Stargate vs. Defender II Atari 2600

[Smell Dawg]

7 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Last if my latest pick up items.

Aww yeah Seaquest!  I've fallen in love with that title.  I've been keeping an eye out for Stargate copy.
Nice pickups!!

[TrekMD]

20 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Last if my latest pick up items.

Some good stuff there!  I see you were able to get a boxed Stargate (rather than the later Defender II).  Stargate is harder to find.  It is such a cool port!  The other titles you got are also really good.

[RickR]

38 minutes ago, TrekMD said:

I see you were able to get a boxed Stargate (rather than the later Defender II).  Stargate is harder to find.

I didn't know which came first.  I wonder what made them change the name? 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

23 hours ago, TrekMD said:

Some good stuff there!  I see you were able to get a boxed Stargate (rather than the later Defender II).  Stargate is harder to find.  It is such a cool port!  The other titles you got are also really good.

I did not know Star gate was harder to come by.  This one is the Atari Corp. release.  I thought there was a Atari Inc one?

[Justin]

19 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I did not know Star gate was harder to come by.  This one is the Atari Corp. release.  I thought there was a Atari Inc one?

@Atari 5200 GuyIn 1993 when I ordered my first new Atari games through mail order, effectively blind as Atari's mail order was just a list of game titles without photos or descriptions (I scanned the docs and included them in my 2600/7800 Strategy Guide, you can see them in PDF form!) One of the 25 games I ordered was Defender II for Atari 2600. Atari stated they may include substitutions if a game wasn't available. I was surprised to see a game called "Stargate" included with my order that I had never heard of. Only once I opened it up did I realize it was Defender II. I had assumed, as a young boy, that Atari Corp. probably no longer had the license to Defender that Atari, Inc. had, and published the game under a new name.

[TrekMD]

23 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I did not know Star gate was harder to come by.  This one is the Atari Corp. release.  I thought there was a Atari Inc one?

It's an Atari Inc release.  I've heard that the name was changed due to the movie of the same name but that seems unlikely since the move was released in 1994.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

5 hours ago, TrekMD said:

It's an Atari Inc release.  I've heard that the name was changed due to the movie of the same name but that seems unlikely since the move was released in 1994.

Weird.  My Star gate is Atari Corp.

[TrekMD]

That is weird.  Does it say Atari Corp on the box or the cart?

[RickR]

I'll get a picture of my Stargate and Defender 2 carts later this weekend when I put "Earth Dies Screaming" away.

 

[Justin]

14 hours ago, TrekMD said:

That is weird.  Does it say Atari Corp on the box or the cart?

 

13 hours ago, RickR said:

I'll get a picture of my Stargate and Defender 2 carts later this weekend when I put "Earth Dies Screaming" away.

 

This is a really interesting topic that has fascinated me in the past.

One of the most interesting things I've found about Stargate is that some of them have 1985 Atari Corp copyrights on the back of the box. There was very little of anything at all coming out for Atari video game systems in 1985. Most all copyrights found on cartridge boxes jump from 1984 Atari, Inc. to 1986 Atari Corp. Stargate I believe is the only Atari cartridge game I own with a 1985 copyright printed on the back of the box. I believe Gremlins on Atari 5200 is another one.

 

On 8/25/2023 at 10:13 PM, TrekMD said:

It's an Atari Inc release.  I've heard that the name was changed due to the movie of the same name but that seems unlikely since the move was released in 1994.

You're right to think that's not true. The movie and game are a decade apart and unrelated. I remember after receiving Stargate via mail order directly from Atari in 1993, really enjoying the game - already then as a classic - and seeing that a movie called Stargate was coming out in Fall, 1994. I remember Stargate was in theaters at the same time as Star Trek: Generations. Stargate the game and Stargate the film and television franchise should not be conflated.

The real issue is why and when did Atari release Stargate as Defender II? The Atari 2600 game was originally released as Stargate, the same name as the arcade version of the game. Only later was the 2600 version released as Defender II, as was the NES version.

I've never located anything definitive as to why this happened, but there are lots of guesses and assumptions out there. Clearly it may be pertinent to legal issues pertaining to the usage of the "Stargate" and "Defender" trademarks - possibly "Stargate" had not been fully secured, or they were looking to bolster their claim to the "Defender" trademark. It may have also been a marketing decision - arcade gamers may have been familiar with Stargate, but far more people already knew Defender. It's possible marketing research showed that the game would sell better as Defender II than Stargate.

Stargate was listed on the Atari Mail Order Form as Defender II. In 1993 my memories of most 2600 games were vague, and I had nothing to go by (no internet) except for the Atari Catalogs that came with the E.T. and Asteroids cartridges I had found on clearance at Kay-Bee Toys earlier that year. I knew Defender and people remembered it pretty fondly - I thought it looked pretty archaic, but knowing it was a "classic" I wanted to give it a try and ordered Defender II from Atari. (You can see all of this on my hand-written list of games I was ordering shown below - I only knew of "Defender 2" and not Stargate.) I will say, when Stargate showed up and I gave it a play, I was really, really impressed at the time by what they were able to do with a 2600 game. Stargate looked and played lightyears beyond what the original Defender had been. I was really into the Atari 7800 at the time, and I thought 2600 Stargate / Defender II looked and played nearly as well as what I would have wanted to see from a 7800 version of Defender. I thought it was a really well done game, and I'm glad 2600 gamers were able to get something like that on their system. I thought it blew away everything from the Intellivision, 5200, and ColecoVision.

 

 

 

Atari 7800 6th Grade Strategy Guide.pdf

[Video 61]

13 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Weird.  My Star gate is Atari Corp.

hi everyone,

 

stargate was the sequel to defender, it was a warner/atari release. as you know when jack took over, licensing was a no no, they just changed the name. it was williams i think that owned the game. jacks atari had 1/3ed interest in williams and the atari coin op division.

atari games released many atari brand named games on other platforms, and the lynx. for jack renaming them like fatal run, avoided royalties with the other two atari entities.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

9 hours ago, TrekMD said:

That is weird.  Does it say Atari Corp on the box or the cart?

Both.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Here is the back of my box to Stargate.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Sorry so blurry.  Here...a bit closer.

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

 And the cart.

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

To help because I know it's blurred...

Copyright date is 1987 Atari, Corp. CX26120. It also states Stargate is a TM and (C) of Williams 1981. Cart shell is the same style as red boxed 2600 games.  Exposed cart edge.  No dust cover. I never cared for these since they are hit and miss inserting them in the machine.  It misses that "snap" feeling the original design has.  That feeling is more satisfying.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Here you go.  Red box Defender II might have first appeared in 1988.

 

[Justin]

Right. So it was Stargate both at Warner Atari, Inc. and Tramiel Atari Corp. until an Atari Corp. reprinting in 1988. Seems accurate.

[socrates63]

On 8/26/2023 at 4:59 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Both.

Your box and cart match my copy of Stargate -- 1987 Atari Corp. I originally acquired the game without the box, and a friend gave me the game box. I checked and they both were Atari Corp. I was wondering whether my box and cartridge may have been a mix of Corp. and Inc. since I acquired them separately.

[RickR]

Well, it turns out I have TWO Stargates but no Defender II. 

If anyone has a Defender II for sale or trade, please let me know 🙂 

[TrekMD]

How did you accomplish that?