Join us for episode 65 featuring the debut of what we expect will become a recurring segment on the show: Conversation Bytes! Our guinea pig guest for this new interview segment is Scott Rhoades, fiction author and longtime writer of technical manuals – including manuals for games like BasketBrawl and Shanghai on the Atari 7800 and the Lynx during a stint with Atari in the 1980s and ’90s. Thanks for chatting with me, Scott! My thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs “Pinball Spring”, “Reformat” and “Take a Chance”. Atari... Read More

It’s all about the eggs, y’all! In the 1974 special IT’S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN, the gang is obsessed with the looming specter of Easter and living in existential fear they won’t be buried alive in an avalanche of eggs. Everyone, that is, except Linus who takes a break from obsessing about the Great Pumpkin to obsess about a thing called “the Easter Beagle”. (And Sally calls him on it.) Meanwhile, Marcie, apparently an Easter neophyte, cluelessly lays waste to scores of defenseless eggs. And as if THAT wasn’t enough, we’ve also got... Read More

See the flag. Capture the flag. It’s all in the name. Our subject this week is: FLAG CAPTURE, a flag-ship game (see what I did there?) for Atari, being one of the first eleven games released in 1978. You and an opponent race across the field of play, striving to be the first to “capture” the “flag” and which point…well, not much happens. Is this a pirate game? I don’t know, but it sure feels like a pirate game. Jolly Roger and all that? Mostly, I just want an excuse to wear an eye patch and say “arr” a lot. As if anyone needs an excuse for... Read More

Ahh! Baseball! The smell of the grassy outfield and the dusty infield. Does Atari’s 1978 appeal to the Louisville Slugger in all of us score a HOME RUN or is it the sporting equivalent of AMIDAR? (We’re never going to forgive that game for wasting our time.) Head down to your digital ballpark and find out! My thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs “Reformat”, “Pinball Spring” and “Take a Chance”. Atari Bytes show notes and episodes It’s a Podcast, Charlie Brown Check out cool Atari Bytes mugs, shirts... Read More

We’re taking another spin through the time vortex and jumping out in the era of the Atari 7800 this week to play the 1986 iconic Atari game ROBOTRON 2084. If you’re one of the few who hasn’t heard of or played this legendary game, this might help: just imagine this is an even MORE dystopian version of the world set out in George Orwell’s novel 1984. It’s no surprise that Orwell might be interested in writing about robots. Orwell, famously, was a cyborg novelist.* *That might not be accurate.** **But how cool would that be???? My thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com... Read More

So, what do we get in Atari’s 1978 adventure game SPACE WAR? There’s space. There’s war. Sort of. Tune in to find out just what we mean by that! My thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs “Reformat”, “Pinball Spring” and “Take a Chance”. Atari Bytes show notes It’s a Podcast, Charlie Brown Find awesome “Go Play Some Old Games” shirts, mugs and more at our store on Zazzle.com Consider supporting the show financially on our Patreon page. Other Episodes ... Read More

A B-O-Y N-A-M-E-D C-H-A-R-L-I-E B-R-U-H-N Darn it! I just lost the National Spelling Bee! AUGHHHHHHHH! Well, at least I can empathize with Charlie Brown’s trials and tribulations in his first big screen outing, A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN, a box office hit in 1969. Charlie Brown has a shot at shedding his “failure face” when he wins the school spelling bee and heads off to the – gasp! – National Spelling Bee! In the B plot, Linus is separated from his trusty blanket. It’s not pretty. So, are the kids in the Peanuts gang ready for their silver screen close-ups?... Read More

For all you haters who think video games rot the mushy brains of impressionable youth, the 1978 Atari game BRAIN GAMES is for you. It’s like a console version of the classic handheld games Simon and Merlin without the portability. Or the bright colors. Or the fun. Doing its part to foster a generation of drug free, sex free, non-fun-having gamers, playing BRAIN GAMES is like being the 1980s teen our parents dreamed of all over again! Sorry for all the thoughtless Wargames: Dead Code spoilers this week! You’ve been warned. (Settle down, you’ve never heard of that movie before... Read More

I wear my sunglasses at night. This made it a bit difficult to play this week’s game NIGHT DRIVER, the 1980 game from Atari. I pretty much crashed into everything, then just reset the game and pretty much acted as if nothing happened. It’s kind of like what Congress does. Put on your sunglasses and hop into the driver’s seat. Atari Bytes episodes and show notes It’s a Podcast, Charlie Brown The Atari Bytes Patreon page where you can help support the show. Pick up “Go Play Some Old Games” shirts and more at Zazzle.com AB_Pod_Store Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com... Read More

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN… Seriously. Do it. Do it now. Okay, sit down, you look ridiculous. This week on the podcast, we have a 1983 Parker Bros. game about looting ancient Egyptian ruler King Tut’s tomb. The game is called TUTANKHAM, and is apparently so good, you won’t have time to put the last “en” on the name before you must rush off to play it. Do we agree? More importantly, what stories has the mysterious ancient tomb left to tell? Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs “Take a Chance”, “Reformat”... Read More