Atari 2600 commercial - The Fly (Yars' Revenge, Asteroids, etc., 1982)

[Alaska1925]

the best console Atari made... such a pity the newer ones weren't so good :(

[1xWertzui]

He's playing Atari 2600 games with holographic 3D graphics, and motion controls. That's the past and the future in one!

[russianimp1]

I'd rather play an original Atari game like 'Yars' Revenge' over some bobbleheaded sports game on the Wii or endless shooter/war sequels on PS3. New games suck a fart out of my ass! While we're at it, so can new television, movies and music. Think about it, we're still talking about a 30+ year old game system and it's games, will we be discussing the XBox 33 years from now? I seriously doubt it!

[morbidious]

you younger generation kids make me want to puke. atari 2600 was the BOMB back in the 80's. I turned Yar's Revenge game over about 5 times when I was 14. I LOVED that game and still do! Kids today have NO IMAGINATION and are jaded and spoiled beyond even their understanding! pathetic.

[chillitscape]

@morbidious think closely, How are we pathetic? the atari is a petty little system, the brains of today are beyond yesterday's

Just because you didn't get to play the ps3, wii or the xbox360

doesn't mean we are spoiled

and how do we have no imagination? the atari is terrible, our calculators have better games than that,

Btw, i dont have a ps3 or a xbox360. Imagination created today's technology, "your wild imaginations in the 80's only have gotten you so far as a 8 bit game."

[Bongwyre2112]

@chillitscape You don't know what you are talking about. I have all the systems, from Atari 2600 to the PS3 and XBOX, I still get more out of my Atari than the others. I mean seriously, you need imagination to play the older games. Nowadays not so much. All you really get is a 3D perspective game, one after the other. Nice grafix, but overall it's the same game. 3D 3D 3D 3D, yawn...all the same game really, just minor differences, some are RPG's some shooters, big deal...

[fubukifangirl]

Too bad that the commercial was far more state of the art than the game system itself.

[ToastMaster623]

That's some damn good 3D graphics!

[MrCorporalTunnel]

The raster version (2600) of Asteroids wasn't as enjoyable as the vector (Arcade) version.

[CGCTank]

Yars Revenge IS THE BOMB

[MrSomeGamerdude]

somebody on drugs if they see floating sqares and flys that can shoot.

[OlSkoolGamer87]

Holy shit!! Atari is in 3D I never knew that look at those graphics I am buying 1 now.

[wildsmiley]

This guy's on drugs. But hey, it's a great game. Probably my favorite 2600 game.

[7ate9able]

old schooooooooooool

[MsNikki761]

i miss wakeing up on saturday mornings and all my brothers be sitting in front of the tv playing the atari such good times ...

[bigcritic69]

better graphics than ps3

[PotholesInMyLawn]

Wow this is a cool ad!! Yars was awesome... the package art was the best!!!

[HIGH777ROLLER]

Space...Deeper Space...Hyper Space...Atari, it's all about the Space ( space shooters that is).

[HIGH777ROLLER]

what the hell is he playing? the kinect?

[goodrob13]

@HIGH777ROLLER The Kinect wishes it were that good! :)

[Bittergamer1886]

@HIGH777ROLLER Don't you even DARE compare that unoriginal piece of hardware to the awesomeness that is Atari!

[fubukifangirl]

@Bittergamer1886 Yuck, I can't imagine playing a crappy game system like this when I can have Nintendo Wii or something like that. I bet some Pong enthusists feel like your new-fangled Atari was crappy and unoriginal.

[Bittergamer1886]

@fubukifangirl Oh trust me, my friend, while I think Wii is awesome, I think you don't understand why people play Atari. The reason the system's games looked so crappy is because this was back in the 1980's, not the 2000's. Also, most games on the Atari, if you understood them, was madly addictive, and really fun to play over and over again. And Pong thinks ATARI was unoriginal??? Pong Consoles only had one game or variations of that! The Atari 2600 has about 800 original games! Maybe even more!

