Many of us classic gamers became entranced with arcade games back in the early 80’s. Magazine
articles, TV news reports, and, of course, actually seeing blockbusters like Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac-Man wherever we went got us curious. Video arcades, however, were just entering their golden era
at this point. They had been around since the mid 70’s, but just weren’t accessible in location or attractive to the average crowd.
Nevertheless, when Atari debuted the Video Computer System in 1977, it immediately took the gaming world by storm. Fairchilds were stored in the closet, Odysseys were relegated to the attic, and Pong units were sold at yard sales. Atari needed software, and FAST!!! Existing cartridges were selling well, and in an effort to expand the library, Atari looked back to the arcades for ideas. At that point, they had already adapted many of their arcade games, such as Canyon Bomber, Outlaw, and Breakout. But they had to look at other arcade titles, those not made by Atari, for inspiration. Many of those old arcade games, with the huge boxy cabinets and blocky black and white graphics, were released for the 2600 with brand new names, presumably to avoid licensing fees. – Read the rest of the article here from Classic Gamer Magazine (courtesy of Old School Gamer)!
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