Atari Archives  
Last updated November 16, 1997

[ References | Articles | Reviews | Miscellaney | Electric Escape ]

Not that this should be a big surprise or anything; after all, almost everyone who grew up during the Golden Age of video games (1976-1984) also grew up with Atari. It was one of the hottest high-tech companies around, with phenomenal success both in the arcades and at home. In its prime, Atari was bigger than Nintendo is today, and it seemed impossible for the company to do any wrong.

That proved to be a fatal folly. Mismanagement and a fickle public brought about the video-game crash of 1984, and Atari went down hard. And though it tried repeatedly to make a comeback in subsequent years, it failed to do so, and eventually disappeared in the death of a thousand stings.

Even so, Atari lives on in the hearts and minds of its fans. We refuse to forget the company that built an industry and changed the world, a company that provided us with countless memories of fun and discovery. Whether it is playing Asteroids at the 7-11, writing programs with our Atari computers, or challenging friends in multiplayer Lynx games, Atari -- in one shape or another -- has affected far too many people to be forgotten.

This page, then, is my small contribution to the remnants of Atari fandom, an attempt to capture the nostalgic glory of Atari through an assortment of articles and tidbits.

Fans of the Fuji are always welcome at the Escape. Atari may be gone, but the memories will remain...

What's Changed?
Here are the latest changes to the archives:

	(November 16, 1997) At last, the Atari Archives have been completely redesigned and renovated! To celebrate, here are new articles and tidbits of interest -- read about The Making of Atari Force, Ultimate Gamer's amazing Atari Quest, Bill Wilkinson's creation of Atari BASIC, 30 Secrets of Atari, and more! Afterwards, visit the Atari page in The Gallery to see the never-released Atari 5100 and a selection of scenes from the SwordQuest mini-comics.
	(November 2, 1997) Updated the Atari Lynx FAQ and the Atari Jaguar FAQ.
	(October 18, 1997) Added a review for Zero 5 for the Jaguar.

References
Easy-access answers to all things Atari.

The Atari Timeline. The history of Atari -- its many lives and deaths -- in one high-level timeline.

Frequently-Asked Questions. A collection of FAQs (and links to FAQs) about Atari's products:

• Atari 2600/5200/7800 FAQ. A comprehensive guide to Atari's early game consoles.
• Atari 5200 FAQ. A more detailed look at the Atari 5200 Supersystem.
• Atari Lynx FAQ. Essental information about Atari's portable game system. Plain text, 44K.
• Atari Jaguar FAQ. A guide to Atari's 64-bit game machine. Plain text, 88K.

Articles
A collection of news clippings, reports, and electronic articles about Atari. They are listed in chronological order of publication.

• Games That Play People. An article from Time magazine about the growing trend of video games. 43K page, cross-posted from The Library.
• The Making of Atari Force. A look at the creation of the Atari Force mini-comics, from Atari Age magazine.
• The Making of a High-Tech Ad. A technical presentation of how Atari's computer-animated Yar's Revenge commercial was created. From Atari Age magazine.
• 30 Secrets of Atari. Assorted secrets, factoids, and trivia about Atari Inc.
• Lucasfilm Premieres First Two Games. A sneak peek at Lucasfilm's first home computer games, Rescue on Fractalas and Ballblazer. From Electronic Games.
• A Tough Man For A Tough Job. An analysis of Warner Communications' sale of Atari's home divisions to Jack Tramiel. From Newsweek magazine.
• Comic-Con Preview. A preview of new Lynx games from the 1991 San Diego Comic Con. By Robert Jung.
• Glendale Jaguar preview. A preview of the Atari Jaguar, from the 1993 Glendale Atari Faire.
• Theory and Practice. An interview with Lynx game designer Stephen Landrum. From AtariUser magazine.
• Jabbin' with Jeff. A preview of new and upcoming Jaguar video games, from April 1995.
• The Atari Quest. An eye-opening visit of John Skrunch's collection of rare and unreleased Atari products. From Ultimate Gamer magazine.
• Atari & JTS to Merge. A news article on the merger of Atari Corp. and JTS Corporation. From Newsbytes.
• Did You Hear Anyone Say "Goodbye?". Don Thomas, Jr., the "voice of Atari," eulogizes the end of a milestone company in the history of video games.
• Spawn of Atari. A retrospective look back at some of the most notable people to ever cross paths with Atari. From Wired magazine.
• Atari Games on Area 51. Atari Games talks about the secrets of Area 51, the first arcade game designed around the Jaguar architecture. From Jaguar Explorer Online.

