Arenafoot

Is this guy awesome or what?  "I have an Atari shirt on right now!" is the best quote I've heard today. 

I do this everyday!!! I have an Atari shirt on right now!!

this one............
 

Guys, it’s time to share our love of Atari with the world.
  On the 26th day of each month, we’re setting aside a day to celebrate Atari, share great games with great friends, and remind the world why Atari's still so awesome.   We're calling it "Atari Day". Here's how it works:             1. Wear Atari stuff on the 26th day of each month Shirts, hats, wristbands, bookbags, whatever. Put Atari stickers on your notebooks, bikes, the rear window of your car, the front door of your favorite bar, anywhere cool really. Let people see your enthusiasm. Take photos and post to your social media accounts with the hashtag #AtariDay. Create memes,  print your own Atari stickers, make something new. If you need a T-shirt, you can usually find Atari stuff at Target, online, or in most any mall in America. Wearing Atari stuff, you’ll usually see a few smiling faces coming up to you and offering positive remarks. Each smiling face is another chance to share the fun of Atari with an old friend, or maybe make a new one!       2. Start a conversation If people come up to you and say they love your shirt, just start talking to them! It's easy to get people excited about Atari. People love video games. And a lot of people still have really fond memories of Atari! They just need to be reminded.       3. Share a game Let's say your friend said something about your shirt, you guys started talking about Atari and now they're truly excited. You should be as awesome to them as you can possibly be. Share a game with them! Offer to lend them your Flashback console for a week. Better yet, invite them over for a game! Get a 4-Player round of Warlords going. Play a few of your favorite Atari games. Snacks, beer, and a retro movie could make a night out of it. Do something fun and memorable. Make it easy for people to want to enjoy Atari. Show them where they can get games and offer recommendations on your favorite titles. Offer them a few of your spare carts to get them started on their collection!           A FEW TIPS:   Don’t be cultish, creepy or intrusive. You’re not recruiting people to a religion, you’re just having fun!
  Have a few suggestions ready for where to go online to learn more about Atari, what games to search for on eBay, what to avoid, how to hook up an Atari, etc.
  Remember, we are all "Ambassadors" of Atari's legacy. The Atari we knew and loved is gone. It's up to all of us to make sure the fun games and awesomeness of Atari isn't forgotten with time.
  Make "Atari Day" an event on social media. On the 26th day of each month we’ll be posting events to Facebook, and sharing photos across social media using the hashtag #AtariDay. We hope you’ll join us in doing the same! We may even hold a contest for the "Best Atari Day Photo" and reward that person with a prize.         WHY DO THIS?    The idea is to share Atari with the world! People who remember Atari will go “Oh yeah! That was so much fun!” and those too young to remember Atari might discover it for the first time. The more people entering the World of Atari, the better! It's always fun to welcome new people into classic gaming, and Atari’s legacy could use a little help.   In some people’s eyes the Atari we know and love doesn’t hold the best reputation. So much of what the rest of the world sees about Atari right now is negative. Documentaries about their failure, Atari garbage dumps in the news, criticism and crappy games. Now is the time to help people rediscover Atari and let them see how much fun we have with this stuff. We’re picking a day, the 26th of each month, to do just that!   Other gaming companies actively build on their legacy. They release new games based on old characters and franchises, and they make it exciting and fun to like their stuff. We wish the same was true with Atari, but unfortunately it’s going to be left up to all of us to make that happen.   Let's do this!

i'd like to see the 2 player version of Centipede in action...LOL....i never knew that existed

i'd like to see the 2 player version of Centipede in action...LOL....i never knew that existed

Groundhog Day is here, and I can't think of a more appropriate way to observe that revered occasion than to take a look at one of the many games involving hogs on the Atari 2600: "Pigs in Space". By remarkable coincidence, I just happened to win a copy in the trivia contest two weeks ago. Since I do not have a way of capturing quality images from my television, I'll be taking them via emulation.  

 
"Pigs in Space" is based on the sci-fi parody sketch that was featured frequently on the Muppet Show. To summarize, three pigs voyage through the stars aboard the spaceship Swinetrek, boldly doing nothing of particular importance. The game itself is somewhat unusual in that it's effectively three very different games in one, and each game had a different programmer.   After switching on the console, the player is greeted with this screen:     To quote the announcer on the show.... "PIGS... IN... SPAAaace!". I would have been delighted if the Atari generated tones mimicking that introduction, but I guess it was not to be. A copyright of 1983 is given, two years after the show had aired its final episode. Like a number of later Atari games, you don't have to lean over and pull the reset switch to start, you can can just press the joystick button. Being lazy, I appreciate this. Setting the left difficulty switch to 'B' gives the player an extra life every 10,000 points, but I personally find this makes the game too easy, so I leave the switch on 'A'.    
On the next screen we are reminded once again that this is PIGS IN SPACE, and are presented with a set of three disembodied pig heads in profile from which to choose. Each represents a different member of the crew and a different mini-game. They may be played in any order, even the same game multiple times in a row, but each becomes more difficult the more it is played (until a maximum difficulty is achieved, that is).    
Selecting the left pig (Captain Link Hogthrob) starts our first game, "Chickenvaders". This game is the most derivative of the three, but nevertheless probably the most fun. It would be easy to say it's Space Invaders with chickens (a variation I can appreciate), but there are a few subtle differences.   According to the manual, which I found on AtariAge, the chickens are dropping eggs at Link, and Link is throwing link sausages at them. (Oh, "Link" Hogthrob, I get the joke now! Only took me, what, 25 years? Also, I'd rather not know why a pig is carrying sausages around.) All the projectiles look like lines. When struck by an egg, Link is transmogrified into a chicken and flaps away off the screen. When one of the chickens is hit, it is sent to the "bird dimension",  a less disturbing fate to be sure.     Leading the chicken armada is Gonzo (or at least his head) on a flying saucer. (Gonzo, in fact, had appeared as an antagonist in Pigs in Space a couple times. Known as "Dearth Nadir", he once commanded chicken storm troopers.) Pelting him with pork products provides points aplenty. Sorry.   Unlike Space Invaders, there are no shields to take cover from enemy fire, the enemy only fires one shot at you at a time, and only the horizontally nearest enemy fires at you. One detail I like is that, true to the show (with a few exceptions), you don't see the captain's legs. As the hostile hens come closer, he becomes more and more submerged, giving the player a little more room to work with, though eventually you'll lose a life if their approach is not stopped.    
Destroying... I mean, banishing all the chickens completes the level and sends you back to the menu. Each time this game is chosen, the chickens move faster (though Gonzo always seems to plod along at the same speed).   Chickenvaders has some of the best character graphics and animation I've seen on the 2600. Gonzo's spinning head (3 colors!) and the transformation into a chicken are particularly well done. It's reasonably fun to play, though Space Invaders is certainly better in that regard, with faster enemies that fire more unpredictably, and the presence of shields to complicate things.   But wait, there's more! Next up: The health concerns of Italian food.

