Atari VCS/2600 "Dear Atari Anonymous" ad - 3 games w/ Estelle Harris?

"It's more than just a game. It's an addiction."

One of Atari's 1981 "Dear Atari Anonymous" series of commercials. This one features the games Space Invaders, Missile Command, and Breakout. It also includes an actress that might possibly be Estelle Harris (of Seinfeld fame).

Rick Maurer's arcade port of Taito's smash arcade hit Space Invaders was worthy enough to yield similar results, as it was the first VCS game with over 1 million copies sold. Maurer started developing the game before Atari decided to license it, simply because he liked it. His in-house name for this game was "Ghost Invaders" before he solved the problem of eliminating the flicker of having so many objects on the screen at the same time. It's reported that Rick received a mere $11,000 for a game that grossed over $100 million for Atari, which eventually prompted him to transfer to Atari's coin-op division. The artist who did the box art obviously used the saucer design from Boston's (1976) debut album cover art as inspiration, and certainly the overall look from their 2nd album (Don't Look Back - 1978). Released in January 1980.

Missile Command is a classic arcade game that was programmed by Dave Theurer. The VCS version was programmed by Rob Fulop and is one of the better arcade ports for the VCS. The versions w/o the hidden Easter egg initials are more rare (approx. 1 in 10 carts). There's no way to tell which version you have without playing it (not even with the end label numbers).

Breakout is an excellent port of the popular Atari arcade game by Brad Stewart. According to Stewart, both he and another programmer wanted the Breakout assignment. In order to decide things fairly, both programmers had to play Breakout with the winner getting the job. Brad played first and beat the game with one ball! A 1986 Atari Corp. release features a bright orange cartridge label and larger font on the end label. Original retail price $19.95.

See my interviews with Brad Stewart and Rob Fulop at the Atari Compendium website:

http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/interviews.html

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