The Activision Decathlon

What's the ad for?

The Activision Decathlon
Year
1985

Spotted in the inside back cover of...

 

The Scoop

 This was a unique ad for it's visual appearance. It looked like no other ad out there, especially for a video game. The Activision Decathlon was murder on your Atari or other game console joystick (controller for those young ones out there). Repeated back and forth motion, tap, tap, tap! A systems lifetime of use in a few hours of play.

Kool-Aid Man battles The Thirsties!

What's the ad for?

Kool-Aid Man- Video Game
Year
1983

Spotted in...

The Scoop

"Oh Yeah!" 

That's what a fun-loving, giant pitcher of Kool-Aid says as he bursts through the wall of your living room, destroying your furniture and causing thousands of dollars of damage. Some call him a mascot while others call him a home-grown terrorist. Either way don't you find it funny that he's always carrying a smaller version of himself? Why not just pour some Kool-Aid from himself.

Video of actual game play...

And the Kool-Aid man as featured in The Family Guy

 

Publish Post

It's not easy being Q*Bert

What's the ad for?
Q*Bert the video game
Year
1983

Spotted in

 

 This is the second ad from Q*bert featured on Four Color Promises. If you are interested in the creation of the game, there is a good article over at Coinop.org. Click here to read.

Burger Time

What's the ad for?
Burger Time the video game
Year
1983

Spotted in

Do you know what the chef's name in Burger Time was? Peter Pepper! You can play an online version of the game here.

Solar Fox

What's the ad for?
Solar Fox
Year
1983

Spotted in

The Scoop

"What a Space Cadet". Can't argue there. Who knew there were Valley Girls in Space."Awesome", "Gnarly", "Like- Can I drive?" Actually that would make a good movie, or at least it would have made a good movie 25 years ago. I just checked IMDB and there has not been a movie made about Valley Girls in Space. There was a however a "Space Girls in Beverly Hills" made and a "Dinosaur Valley Girls" too. Both look premium. Anyway, Solar Fox is a game I am not familiar with, heck I didn't even know CBS got into the video game market in the eighties.

"Get Montezuma's Revenge and get ready for action..."

What's the ad for?
Montezuma's Revenge the video game
Year
1985

Spotted in

The Scoop

 Named after an American expression for diarrhea contracted while visiting Mexico, the game was actually leaked prior to it's release in 1984. It was in turn heavily pirated. I didn't even realize this stuff was happening over 25 years ago. For more info read up on it and see screenshots here.

Star Wars: The Arcade Game

What's the ad for?
Star Wars: The Arcade Game for the Atari 2600 and 5200
Year
1984

Spotted in

The Scoop

 So this appears to be a game, at least in the arcade version, with a history of tournament play as well as Guinness World Record involvement. I mean, a dude named Brandon Erickson played this game for 54 hours straight...on a single credit. They are even selling DVD's of the performance. The game must be good right? Right?

Moon Patrol

What's the ad for?

Moon Patrol for the Atari

Year

1984

Spotted in

The scoop

Moon Patrol was the first video game to popularize parallax scrolling, giving the illusion of depth to 2D video games. In the game you drive, shoot and jump your way to check points while you patrol the dangerous Luna City.

The He-Man video game

What's the ad for?

Masters of the Universe. The Power of He-Man video game

Year

1984

Spotted in

 The scoop

 Another big 80's cartoon and toy franchise He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or in this case Masters of the Universe, The Power of He-Man. Below are some screen shots. See ya Monday.

Star Wars: Jedi Arena

This ad is from the back cover of Super-Villain Classics #1 (1983), which featured the origin of Galactus, a villain that would strike fear even in Darth Vader's eyes.

Okay, maybe not...but Galactus is still pretty cool...to me.

Jedi Arena looks like glorified Pong. Anyone care to differ? ThinkGeek has some pretty cool replica Lightsabers available but they're not cheap. However earlier this month a new, cheaper version released by Hasbro was reviewed on the Comics Alliance website. For now I guess I'll be stuck with playing Jedi Arena.

Mario without the Super

What's the ad for?

Mario Bros. for the Atari

Year
1984

Spotted in

The scoop

 The classic that started it all. Witness the "Killer Turtles" before they became...Koopa Troopa!

The Atari Lynx

What's the ad for?

Lynx
Year
1991

Spotted in

The scoop
The Lynx was Atari's second attempt at a handheld gaming console. Granted the first was Touch Me, a Simon Says style game released in 1978 but can you really compare the two? The Lynx was also the first color portable gaming system. The system didn't last too long...maybe it was the cost, maybe it was the size. You're not going to fit this one in your pocket. Some cool game though and the color screen looked pretty good.

Spider-Man the video game for the Atari 2600

What's the ad for?

Spider-Man the video game for the Atari 2600
Year
1982

Spotted in

The scoop

The Spider-Man video game! Once again an early and crappy attempt at making a comic book video game. This one looks like it has as much potential as E.T

Joust

What's the ad for?

Joust for the Atari 2600 and 5200

Year

1984

Spotted in

The scoop

I find it interesting that back in 1984 you didn't have to actually show any images or screenshots of the game being advertised. An illustration was good enough. I remember playing Joust in the local roller rink when I was a kid. What I don't remember was how hard it was. At least this Java emulation is tough. Go on and give it a try. Did you know they were trying to make a Joust movie? IMDB lists it as a 2012 release but something tells me we will have to wait longer then that. Quick grab that egg!

RIck Colby...Fire Fighter

Oh poor Rick Colby. This game was just to much for him. After all game, developer Imagic motto wasn't "Created by Experts for Experts" for nothing. Imagic was the second, third party video game developer after Activision. It starting by publishing games for the Intellivision but also published for the Atari 2600 which by the end of that systems life, it had the third largest library of published games.Unfortunately by 1986 the company had folded. The graphics were pretty sweet at the time...but don't take my word for it, witness it yourself.