Thanks for sharing RunPC. It's like a dream!!!!
 
You don't have any kiosks left, do you?

Happy to find atari.io. I am an avid collector of all things Atari, and founder of Run PC Inc., which started out as an Atari Dealer. I thought some members may enjoy reading an Atari press release from one of our last ventures with Atari and the Jag. We had lots of success with concept, and big plans for the future.
 
ATARI CORP. AND RUN PC OPEN JAGUAR MALL STORE; SPECTACULAR GRAND OPENING SELLS OUT OF HOT SYSTEM TITLES
 
LONGMONT, Colo. — Nov. 7, 1995 — Run PC, a regional retail leader in computers and next-generation game systems, has opened the first Jaguar Mall Store.
The store is located inside the 550,000 square foot Twin Peaks Mall in Longmont, and is anchored by JC Penney, Sears and Joslins Department Stores. The prototype store exclusively demonstrates and sells the Atari 64-bit Jaguar home entertainment system and the Lynx handheld color gaming system. Atari has provided high-end interactive merchandising materials including arcade-style "hands-on" displays, banners and signage.
"We are proud to have worked with Run PC and to have opened the first ever Jaguar-only mall location," stated Ted Hoff, Atari's president of North American operations. "We support the concept of selling product in locations where customers can see and play the Jaguar system themselves."
In the first two days since opening on Saturday, Nov. 4, Run PC has sold out of the most popular Jaguar-related products. "Everyone who purchased a Jaguar had to have a copy of 'Alien vs. Predator'," said Jon J. Willig, president of Run PC. "It's clear that I have to reexamine my staffing and inventory to prepare for greater sales throughout the holiday season."
Willig added: "As a retailer, we strongly believe in the Jaguar system. For less than $150, we are finding that the system literally flies off the shelves, outselling competing systems sold in other mall stores many times over. Atari has always been responsive to our needs and requests, it's a pleasure to serve our customers with their support."
The Jaguar-only store is open during mall hours and is located in the Twin Peaks Mall on South Hover Road in Longmont. It is the largest shopping mall in Central Boulder County with a trade area population of well over 310,000. The Atari Jaguar is the world's first 64-bit multimedia gaming system and the only game system manufactured in the United States. About 40 powerful game titles are already available for the Jaguar including award-winning hits like "Doom" and "Tempest 2000," as well as new releases such as "Highlander," "Ruiner Pinball," "Pitfall!" and Time Warner Interactive's "Power Drive Rally."
Soon to be released titles include: "NBA Jam Tournament Edition," "Myst," "Primal Rage," and "Zoop."
For more than 20 years, Atari has provided consumers with high quality, value-priced entertainment. Atari markets Jaguar, the only American-made, advanced 64-bit entertainment system and is located in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Note to editors: Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corp. Jaguar and Lynx are trademarks of Atari Corp. All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning companies. "Alien" and "Predator" are trademarks and copyrights of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Used under sublicense from Activision.

You're forgetting the Lynx, greenween.

I have 2600, 5200 and 7800. I WILL have a Jaguar one day!

I feel bad for you greenween, you're missing out on something great. What Atari systems do you have?

Hopefully you can someday change that!

Sadly I have never even seen a Jaguar in real life!

Sure do!!!! CIB TomyTronic Pac-Man handheld............. 
 
that same year (Christmas 1980) I actually asked for the Entex Pac Man 2 handheld......I remember going to K-Mart with my mom and asking them for it (since I had seen it there for sale before-hand) and the employee talking her that they were recalled due to a licensing issue over the "Pac Man" name. So I ended up with the Tomy version instead. UNTIL 1998 and I bought one off of eBay complete but with no box!
 
 
Posted a high score on the emulation version of the TonyTronic Pac Man here........    http://highscore.com/scores/DedicatedHandheldEmulated/TomyTronicPacMan/8066

Did anyone else have the somewhat round, yellow Pac Man?? It was pretty decent!

To be sure. I used to play those when I was a kid, too. They were fun. Ah, the good old days…

They are small....don't take up much room....LOL

She say's "We don't have room", I say we can always make room!!!!

They re-made the Mattel games a few years back, and I must say, they were excellent.  They added a volume slider, which was a huge improvement.  Still, I like my originals much better.