mind of matthew dot net

one of my hobbies is collecting classic video games. specifically for the grandaddy of them all,  the atari 2600 (or vcs if you want to get picky). there are a lot of reasons why i decided on this hobby. first, nostalgia. i grew up with these games, and like star wars, indiana jones, and other late 70’s early 80’s icons…the 2600 shaped who i am today. second, unlike collecting something like baseball cards, where i can merely look at them, i can actually play these games form time to time. when I’m really lucky my wife and oldest daughter will play with me (there’s nothing like multiplayer warlords…even in 2009). another cool reason to collect? there are still talented programmers out there making new games for the 2600 today. many of these games are better than anything that was released back in the heyday of the 2600. all of that said, the one killer reason why this hobby is so much fun is the discovery of an unreleased game…one designed in during the era, yet never brought to market for one reason or another.

The video game industry crashed in 1983, with many design houses closing up shop with little notice. this left a lot of completed or near completed games unreleased. every once in a while, a new one gets discovered. sometimes someone that worked for atari back in the day comes forward with a game. sometimes an unreleased game is discovered at a yard sale by a collector. there are lots of ways that these old games finally see the light of day…and when it happens, its a really special moment for anyone that has a love for classic games.

just this week a new game was discovered. not for the 2600 (sadly) but for it’s cousin the atari 7800. a member of the enthusiast website atariage.com was cleaning out his father’s attic when a box of games was discovered. most of them were common games, but there was one game that was unenclosed in a cartridge…it was simply the chips soldered to the board. now a cartridge-less game isn’t all that uncommon. these games are old, and cartridges get broken or are taken apart at some point. the boards still function. the discovery in question was thought to be a prank, as it was so close to april 1st, and pranks are common in this hobby. however, after the game was analyzed it turned out to be yet another unreleased game…jr. pac-man (a 7800 version of the arcade game). you can read all about the discovery here. quite the discovery indeed. while there’s still a chance that this is some sort of april fools joke, i’ve played the game on an emulator…and it seems to be legit. its a great day to be a collector.

update!

you can see from the strikethrough above that the game has turned out to be a “new” homebrew game…as i and several others had speculated, most notably atariage.com user underball…it is not an unreleased prototype. april fools indeed! still, the game plays great. congratulations to the programmer, mr. robert decrescenzo. i can’t wait for the finished product!