For some people, Activision means Call of Duty, or Tony Hawk, or MechWarrior. For me, Activision means Pitfall!, Laser Blast, and Keystone Kapers – the Atari 2600 games from the early 80s. I always romanticized what visiting Activision would be like as a kid, and now that I work here…well, it’s been my goal to bring some of that romance back, at least to my office.
A few years ago, I picked up an Atari 2600 Jr. (the redesign from 1985 with the awesome ad) and attempted to modify it so it would run easily on modern televisions. That did not go so well (I can’t solder to save my life) so my friend and musical cohort Jude Kelley finished the project for me.
I had the games, but the system came with a Pro-Line joystick
The result: An Atari 2600 that outputs via S-video, composite video, and stereo sound.
Stereo sound and composite video via jacks that Jude added
Remove RF jack, replace it with S-Video -- Jude makes it look easy
I will keep this in my office from now on. I am now looking to fill the holes in my Activision 2600 cartridge collection; except for a few I’ve picked up at yard sales, those games in the photo are the same ones I’ve had since I was a kid. I have the Pro-Line Joystick (CX24) but also a standard Atari joystick (CX40) so whenever someone wants to come by and play Stampede or Starmaster as the founding fathers intended, they can.
UPDATE: Jude sent me a photo of the project when it was in progress. Crazy!
Oh, is that all?
Also, I have tracked down a few of the titles I was missing — Boxing, River Raid, Chopper Command, Kaboom, and a handful of titles from Imagic (which Activision owns — they bought them out after the big crash). I even tracked down Absolute Entertainment’s Skate Boardin’, programmed by David Crane. Absolute was founded by ex-Activision programmers. It’s in an Activision cartridge shell with the logo blocked out.
