Atari 2600 Game
Produced by: Atari
Model Number: CX2668
Atari Rarity Guide: 3 Scarce
Year of Release: 1982
This Football title for the Atari 2600 is not very true to the game at all. It isn't Football as much as it is a similar sport. Let me go over some of the differences. Games consist of one 15 minute quarter (no halftime no nothing). You only have 5 men per team. There are no fumbles or penalties, and it is not possible to run out of bounds. So if you are looking for a realistic football game, you should choose another game. This was once the game for you if you had wanted to play a simple football-like game with one of your friends. Note I said "was." We both know that there isn't a soul alive today who both has friends and wishes to play this game.
I honestly cannot think of any reason for a human being to be playing this game in the year 2005. It has nothing to offer anymore. Its time was up by 1984. Now it is just a relic of the cold war. A time when nuclear disaster loomed, and we sought some kind of comfort in block-like representation of sports games. Perhaps if the nukes really had hit, then this game would have meant something today. But alas that never happened, and this game remains totally bereft of meaning and purpose.
From the instruction manual:
You're the quarterback of the ATARI offensive team, and you're really feeling
the pressure. Down by less than a touchdown in the closing seconds of the
game, you have to maneuver that ball into the end zone somehow for the winning
score. How will you do it?
You could run with the ball and try to evade that wide-ranging middle
linebacker. Be careful, though. He's a little bit faster than you and will
catch you over the distance.
Rob Zdybel was the programmer on this title. Rob is a career game programmer who has done many games for many platforms. Such as BattleTanx for the Nintendo 64 and World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks for the Playstation 2. He is one of the few old school game programmers who is still in the business.
This game is valued at around $3 USD. Games with boxes and manuals are worth more. Although you must ask yourself why you would ever want to own this. You know it is just going to sit there on a shelf. You might get some sort of warm feeling upon first purchasing it, but that feeling will soon pass. The cartridge however will remain. You can never own this cartridge, it will own you instead. It will come with you from house to house. You will have to dust it off, move it out of the way, and deal with it for a long time. Eventually you will sell it on eBay, you'll clear a cool 15 cents after fees, and then you will have to wrap it up and mail it to the happy buyer. His warm feelings will also pass.
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