Reviews
Robert's reviews of Atari games and peripherals.

Game Reviews Comments. A rambling dissertation about how these reviews were written.

Lynx Reviews.

• Lynx II. A look at the lighter, smaller, redesigned Lynx II system.
      Here's a comparison picture (17K) of the different Lynx models.

• Lynx games:

  A.P.B. Awesome Golf Baseball Heroes Basketbrawl Batman Returns Battlewheels Battlezone 2000 Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Blockout Blue Lightning Bubble Trouble California Games Checkered Flag Chip's Challenge Crystal Mines II Desert Strike Dinolympics Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop Double Dragon Dracula the Undead Electrocop European Soccer Challenge Fat Bobby The Fidelity Ultimate Chess Challenge Gates of Zendocon Gauntlet: The Third Encounter Gordo 106 Hard Drivin' Hockey Hydra Ishido Jimmy Connors' Tennis Joust Klax Krazy Ace Miniature Golf Kung Food Lemmings Lynx Casino

  Malibu Bikini Volleyball Ms. Pac-Man NFL Football Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom Pac-Land Paperboy Pinball Jam Pit-Fighter Power Factor Qix Raiden Rampage Rampart RoadBlasters Robo-Squash Robotron: 2084 Rygar Scrapyard Dog Shadow of the Beast Shanghai Steel Talons S.T.U.N. Runner Super Asteroids/Missile Command Super Off-Road Super Skweek Switchblade 2 T-Tris Todd's Adventures in Slime World Toki Tournament Cyberball Turbo Sub Viking Child Warbirds World Class Soccer Xenophobe Xybots Zarlor Mercenary

Jaguar Reviews.

• Jaguar CD. Atari's CD-ROM peripheral and lightsynth.

• Jaguar games:

  Alien vs. Predator Battlemorph (CD) Blue Lightning (CD) Breakout 2000 Bubsy (in Fractured Furry Tales) Checkered Flag Cybermorph Defender 2000 Doom Fight for Life Hover Strike I-War Iron Soldier Iron Soldier 2 (CD)

  Missile Command 3D NBA Jam Tournament Edition Raiden Rayman Super Burnout Supercross 3D Tempest 2000 Theme Park Ultra Vortek Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding Vid Grid (CD) White Men Can't Jump Wolfenstein 3D Zero 5

Miscellaney
Other Atari-related stuff that didn't quite fit into the categories above.

Game Revelations. Insights and answers to some of Atari's game developments:

• Army Battlezone Q & A. The truth and facts behind Atari's venture into military tank trainers.
• The Last Starfighter Videogame. Revealing the fate of Atari's aborted movie tie-in title. By Russel J. Krook III
• Wolfenstein 3D Fax. A glimpse at how Atari's game-development process worked.

Two Births. A look at the creation and history of Atari BASIC. From Inside Atari DOS, by Bill Wilkinson.

Hacking the VLM. Jeff Minter talks about how to create your own special effects for the Jaguar CD's Virtual Light Machine lightsynth.

The Lynx Awards. On a random whim back in December 1991, I wrote a set of awards for the best and the worst of the Lynx (I did this not out of hubris, but because I was the only person I knew who actually owned every Lynx game released that year). Those "1991 Lynx Awards" were well-received, so I continued the trend for subsequent years. Perhaps someday I should do something similar to cover the entire Lynx game library...

• 1991 Lynx Awards
• 1992 Lynx Awards
• 1993 Lynx Awards

Jaguar Performance Quotes. Game developers' testimonials to the Jaguar's abilities.

The Definitive Tempest X3 Review. Tempest 2000 creator Jeff Minter reviews the Playstation sequel, and gives some insights into his philosophy of game design.

Related Stuff
Other Atari-related things you'll find at the Escape:

• Atari images. A whole page full of pictures related to Atari in The Gallery.
• Atari people. There are also some pictures of Atari-famous folks in The Gallery.
• All Things Atari. A collection of Atari links.

LinkExchange Member