[wildsmiley]

@fubukifangirl Well, see that's the problem. You've never played Atari, so you won't know how fun it all is. Yars' Revenge, Missile Command, Pitfall, Kaboom, Centipede, etc. These games are fantastic, and are simple and addicting. Sad to think you'll never know.

[fubukifangirl]

@wildsmiley I've played several Atari emulator games and I am not impressed. As for those games you mentioned, I played many of them or games similar to them in arcades and I still didn't like them.

[wildsmiley]

@fubukifangirl I'm sorry that you feel that way. Do you play any classic systems, like NES, Master System, Genesis, SNES?

[Flipolopolis]

Most epic atari ad ever???

[kzbxvz]

Made in 1981 now 30 years ago, how innovative the programmers were back in those pioneer years and without money profit in the first place.

[ofdiscordia]

No question I spent more time on Star Raiders than probably any other cartridge game, that one was quite fun, I think I'd play it today actually it was so good ;)

[deadmetalbr]

this commercial is wicked epic

[rejectofsoul24]

look at those 80's graphics

[rawrvintageisclassic]

i'm surprised how amazing those graphics are from the early eighties!!

awesome commercial for Atari!! even though i was a kid from the nineties, i can really appreciate the awesome-ish culture from the seventies and eighties!!

and i wonder why my parents thought it was strange...oh well, excuse me while i play some Yar's Revenge on my mobile phone!! :3

[ransman413]

Have you played atari today?

[nelsonr12]

what kind of crack were these guys smoking

[cjkid14]

Star Raiders looks similar to the original Star Wars arcade game in this commercial, lol.

(Yes, Atari made that too...)

[Eggbert1x]

0:26 Missingno is that you?

[PenafilmStudios]

Very,very children don't sleeped because this commercial.

[JK47Tubing]

Damn!! For 1982, this was a damn good looking commercial LOL. I never saw this one

[MrPibi]

WOW, Microsoft was advertising Kinect in 1982! (?)

[Eggbert1x]

@MrPibi

lol i thought the same thing

[BleedingThorn21]

So the dude got all that from a fly? lol, but now i wonder how the 2600 would be in imax :/

[Darkozl]

Carl Sagan?

[Frogster7]

Wouldn't this be awesome if this commercial gave way to a vision that would become a reality as a 3d emulator of a 2d environment witch was controlled by The kinect module for the Xbox360 ? i would bay a couple hundred for that thing -w-

[Frogster7]

ATAARIIIII!

[afas1976]

Look at the huge that fly is!!! Then just think the size the poop is? Lol lol lol

[Forsakenuk]

funny thing is that how actually is how they made games in those days

[Chelonia]

Have you played Atari today?

[orbitoverthesun]

this should be in 3d!

[ForViewingOnly]

Very impressive and expensive advert for its day!

[bryceguy72]

Does he say "Shit Cone" at 0:19 ?

[CJ076]

@bryceguy72

He said shift drone.

[mahoromaticfan15]

I just finished playing yars revenge a minute ago! and at 1:23, it looks more like Pac-man rather than Galactic-man. (pac-man for the atari 2600 at least)

[blooperboy555]

@mahoromaticfan15 i thought the exaxt same thing!

[joestradamus75]

neat!

[IIIIdepechemodeIIII]

decent commercial. too bad they blow nowadays.

[marvinchannel123]

Advanced for a game commercial

[DDRUTOU]

@marvinchannel123 Should have said Advanced for an Atari game. This commercial makes me want to buy it now. And I already have it!

[FleshMan7063]

Now that's what I call a commercial, not this "Wii would like to play" shit we have today.

[pufixas]

not stupid as other commercials...

[asd616]

that was a long-ass commercial

[rrprishtinesproduct]

3d tv 1982

[ErrortheCucco]

This commercial would be epic in 3D.

[IIIIdepechemodeIIII]

so great for its time.

[Kj16V]

I like that advert. Very clever for the time.

[gamesDAMNED]

Video games are the single greatest argument in favor of psychedelic drugs ever made. You can tell the games that weren't inspired by mushrooms - those were the "educational" games. Yuck!

[uhuhwhat68]

HAHA!...atl...air...



