Would you collect Atari porn games from Mystique/Playaround!

[Retro Play]

For the past year or so, I've been keeping an eye on Mystique/Playaround games and they are starting to get expensive. A "CIB" game can cost about $100.00 to as much as $400.00. Would anyone collect these and think that the prices will go up? The games are fairly collectable it seems.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKkfOODnBvc

[Rowsdower70]

That's a negative ghost rider. 


If I saw one in the wild I'd snag it and sell it in a heartbeat.   Not my cup o' tea.   A novelty at best!

[RickR]

That's a negative ghost rider. 

 

 

If I saw one in the wild I'd snag it and sell it in a heartbeat.   Not my cup o' tea.   A novelty at best!

I agree completely with rowsdower.  I'd only buy at bargain price with the intent to sell.  I find them offensive and they have no place in my collection. 

[DCG]

If I saw these at a flea market, I'd laugh and then walk away. Even if they're collectible, I'd rather not have Custer's Revenge on my shelf.

[nosweargamer]

Nope. I want nothing to do with them. 

 

Besides, from what I understand, Custards Revenge gave the clear appearance that the goal of the game is to help Custard get his revenge by raping a tied down Native American woman named Revenge (even if the makers tried to cover up the goal when protests arose). Seriously, that is sick. Even if games like this claimed everything is consensual, I personally think they're disgusting and I  don't want anything to do with the porn industry, especially since it tends to objectify women as sex objects and has been harmful to many lives and families.

 

So long story short, for these reasons among others, if I ever found a copy of one of these games mixed in a box of games I bought off of ebay, I'd have no problem forgoing the $ to trash it instead.

 

Just to clarify, I'm not out to force my beliefs on anybody, I'm not out to judge anybody who does collect them or would buy or sell them. I'm just answering the question for myself.

[jmjustin6]

Id at least play the game a few times and then sell it. Im actually still waiting on my buddy to go in his attick and find those games. He swears to me he has 3 x-rated games. If he ever does find em ill give them a try but most definitely sell them

[Sabertooth]

I guess that I'm in the minority here. I would consider getting Custer's Revenge for the controversy and history of it. I agree that it is an absolutely disgusting concept and it should have never been made. That said, no money is going to the long defunct makers at this point. As a well publicized and rightly criticized piece of Atari and gaming history, I think it is certainly a novel item to have in your collection. As for the rest of the titles, no thanks. They are bad games; poorly designed and not at all erotic.

[DCG]

Nope. I want nothing to do with them.

 

Besides, from what I understand, Custards Revenge gave the clear appearance that the goal of the game is to help Custard get his revenge by raping a tied down Native American woman named Revenge (even if the makers tried to cover up the goal when protests arose). Seriously, that is sick. Even if games like this claimed everything is consensual, I personally think they're disgusting and I don't want anything to do with the porn industry, especially since it tends to objectify women as sex objects and has been harmful to many lives and families.

 

So long story short, for these reasons among others, if I ever found a copy of one of these games mixed in a box of games I bought off of ebay, I'd have no problem forgoing the $ to trash it instead.

 

Just to clarify, I'm not out to force my beliefs on anybody, I'm not out to judge anybody who does collect them or would buy or sell them. I'm just answering the question for myself.

I agree, I wouldn't play them or buy them. While I believe it's disgusting, to me it seems silly these days considering what these are, porn games on an Atari 2600. That being said, it certainly was nothing to laugh about back then, but now, I feel it's seen as more of a joke than anything controversial. While I certainly laugh when someone mentions these games, I myself wouldn't play them since I'm a Christian and even if I wasn't, I still think they're sick and that this isn't the way that people should view a member of the opposite sex.

 

What I find interesting is how many of these games came out, and not all were Mystique and Playaround. There was one called X-Man by some other company and I believe there was at least one more. Also, Playaround made gender reversed version of some of these games. Seriously, these guys were huge perverts.

