Page 58 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #5

Atari's Misplays and Bogeys
Atari's Misplays and Bogeys

By Patrick Wong

tari is synonymous with legendary ate your own crazy combination pitches their sporting needs.
arcade/action videogames. From (for example, a slow to fast to curve pitch) Golf anyone? How about 9 holes?
A Asteroids, to Missile Command, to that your friend will surely swing for and Atari's Golf is another fine example, of
Tempest, videogamers will find very few strike out with. how not to do a sports game. It would be
games they would consider forgettable. If the ball is hit, you never have to the first (and last) popular Golf game on
However, when it comes to sports video- worry about throwing errors. When a ball the Atari 2600 VCS. Atari would try hard
games, gamers will have to think a little is hit and fielded by either of the fielders, to make this game challenging, offering 9
harder. the other 2 will disappear, leaving only holes. To win, you must finish the game
Atari's first generation of sports games the runner and fielder to race for the bag with a par score of 36 or less.
would end up being some of the worst The graphics were simplistic; a big
videogames ever created; they were sim- yellow golfer, light green fairways, dark
ple and pathetic. From the bland back- green greens, dark green trees, grey
ground colors, to the stick figure-like sandtraps, and blue water hazards.
graphics and simple sounds, Atari's You can choose with a flip of the diffi-
sports games generally went from bad to culty switches whether to have the cup
worse. (hole) big or small and if you want the
Few of them rarely resembled the rough to be in play.
sports they were advertised to be. Of all Golf would end up being one of the
the sports titles, only Atari's Bowling slowest games ever. First, the swing.
would come anywhere close to the actual By holding the red button down, you
sport. Almost all the other titles would can control how hard you'd like your
fall far short. Two in particular, Atari's golfer to swing. However, you'll have to
Homerun and Golf, would end up being wait for him to pull his club all the way
two of the worst videogames ever made. back before you can follow through if
Imagine being a kid again in your or be chased and tagged out. Other you want him to swing his hardest. Un-
backyard getting ready to play a game of things you don't have to worry about: fortunately, the time it takes to swing
stick ball. You and your sibling would bunts, pop flies, stealing bases, groun- closely resembles watching the hands on
place 4 boxes around the yard for bases ders, or sacrifices. None of these plays a clock get wound up. It even makes an
and throw around the ol' ball and swing are featured in this game. All hits are line annoying ticking noise to complete the
the stick. Maybe a couple of your friends drives; either a slow or fast line drive. If a effect.
would come over and your small group line drive touches second base and More problems add to this displeas-
would try to make a real game of it. Atari clears the bottom of the screen un- ure. The playing field is so small that
would try to make a real game out of touched, it'll be ruled a homerun. If the most of the time you'll find yourself chip-
stickball. ball doesn't touch second and leaves the ping the ball from one spot to another.
Atari's Homerun is what would happen screen, it may be a double or triple, de- Chances are, the ball will end up in the
if your backyard game of stickball be- pending on how fast the ball was hit and rough or a sandtrap and you'll spend
came a videogame. At first glance, gam- how many bases your runner(s) can most of your time trying to dig it out. Or
ers will be shown a boring green back- cover while the ball travels to the bottom worse, if you don't have the rough in play,
ground, along with 4 boxes for bases, a of the screen. the ball will act as if it just hit a wall and
batter (colored blue), a pitcher (colored refuse to move, at which point you'll
orange), the score on the top of the have to chip away until it's back on a
screen, and 4 big letters (I for inning, O clear part of the fairway.
for out, B for balls, and S for strike). When you're on the green, the
Upon closer inspection, you'll be dis- game becomes somewhat easier.
appointed to find out that the pitcher Usually you can make the put in a
doesn't have a pitcher's mound. He's stroke or two. There's almost no inter-
actually standing near second base so it ference, and somehow you get the
looks like a pitching rubber. You'll also feeling that Atari would have had a
notice that the batter isn't even holding better golf game if they just removed
the bat! This means you're swinging the all the obstacles and made it a putting
stick by itself rather than the batter when game. Clearly the Atari VCS wasn't
you hit. meant for golf.
Other major flaws become apparent In the end, the Atari 2600 VCS just
as you flip the "Select" switch and realize wasn't meant for sports games be-
that you can only have up to 3 players on Like the real game, Atari's Homerun is cause their cartridges were limited to 2K.
the field (1 pitcher and 2 infielders on ei- played through the length of 9 innings. Atari owners would have to wait in de-
ther side of the pitcher). You can, how- It's almost like the real game except that spair while Intellivision owners had the
ever, select to have the infielders play the home team has to bat at the bottom superior sport titles. Atari wouldn't be
close to the pitcher or the corners of the of the 9th even if they're winning, and the able to answer with a strong sport series
bags. game doesn't go into extra innings; in- until their RealSports series years later.
The pitcher has 3 pitches - fast, slow, stead it'll end tied! There was a time when Atari was the
and curve. He actually has a 4th: a slow Gamers looking for a real baseball only game in town and owners had to
to fast (or vice-versa) pitch that's never experience will have to look elsewhere. love to hate playing these sport games.
before seen (or ever again) in a baseball Lots of gamers would end up buying Even today, dedicated
game. One of the few fun features of the Homerun for the love of the game rather videogame collectors
game is that you actually have total con- than wanting to actually own this title. probably hate having them
trol over your pitches. You can even cre- They'll have to look elsewhere to satisfy in their collection.

Classic Gamer Magazine December 2000 58