hand, when I was a kid, we played army and shot each other up with toy guns quite convincingly but it didn’t turn us into mass murderers, so I think there is a lot more to the violence then just kids playing video games.

Did you ever think when you were younger you would be on a Video Game Trading card?

No never! I was humbled by it and grateful to Walter for including me.

Have you ever received any media coverage for your appearance on the Trading Card?  If so where?

Not so far but fans love the cards. I always have a few with me at personal appearances to autograph and hand out.

When did you first meet Walter Day and where was it at?

I met Walter in 2014 at The Southern Fried Game Room Expo in Atlanta. He presented me with a cool poster that is framed and hanging on my office wall along with several others.

If you could describe Walter Day in one word, what would that word be and why?

Kind.

What is your favorite movie you have created music for and why?

Wreck It Ralph. To sit in a theatre and see your name in the credits of a Disney movie is beyond words

When writing the Pac-Man Fever song, were there other versions before the final result?

Yes, there was a set of original lyrics that we ended up not using. I wish I had saved them but other than a few minor changes the chorus remained consistent from the beginning.

How much did you play Pac-Man back in the day and is it still a favorite of yours?

I played it a lot in 1981 and 1982 but slacked off as time when on. I have never been really big on video games. Gary was into them more than me and was better at them although because we were both very competitive anytime we played against each other it could get crazy.

You have written other video game music on the Pac-Man soundtrack, other than Pac-Man Fever, which one was your favorite?

I loved Donkey Kong and Froggy’s Lament, but my favorite is Ode to A Centipede

If you could own one arcade game or pinball game, what would it be and why? 

Asteroids. Love the action and SFX.

What does it take to be a successful musician today?

Practice, patience, persistence with a little talent and a lot of luck.

What games today do you play and what are your favorite genres of games?

The only video game I play consistently is Solitaire on my phone. My favorite game is Backgammon

What was your favorite decade from the past and why?  60’s, 70’s? 80’s 90’s?

I would have to say the 80’s for the obvious reason but the 70’s would be a close runner up. My least favorite was the 90’s.

Who is your favorite video game character, other than Pac-Man, and what makes that character special?

I like Ralph (from Wreck-It Ralph). He’s a nice guy with a good heart and hasn’t shot anybody

What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘Video Games’?

I think mostly of the classic games although I do like to play some of the games on my mobile phone like Angry Birds.

Are you still involved with music today, and what role do you play?

I continue to write pop songs because I love to do it, but I have been working on some Contemporary Christian music too lately that I like a lot.

Where do you see the music industry in the next 20 years? 

I really don’t know. I guess it will be up to the robots.

Where do you see Video Gaming in the next 20 years?

I think the sky is the limit. I hope the entertainment value increases but not the violence.

www.bucknergarcia.com

This is one of an ongoing series of articles based on the Walter Day Collection of e-sports/video gaming trading cards – check out more information at thewalterdaycollection.com.

The post Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Jerry Buckner appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Players know what a lightsaber should sound like and how an X-wing should move.

The earliest Star Wars games had none of that inherited design language.

During the franchise’s first decade in video games, there was no accepted formula. Star Wars could be a text adventure, a survival shooter, a vector-graphics cockpit ride, a lightsaber duel reduced to two floating shapes or a Japanese platform game where Darth Vader transformed into a scorpion.

Before Lucasfilm Games became the central creative force behind interactive Star Wars, publishers treated the license less like a unified game universe and more like a box of expensive toys.

Everyone grabbed a different piece.

The results were inconsistent, occasionally baffling and often brilliant.

The Star Wars Game That Wasn’t Star Wars

The story starts before the first officially licensed Star Wars video game.

In 1979, Lance Micklus created Dog Star Adventure for the TRS-80. As Old School Gamer’s feature on Dog Star Adventure and the foundation of text-based gaming explains, Micklus published the game’s source code in SoftSide magazine.

The legal camouflage was not subtle.

Princess Leia became Princess Leya. Darth Vader became General Doom. The Death Star became the Dog Star. Players explored the station through typed commands, rescued the princess and dealt with obstacles including a robot fussy enough to reject a cold hamburger.

It was clearly Star Wars with the labels peeled off, but it also showed how quickly the film had entered the imagination of early computer users.

There was no official design template to follow. A programmer saw Star Wars, understood that computers could support a different kind of adventure and built one entirely from text.

Publishing the source code made the game even more significant. Other programmers could study and alter it.

The first important Star Wars-inspired computer game was something people could type in, inspect and rebuild.

That feels appropriate for an era when software itself was still being invented in public.

Parker Brothers Finds Hoth

The first officially licensed Star Wars video game arrived in 1982.

Parker Brothers chose The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 and reduced the Battle of Hoth to its cleanest mechanical idea: fly left and right, shoot approaching AT-ATs and delay the destruction of Echo Base.

It sounds brutally limited, because it was.

It was also exactly the kind of limitation that produced strong Atari games.

Rex Bradford’s design had no room for dialogue or cinematic detail. The walkers were blocky mechanical beasts that required repeated hits, gradually changing color as they absorbed damage.

