Are you old enough to remember playing the Atari 2600 console? It’s a relic of history, much like an alchemist’s fire. I believe it existed, but I’ve never seen one. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a fervent following as the Game Boy or Sega Mega Drive does. That following’s strong enough that Atari is releasing a game that began development 46 years ago. The game’s called Save Mary.
A History Lesson
Let’s travel back in time. Picture the scene…
It’s 1982. You’re a kid, and the Atari 2600 is the pinnacle of gaming hardware. It’s like an arcade game but for your home. Dude! E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (or E.T. for short) hits the big screen and rakes millions of dollars in. You can bet you’re asking Ma and Pa for anything E.T. related for the coming Christmas.
Atari was ready to play Santa and knew what the kids wanted. Atari developer Howard Scott Warshaw went to work with only five weeks of production time. Five weeks wasn’t unusual for game development back then, but hindsight proved that the game needed more time in the oven. There would have been a few surefire choices if you thought about the movie and how you might represent that in a game. For example, E.T. and Elliott might spend their time running from government agents and trying to build an interstellar telephone. That sounds reasonable. However, Warshaw opted for experimental gameplay that included pits, which weren’t a feature in the movie. Unsurprisingly, fans were disappointed, their expectations unmet. The game was a flop, and the fact that it had sold 2.6 million copies made it a disaster.
Many copies of the game were returned. E.T., which you can play on the Internet Archive, wasn’t going home: He was going into the landfill. It was an ominous omen of the coming doom of the game industry. Although it would eventually recover to become the giant industry it is today, the entertainment sector folded in 1983. That crash put the brakes on Save Mary, the newest release from Atari.
Save Mary and Second Chances
The Save Mary product page takes up the story:
Another victim of the 1983 game crash, Save Mary never got an official Atari cartridge release until now! This fantastic work from Tod Frye will keep you on your toes as you build a platform that Mary can use to escape the flooding canyon. Use the crane to carefully lower the different blocks and piece together a platform that Mary can safely stand on — but be careful! If you swing or drop a block carelessly, you may end up crushing poor Mary.
Save Mary had a limited release, with preorders already sold out. I guess $60 (USD) isn’t too much for a few bytes of gaming history.
Source: Engadget.com
Did you expect the launch of Save Mary? How about this Library Girl t-shirt. Do you remember when we had a massive collection of otaku-themed tees? I want those days to come back. I fly my nerd flag on my chest.
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