Friday, October 25, 2013

THREE WEIRD CROSS-PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR THE ATARI 2600: KOOL-AID MAN, ETC.

The ridiculous amount of video game titles released in 1983 was overwhelming - so many horribly-programmed games, so little time (and back then, Atari 2600 games cost about the same as PS3 games will cost you today - but when the gaming industry crashed that same year, most titles at Kay-Bee Toys and elsewhere were clearanced off quickly).  

Because anybody who was anybody could make a game for the Atari 2600 at that time, including pervy so-called "XXX games" by non-mainstream companies, a few well-recognized companies must have assumed they had to jump into the quicksand known as Atari right then and there, too.  Oh boy.  Good thing that when the Nintendo/NES platform came along, the rules were much stricter and had to get the Nintendo company's approval first before being released on the NES system (other than Sega, the only other major platform in the mid-late 80's).

PEPSI INVADERS
Never a commercial release, was given to approx. 100 Coca-Cola employees and didn't include any box or manual.  Nothing more than an almost identical port of Space Invaders, with the aliens replaced by the letters spelling "PEPSI", and the bonus points ship flying across overhead is replaced with the Pepsi logo


KOOL-AID MAN
If you drank enough Kool-Aid in 1983 and sent in 30 proof of purchases, you'd receive probably the best (or best-looking) promotional Atari 2600 game of the bunch.  To this day, I never really figured out how to play the confusing and brightly colorful game.  Apparently the demand was high enough to later merit a commercial release of Kool-Aid Man, for that week or two it lasted until Atari and the game industry crashed.




CHASE THE CHUCKWAGON
Also in 1983, apparently if you ate enough dog food and sent in the required number of proofs of purchases you'd receive this now-kinda-rare and slower than turtle-slow maze of an abomination.  It came with the box but the instructions were only printed on a sheet of paper (no booklet).  The game was loosely based on the cute Chuck Wagon commercial, with the dog chasing the stop-motion cowboy steering his chuck wagon through the house and into the kitchen to the dog's bowl LOL  In the game, try (GOOD LUCK!) to avoid the cat head or whatever that's bouncing around the screen and freezes you upon touch - happening MANY times on each boring level.  It can take you as long as 10 minutes to reach the top of the damn maze!




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