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*HELP!* - ATARI UNKNOWN 80'S PROTOTYPE HARDWARE
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HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
Atari were the kings of prototypes, with more documented pieces of prototype hardware available than probably all the other manufacturers put together.
Most of the games here never even got near production, maybe 1 or two were made for testing, but by and large they were unique and now lost forever...


KNOWN *HELP!* - ATARI UNKNOWN 80'S PROTOTYPE GAME LIST
Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
Amazing Adventure
Bar Room Baseball
Dragon Rider
E.T.
Force Field
Hare Scare
Heart Of Ice
Heist
Hyperspace
Interchange
Jammin
Missile Command 2 / Missile Command Deluxe
Nightmare
Onslaught
Parking Lot
Power Gem
Space Shoot
Star Trap
Thogs
Time Traveller
Warp Speed


Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
1982 (Prototype)
Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost Akka Arrh / The Sentinel / Target Outpost
Notes : Target Outpost was the development name.
Boards : PCB 1 - PCB 2 - PCB 3
Cabinets : Top of Controls - Side - Marquee - Instructions 1 - Instructions 2 - Control Panel
 

Amazing Adventure
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Bar Room Baseball
1983 (Prototype)
No images available
Notes : Arcade version of 5200 RealSports Baseball, on a timer
 

Dragon Rider
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
Notes : Received lukewarm reception on test, cancelled.
 

E.T.
19?? (Prototype)
No images available
Notes : ET apparently ran on similar anti-aliasing hardware to Return Of The Jedi.
You wandered around dodging NASA badguys and collecting the pieces to "Phone Home".
 

Force Field
1981 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Hare Scare
198? (Prototype)
Hare Scare
Hare Scare Hare Scare
 

Heart Of Ice
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Heist
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Hyperspace
1981 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Interchange
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
Notes : Got to field testing, cancelled.
 

Jammin
198? (Prototype)
Jammin
Jammin Jammin
 

Missile Command 2 / Missile Command Deluxe
1982 (Prototype)
Missile Command 2 / Missile Command Deluxe
Missile Command 2 / Missile Command Deluxe
Notes : In the early '80s there was a test prototype of a 2-ended MISSILE COMMAND, in a cabinet like an elevated cocktail game you would stand at each end of. The screen was oriented longwise, the planes & satellites came out from the middle, and enemy fire was sent down in both directions to cities at each end of the screen. You had to concentrate on your own cities first, of course, but if you killed the current wave and had rockets left, you could help the other player by launching against enemy fire threatening *his* cities!
 

Nightmare
General Computer Corp / Atari - 1982 (Prototype)
Nightmare Nightmare
Nightmare Nightmare
Notes : The PCB is actually loosely based on a Food Fight board with Many Many mods and a large daughtercard. The controls are believed to be like Tron (triggered joystick and a spinner) so it may have been a conversion attempt that never made it.
General Computer Corp. (GCC) is famous (or infamous, depending on your view) for programming Quantum and Food Fight for Atari. This was as a settlement with Atari after producing the unauthorized "Super Missile Attack" hack of Missile Command. The settlement actually called for them to make three games. Nightmare was the third game, and it was never released.
 

Onslaught
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Parking Lot
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Power Gem
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Space Shoot
1981 (Prototype)
No images available
Notes from Howard Delman : Space Shoot was the game I was working on when I left Atari in 1981 to start Videa. It was a one man show -- I was the project engineer, hardware engineer, and programmer.
The idea for the game came from a newly released movie, although I can't remember the name anymore. In the movie, there is a scene in outer space, in which a young man is being trained to "fight the bad guys." Bright colored disks are being launched into space, and he is trying to hit them with a hand held weapon. Basically, it was skeet shooting in outer space.
For my game, I had the mechanical department design a futuristic looking handgun. As in the movie, waves of "disks" would launch across the screen, and you got points for what you hit.
To be honest, the game wasn't developing well. I never seemed to find the right features to make the game compelling. I doubt it would have made it to field test unless someone had an epiphany. I don't know what ever became of the gun, or the circuit board. When I left Atari, it was all still on the lab bench.
 

Star Trap
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Thogs
1981 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Time Traveller
1981 (Prototype)
No images available
 

Warp Speed
1982 (Prototype)
No images available
Notes : Was designed to develop 3-D image capabilities, and later turned into the basis for "Star Wars"
 

 

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