The first Superstar console was the Atari 2600. It launched with nine titles that would define modern casual gaming. We discuss them in the article below.
The Atari 2600 is one console that single-handedly managed to create the home videogame industry, then later almost destroyed it in the space of a few years. By no means was it the first console that attempted to bring the arcade into the home? However, it was the first that knew the power of well-known titles in the living rooms of gamers. It also took another concept that was also relatively new and placed games on swappable cartridges. Its launch titles would have a huge impact on gaming forever.
The Atari 2600 launch titles
While there is literature aplenty about the Atari console itself and the games that were on it, its launch titles are often overlooked. They included games that were basic by today’s standards but showed a real empathy towards what the human brain looks for in casual games. Many of their themes are being resurrected today, with shiny new graphics and increased processing power on mobile devices. Yet at their core, these games harbor many similarities with the Atari 2600 launch titles. They included:
BlackJack
Surround
Basic Math
Video Olympics
Combat
Air-Sea Battle
Star Ship
Street Racer
Indy 500
Puzzlers and Casino
Blackjack is one of the games that really did set the scene for casual gaming. In a few years, it had a follow-up that included a whole range of casino games on one cartridge. This would create a subcategory of social casino-type titles on every iteration of console and PC since. The modern equivalent of this is online casinos, which are played through apps and browsers. They are becoming legal in more countries, such as Canada, where real money gambling for Ontario residents and others is a possibility. Luckily, their graphical capabilities and choice of casino games have increased, so you can have a whole, realistic casino in the palm of your hand.
Surround is a game that will appeal to even the most retro of mobile phone users. Snake, the title of the Nokia 3310 phone, was essentially this game. You have a cube with a tail that must surround the opponent, preventing them from getting away. Thus, it was essentially the first mobile game.
Finally, in this category, basic math was used. It could be seen as a cash-in to make the console seem educational and deflect criticism leveled at gaming. However, basic math was the start of a history of using games as an educational tool that crossed the boundaries of entertainment. Just look at games like Brain Training on the Nintendo DS and the New York Times Crossword App to see its trajectory.
Action Games
The two action games in the titles could be a blueprint for the most popular eSports titles of the modern day. The first was the simple title Combat, which pits you as a tank driver against a range of other assailants. While it was not quite the first-person view of Call of Duty, the concept of warfare was there.
Star Ship took this one step further and placed the action in space. However, this was a game played in first person as a shooter. The players looked down the screen as if they were the characters themselves and had to shoot a range of oncoming targets like aliens. In that way, it is the perspective and not the general intent of the title that makes it so revolutionary and is a style of play arguably more popular now than it ever was in the years between the Atari 2600 and today.
Sports Titles
Arguably, of all the titles, sports games have been the ones that have transferred least well to modern mobile games. It may be that they focus on the use of dexterity and control, which are two of the things hardest to get right on a mobile device. This is definitely the case for games like Video Olympics. As a result, many mobile titles tend to provide more cartoonish, casual simulations of sports titles that do not require the same skill level.
The other two titles were both racing games, which are also vastly popular in today’s mobile gaming landscapes. Of them, both, Indy 500 is the one with the most interesting story, as it shows how games would soon come to use real-life events and trademarks to gain customers. Today, this is extremely prevalent, with leagues like the NFL and organizations like FIFA signing up to endorse titles. Yet back in the late seventies, this was quite revolutionary.
As the title released more games, they became even more experimental. Some are best left to time, while others have made a huge impact. The Atari legacy is one to which gaming owes a debt of gratitude.