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UNKNOWN PROTOTYPES - 80'S HARDWARE
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| HARDWARE DESCRIPTION |
Atari were the kings of prototypes, with more documented peices 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...
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Alpha 1
1983 (Prototype) |
| No images available | | Notes : This was the in-house cabinet for Major Havoc. Housed in a Crystal Castles cabinet, with handmade graphics this game was from the very early design of the game. The PCB and pinouts are completely different than the production Major Havoc and there is actually a fingerboard inside to convert the old harness to work with a production Major Havoc board as well as the Alpha 1 boardset.
| | Boards : PCB |
Amazing Adventure
1982 (Prototype) |
| No images available |
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 |
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. |
Missile Command 2 / Missile Command Deluxe
1982 (Prototype) |
| No images available | | 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) |
| No images available | 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.
| | Magazine reviews : SU Oct '91 |
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 |
The Last Starfighter
1984 (Prototype) |
| No images available | Notes : Apparantly didnt even get to prototype stage. They were going to release it as a coin-op but cancelled it.
There may have been one partially-completed prototype but the game wasn't finished.
You can read a lot more at the Last Starfighter Movie and Video Game FAQ.
Basically, the game was at a very, very preliminary stage and was abandoned due to the immense cost involved. |
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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