 

In general, I don't care if other people wanna try these games out, but I'd rather avoid them no matter how silly or collectible they are. There are better rare games out there like Frogger 2 Threeedeep, Swordquest Waterworld, and Quadrun. Still, whether we like it or not, these will forever be part of video game history.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Gemini Gamer

[Zontar]

Says a lot about the "collector" community. So many of them are thugs and video-pimps. Some great systems that I love to play have been ruined in a way by the community that's developed around them in the past few years. Johnny-come-lateleys who were kids 10 years ago and would laugh in my face if I showed them one of these systems now run wild on Facebook calling themselves experts, being rude to others and acting like all around A-holes to anybody else with an interest in classic games. They've made some of these prices ridiculous.

[atarifan95]

I remember when one of my younger brother downloaded some random ROMS, and I decided to look thought the folder to see what was there. I clicked some game I had never heard of called "Custer's Revenge." After a minute, I realized what I was looking at, and I shut it off. That was not a pleasant experience. You should have seen the look on my face.

 

No, I won't be collecting games like this. I'm a Christian, and I think those kinds of games are disgusting. If I ever buy a box of games and find those games in it, they're going straight into the trash.

[dauber]

I dunno..if anything, maybe for resale value, but since I don't think I ever did anything like that (buy something I normally would keep for myself but just hoard it to sell for a profit), I really don't know. It's not so much that it's *adult* material, as...let's face it...Atari 2600 pornography is about as erotic as a dead Armitron watch...but some of it is disturbing. Yeah, just the fact that Custer's Revenge was even considered for release bothers me. No matter the intent: I don't care if those in charge were pro-woman and not a racist bone in their bodies and honestly just thought it'd be a laugh, it's just...not right. You don't go there. (Then again, this was during the age when game developers snorted coke in the office as some people drink coffee.)

 

I guess when I look at it there are a few reasons none of the Mystique games are in my collection:

- They're not easy to find and, ergo, expensive;

- They just plain suck...really, they're low-quality ripoffs of much better games, for the most part;

- Just not a high priority for me; right now my priority in collecting is upgrading my loosies to CIB versions.

 

Okay, I'll put it to you this way: I won't put anybody down for wanting to collect this stuff. (And I consider myself a Christian, too.)  It's just not my bag, baby. Hey, if I buy a lot from eBay or something and there's a Mystique game or two, fine. (Although if it's Custer's Revenge, I'd probably....be very uneasy about keeping it around.) I'm just not going to actively seek that stuff out.

Going the arcade route...we covered three adult games on Pie Factory Podcast, mainly because nobody else would. They were all basically the "complete a puzzle to expose a NSFW picture" type, pretty much just nudity, but one of them -- Miss World Nude '96 -- was so disturbing in its implementation that I didn't want to play video games for several days...

Edited March 12, 2017 by dauber

[Atari Adventure Square]

I can see the value of having interest - years after the fact - of collecting this bit of unsavory third-party 2600 titles.

I mean, it's definitely a collector's item, objectively speaking.

 

But personally, I share the feelings of most commenters in this thread as not favoring its presence around my console.

I'd hate to engage in discussion about its historical arrival with coda of actual gameplay, so just plain talk is nicer.

 

Also, I remember seeing ads for it in VG mags when they came about, and possibly even an article.

It seemed astonishing but maybe also inevitable, given the home gaming consoles were as much an adult's party toy as kids' 24/7 gameplay option.

Everybody thought interactive TV games were fun and cool (and they still are to this day!).

But these were full-on gimmick games that - when tried out decades later in ROM format - proved to be idiotic and derivative as expected.

 

I mean, you could forgive undercooked but inoffensive titles like Lost Luggage, somewhat (C+ for effort).

But these x-rated games were sexist and mean, and Custer was racist, to boot, as Row mentioned.

They simply did not live up to the noble existence of these gaming machines, which greeted us kids after school, kept us company and brought us together

and made us hopeful for the future, as tech now seemed fun and innovative as the bits could turn into anything...just not rejected Hustler cartoons, please.

 

Yeah, all in all, I was relieved these lurid attempts at cashing in on the VG trend went nowhere, even at that time.

And they're ultimately just a footnote in this wonderful console's otherwise proud history.

[TeddyGermany]

No!  It would be in bad taste to do that.

[greenween]

I would never collect them just because they seem like trash to me, gameplay as well as content. However, if I found one in a box somewhere I'd have no problem selling it to someone who wanted it.

[LeeJ07]

These games are most definitely not my cup of tea, so I'd never collect them.