[michaellr308]

in the early 80's, I played the atari vcs or 2600.

[baone91]

THE FUN IS BACK .....

[CescoPisicoli]

Man the marketing that they put into this system and their games is EPIC!

[TheDutchGame]

I think you should watch this on a 3D telvevision to get the best effect.

[GhostOfACPast]

I absolutely loved Yar's Revenge back in the day.

[PavirryPe]

This guy is tripping on some heavy shit.

[TwinCityKillaz]

Fuck Warner...They destroyed everything Atari built up at the time due to greed!

[Bittergamer1886]

@TwinCityKillaz And Jack Tramiel!

[KevinCarey]

Pac Man was one of the worst ports even he only moved sideways and the ghosts would flicker all over the place

[ThrilloVanHouten]

Holy hell...these are incredible special effects for 1982...

[Nicholaschamp10]

Pac-Man at 1:25?

[bakudandanLL]

the commercial is better than the games themselves

[CUR50R]

REALLY GOOD MADE CLIP 4 1982

[doctalee]

I use to love that game and the blue thing on the left

[FirebirdDude]

GODLY!

[gamesDAMNED]

Hey! Sound effects from Wrath of Khan! Heh heh.

This is an interesting film. They really romanticized the game developer in the early 80s. People of all ages were enchanted by Atari and the new computer revolution. It was all so alien and new, like something out of Star Trek. I don't know if a younger person today can understand how revolutionary computers were in the early '80s.

Ah, the good ol' days, when videogames were for everyone, young and old. Everyone was a gamer.

[FargoMarc]

I loved my Atari 2600 when I was a kid....

[FischerFan]

When I bought Atari cartridges back in the day, Yars' Revenge was the one that I had to read up on the most.

It's one of the more unusual games for the old Atari system, but it always gives the player a good challenge; and with the threatening qotile, plus a programmed destroyer missile following you around, you must utilize the vertical wraparound feature on the screen in order to survive.

I long for the day when this, Star Raiders, and other Atari classics become available for PCs.

[Datan0de]

@FischerFan They are! Look up the "Stella" Atari 2600 emulator. It's a free download available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and just about every other conceivable platform. ROM files for the cartridges are easy to find online if you poke around a bit, and the ROMs for every Atari game ever made only take up about 20 MB.

There's also a device called a Stelladaptor that lets you plug original Atari controllers into USB ports. I have one and it works great.

[gjc82071]

My Stelladaptor is F'ing awesome! Best money I ever spent, considering how much I play retro games. I LOVE emulators! I have every one, up to like, Sega Saturn (and ALL the software). That's as modern as I want. I have ALL the Atari's. I like Intellivision too. Oh, MESS is an AWESOME emulator, It emulates 100's of different systems. And I could never live without MAME (strictly arcade games). I totally love retro-gaming!!!

[gjc82071]

What do you mean you long for the day they become available for PCs? You must mean in modified, modernized graphics? Remakes? If not, haven't you heard of "Emulation"? I have EVERY game ever made for the Atari 2600,5200, 7800, & 400/80o PCs. Plus every computer and game console ever made between 1976 & 1996 with ALL software. I have Atari, Intellivision, Amiga, Commodore, Coleco, Nintendo, etc. Even emulators for the old hand held battery powered LCD game & watch games. They work fine.

[AoFparson]

yars revenge is a great game for the atari

[bukster1]

Star Raiders came out in 1979. It was an amazing game for its day. The 3D graphics were the first of its kind I ever saw.

I saw a guy playing this in a shop in the early 80's. My jaw was on the floor.

[gamesDAMNED]

Star Raiders on the Atari 800 - astonishing! It was SO FAR ahead of everything else. I'm amazed that Atari could create something so sophisticated and complex, back when the VCS was still state-of-the-art.

The 2600 version never really could compete. The Atari 800 version was the true Star Raiders. Atari Interactive really ought to re-release it on PC.

[bukster1]

You're quite right. The version of Star Raiders I saw was on an Atari 8 bit computer. It wouldn't have been an 800. They weren't out when I saw it.