The player could not win the war. The goal was to survive and hold the line.

Old School Gamer’s Atari 2600 Encyclopedia entry on The Empire Strikes Back captures why it worked. The controls were responsive, the challenge was immediate and the image of a snowspeeder attacking an AT-AT remained recognizable after being squeezed through the Atari 2600.

That game established a pattern early Star Wars titles would follow repeatedly.

They rarely recreated an entire film. They selected one scene, vehicle or visual idea and built an arcade loop around it.

A Lightsaber Game Without Sword Fighting

Parker Brothers followed with two very different releases in 1983.

Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle placed the Millennium Falcon against TIE fighters and the unfinished second Death Star.

Jedi Arena went smaller.

Inspired by Luke’s training aboard the Millennium Falcon, it turned lightsaber practice into a competitive Atari 2600 game. Two players controlled training remotes indirectly, deflecting energy bolts toward an opponent’s shield.

It was the first Star Wars video game built around lightsabers, yet it contained almost nothing modern players would identify as lightsaber combat. There were no combos, dramatic duels or dismemberment settings waiting to upset somebody.

There were two abstract figures, a floating remote and a great deal of confusion.

That is not an insult. It is the point.

The designers were experimenting with how one small element from the films might function using a joystick and one button.

Sometimes that produced a classic.

Sometimes it produced Jedi Arena.

Atari Builds the Cockpit

Then Atari’s 1983 arcade game changed the scale of the fantasy.

Designed by Mike Hally and developed from an earlier prototype called Warp Speed, Star Wars used glowing color vector graphics and a flight yoke to place players inside an X-wing.

The game moved through TIE fighter combat, a surface attack and the trench run.

For the first time, a Star Wars game did not merely reference a scene. It tried to recreate the sensation of being inside it.

The cabinet mattered almost as much as the software.

The sit-down version enclosed the player in the machine. The yoke, digitized voices and bright vector display did the rest.

For a few expensive minutes, the player was the pilot.

Atari followed it with Return of the Jedi in 1984, switching from first-person vectors to an isometric raster perspective. In 1985, The Empire Strikes Back returned to vector graphics as a conversion kit for existing cabinets.

Even Atari could not settle on one way to represent the trilogy.

Depending on the game, Star Wars was a cockpit simulation, an isometric obstacle course or an upgrade installed inside yesterday’s arcade machine.

One Arcade Game, Many Home Experiences

The arcade cabinet created another problem: how do you bring that experience home?

The answer depended entirely on which home the game entered.

Versions appeared across consoles and home computers with wildly different capabilities. Some preserved the vector presentation. Others rebuilt the action around the hardware.

By the late 1980s, conversions had appeared on systems including the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and Amiga.

The title on the box could be identical while the experience inside differed sharply.

A licensed game was not one fixed product delivered across standardized hardware. It was a family of related interpretations, sometimes connected mainly by packaging, music and optimism.

A child playing Star Wars on an Atari 2600, a Commodore 64 owner loading a cassette and an arcade visitor sitting inside the vector cockpit could all say they had played “the Star Wars game.”

They were describing very different memories.

The Game Lucasfilm Never Released

Not every experiment reached store shelves.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Ewok Adventure was developed for the Atari 2600 but cancelled before release. The player controlled an Ewok on a hang glider, dropping rocks on Imperial forces and attacking the base on Endor.

The controls became its undoing.

Programmer Larry Gelberg wanted the glider to dive, climb and catch thermals realistically. Marketing wanted something simpler. Gelberg refused, and the game was shelved.

Old School Gamer’s article on Ewok Adventure tells the story of the surviving prototypes and the disagreement that killed the release.

The game reveals a tension running through the entire decade.

Should a Star Wars game simulate the thing shown on screen, or simply make that thing easy and exciting to control?

Developers are still arguing about that.

They just use more expensive PowerPoint presentations now.

Namco Sends Luke Somewhere Else Entirely

If the Western Star Wars games were inconsistent, Namco’s 1987 Famicom release proved the license could become even stranger in a different market.

Released only in Japan, Namco’s Star Wars was a side-scrolling platformer that borrowed from the film without feeling obligated to remain there.

Luke visited planets that were not part of his journey in A New Hope. Darth Vader appeared repeatedly through bizarre impostors capable of transforming into a scorpion and a shark.

It is difficult to imagine that surviving a modern licensing approval meeting.

Yet the game makes sense within the Famicom market of the time. Platform action was familiar, recognizable characters mattered and strict cinematic accuracy was less important than producing something that worked as a Nintendo game.

Old School Gamer’s history of the Nintendo Famicom shows how quickly the system became home to major franchises and arcade-style adaptations. Namco reshaped Star Wars for that environment.

The result was not the film in cartridge form.

It was Star Wars translated into the language of Japanese 8-bit design, with all the mutations that apparently required.

Before There Was a LucasArts Style

Lucasfilm founded its own games group in 1982, but initially built its reputation through original projects including Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus! and Maniac Mansion.

Star Wars continued to pass between outside publishers and developers.

That created a strange situation. The company making some of the most inventive games of the 1980s was not yet defining what a Star Wars video game should be.

Old School Gamer’s feature on Lucasfilm Games looks at the studio that would eventually become inseparable from interactive Star Wars.

The transition happened gradually.

The 1991 Star Wars game for the Famicom and NES involved Lucasfilm Games and Beam Software, while other versions reached the Game Boy, Master System and Game Gear.

The Master System’s unusual life outside North America and Japan meant that even this newer generation arrived differently depending on where players lived. In one market, the console was disappearing. Somewhere else, it still felt like a discovery.

Then the identity sharpened.

Super Star Wars arrived in 1992. Star Wars: X-Wing followed in 1993.

The games began to feel less like isolated experiments and more like pieces of a growing interactive universe.

LucasArts had not eliminated variation.

But it increasingly became the center of gravity.

The Wild Years Still Matter

The first decade of Star Wars gaming has no tidy progression from primitive to sophisticated.

Dog Star Adventure did things Atari cartridges could not. Parker Brothers found elegant loops inside individual movie scenes. Atari’s arcade team created a cockpit fantasy so convincing that later technology did not automatically make it obsolete.

Namco produced something only Namco in 1987 could have produced.

Some games were excellent.

Some were painful.

Some were barely Star Wars at all once the box art was removed.

Together, they show a famous license before it had learned to police its own identity.

Modern Star Wars games inherit a library of sounds, interfaces, genres and design expectations. The early developers inherited three films, a pile of merchandise and a question nobody had answered:

What exactly should a Star Wars game let the player do?

The complete list of every Star Wars video game ever made now stretches across arcades, computers, consoles, handhelds, mobile devices and virtual reality.

Looking back at its chaotic beginning makes one thing clear.

Star Wars did not enter gaming through one perfect adaptation.

It arrived as text, vectors, cartridges, cassettes, cancelled prototypes and several versions of Darth Vader that probably should not have been sharks.

Before LucasArts took control, nobody knew the rules.

That was the fun of it.

Author Bio

Søren Kamper is the editor of Star Wars: Gaming, an independent site documenting the history of Star Wars video games, from unofficial experiments and early arcade releases to LucasArts classics, modern titles and fan projects.

The post Before LucasArts Took Control: The Wild First Decade of Star Wars Games appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

It’s time to have an Amiga party as throughout the Commodore Amiga Facebook they are celebrating  the ‘International Amiga Day 2026’ for May 31st, which celebrates over 30 years of Amiga fun! The retro community want to keep the Commodore Amiga name alive and what better way to do that than an anniversary to the day dedicated to that great system with all the games being played, and hardware being used from the A500 to the A1200, to the CD32 to the A4000. If you lived during that era of gaming then it was one of the greatest moments in our retro history.

In 2014 when the party came to be, it turned out to be a global event with people from all around the world turning on their retro systems either to play them once more from their childhood or just to give them a new look with a mod or retrobright. However with fantastic news came sadness as the original creator Dragon “Gyu” Gyorgy sadly passed away at the beginning of 2015. He was both a friend to me and to many others, so with this news, lets not just celebrate the Amiga but celebrate the great Dragon Gyorgy who was the inspiration behind the original Amiga day.

On Amiga Day do any of the following Amiga activities:

• – You must switch on at least 1 Amiga computer.
• – You must run at least 1 Amiga game (emulator is accepted).
• – You must „whiten” a yellowed Amiga.
• – You must give your non-working Amiga to a technician, who can make a working machine out of the non-working ones. Lather on the reborn working Amiga must be donated.
• – In case you are a technician you must make at least one Amiga working from non-working Amigas.
• – If you have an Amiga T-Shirt, you must wear it.
• – If none of the above you can make a photo of yourself with an Amiga and share it with your friends on any social networks.
• – Or whatever Amiga related activity you like…

The post International Amiga Day – The day has come to celebrate the Amiga! appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Partnering with Entertainment 360, Atari has signed a deal with Universal Pictures giving the studio the right to develop 10 classic Atari video game properties for the big screen. Universal has bought the first project from the new partnership, a feature film based on Atari IP which will be produced by Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady from a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe. Both of them will also be producers.

“For more than five decades, Atari has created games and worlds that have remained part of popular culture long after their original release,” said Atari chairman and CEO Wade Rosen in confirming for Deadline. “We are excited to work with Universal and Entertainment 360 to bring the spirit of our iconic brand and games to a new medium.”

The catalyst was an original spec by Reilly, the longtime studio exec at Universal who pivoted to screenwriting and producing, and Hampe, a producer on Hellboy who also worked on Jungle Cruise among other films.

Atari and Universal Pictures have signed a deal to potentially make 10 movies based on the following games:

• Asteroids

• Adventure

• Berzerk

• Breakout

• Centipede

• Crystal Castles

• Millipede

• Missile Command

• Pong

• Yars’ Revenge

The post Atari Makes Universal Movie Deal appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.