I should have made that clear in my comment. The version I saw was on an Atari computer, not the 2600. Before that day, I had only seen console games like Space Invaders, often not very good version at that. Star Raiders was the first ever game I saw that you could buy for a machine at home that kicked ass. There was nothing else even close.

[ransman413]

yeah the daddy of battlezones graphics you DONT EVER DOUBT THAT

[ballkicker19]

we invented it come on please let the market crash

[AndrewKH85]

ok this is a big contrast from the kid commercial for yars revenge.

[memphiselle]

Yars' Revenge. One of the greatest video games of all time.

[UncheckedIrony]

@memphiselle i have it for this console

with 39 other game

[spear401]

@memphiselle even though one game and one game only tops that *coughs* ocarina of time

[mspeter97]

@memphiselle I've never understood that game

[Kand1nSky]

very impressive, esp. YARS REVENGE. #k.

[yamumishot2001]

WOW....Imagine that was the actual grafic's.......LOL.....Well ....i did say imagine......I have this sytem (woody) and the junior ! 2 so..hey dont hate me!!!...........LOL still great add/commercial!!!

[Mrshoujo]

I saw a different version of this on TV some years ago, and have the audio on cassette tape. Different voice. Pacific Data did the CGI for this spot shown in movie theaters at the time.

[Leathertoast]

One thing I never understood... is Yar the fly who runs around and 'eats' the shield and then fires the cannon thing, or is Yar the skull thing inside the shield who you're up against?

[atarileaf]

The Yar is the Fly. Interesting bit of Trivia: Yar was named after Ray Kassar who was the CEO of Atari at the time - Yar is Ray backwards :)

[kylord95]

why are they trying to make it look like the 2600 has 3D graphics?

[almondtealeaf2]

Atari 2600 is even better than Atari Jaguar! Atari Jaguar sucks compared to it's precursor the Atari 2600!

[southcoocrecords]

That was awesome.

[breathingreflection]

Background sound at 1:21 sounds like Star Trek's transporter.

[hecatomb]

i want him to say yes yes, drugs are good, i eat dead babies.

[thebig1]

Greatest vintage video game system ever...THE ATARI 2600!!!

[blueblade455]

Wow! It's like minority report and playing the Nintendo Wii!

This commercial seemed way ahead of it's time!

[CJ076]

It reminded me of "Tron" a few times.

[blueblade455]

It sure does!

[Zeyhk]

That was....fascinating. I love these retro commercials.

[Demophon]

I want one!

[Mistahjey]

I have one ;)

[Deokishisu]

Awesome commercial except the narrator kinda ruins it all.

[jozenone]

Drugs are fun.

[RussainCommunist]

@jozenone Yeah I know right?

[bicostp]

3D cube-rendered, 2600 style Asteroids?

I'd buy that. :D

[NotATube]

The use of CGI to make the "2600" graphics look better was probably quite cool at the time, but isn't it (intentionally) misleading? A large proportion of the target audience will have been kids.

I know that in the UK there are strict rules governing advertising aimed at children, so (for example) they can't make excessive use of techniques and fantasy sequences to make products seem more impressive than they actually are in real life.

[DoctorScissors]

No more than RC cars busting through brick walls, US Army soldiers spending all day rock climbing, and Burger King's Kid Vid having a trim physique.

I wish we had stricter rules on advertising in the US. Then I never would have asked for that stupid Vac-Pac Factory. That thing sucked.

[vigo894]

When I went to see Return of The Jedi, we arrived late, and didn't see the opening

ads, now I can see them.

[konajinx]

Awesome. I actually remember seeing the Yar's Revenge commercial on TV one time only way back then. Quite possibly the greatest game to ever come out on the 2600.

[allenhuffman]

I love YouTube. I remember reading an article about this commercial when it came out, but I never went to any movies to see it. Here we are, 25 years later, and I find it on YouTube. Amazing.

[DogPatch1149]

Hard to believe how far technology has came in 15 years...

Isn't the sound effect when the galactic map is coming up on the screen from the Star Trek movie transporter?

[snally1980]

This ad was part of the preshow advertisements that appeared before the film, "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi"