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[Agent X]

After selling off so many of their intellectual properties a few years ago, it appears that Atari has turned the corner, and is now rebuilding their empire. Today, they have announced that they acquired the rights to Berzerk, Frenzy, and 10 other unnamed classic arcade games. See the following articles for more details:

https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/03/16/atari-acquires-berzerk-frenzy-and-10-more-classic-arcade-propertieshttps://www.gameinformer.com/2023/03/16/atari-acquires-berzerk-frenzy-and-10-more-classic-arcade-properties

Atari Acquires A Dozen Classic Arcade Properties From Stern Electronics, Launches Private Investment Platform

Atari announced the acquisition of a dozen retro arcade games, including the '80s classics Berzerk and Frenzy.

worthplaying.com

Atari produced versions of Berzerk for the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. The game was not exclusive to Atari platforms, as GCE also produced a version for their Vectrex system. On top of that, the sequel, Frenzy, was not released at home by Atari, but rather was picked up by Coleco for their ColecoVision.

A "homebrew" version of Frenzy was developed in recent years by Bob DeCrescenzo for the Atari 7800. This version also includes Berzerk, and was developed with assistance from Alan McNeil, the creator of the original Berzerk and Frenzy arcade games.

The headline of the WorthPlaying article says that all of the IPs were acquired from Stern Electronics. Here's a list of video games from Stern Electronics, according to Wikipedia's page on the company:

• Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)
• Berzerk (1980)
• The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
• Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Moon War (1981)
• Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Armored Car (1981)
• Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Frenzy (1982)
• Tazz-Mania (1982)
• Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
• Pooyan (1982) (programmed by Konami)
• Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
• Rescue (1982)
• Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Mazer Blazer (1982)
• Lost Tomb (1982)
• Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
• Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
• Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
• Minefield (1983)
• Cliff Hanger (1983) (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
• Great Guns (1984)
• Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
• Super Bagman (1984) (programmed by Valadon Automation)

I see a large number of games developed by other companies, especially Konami. I would guess that most of that stuff is off limits.

What does Atari plan to do with these games? It would be nice for them to release the 2600 and 5200 versions of Berzerk as add-on DLC for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. They could throw in Bob DeCrescenzo's 7800 Frenzy, too. However, I feel they must have grander plans beyond that. I expect that we'll ultimately receive modernized versions, possibly as part of their "Recharged" line, or maybe even Jeff Minter's take on the games.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Oh hell yeah!! Berzerk is still awesome!

 

[fart town usa]

Man, Atari buying up all the games. Meanwhile, still no word on the Intellivision Amico I preordered a while back.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Intellivision Amico I preordered a while back.

Pretty sure its dead. I'd see if you can still pull back your preorder money.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Bagman is an awesome game (never knew or played Super Bagman). I ony played the arcade Bagman a few times in arcades as a kid not knowing what the hell I was doing. It seemed so hard. Quarters lost fast.

But after playing it on MAME when the internet got up and running and giving it more time, its a great game. That assumes you have patience to clear the money bags as it's a methodical kind of game of back and forth running around. Its not a game of twitchy reflexes.

 

[hlm666]

Love scramble, was my go to game as a kid and is always the first thing I make sure is up and running on a new mame build. Now Tutankham was something I was terrible at but always went back for more, no idea why. It may have been the 80's version of a kid these days dropping thousands on fortnite shit, every coin I put in that game was a waste.

 

[Havoc2049]

Berzerk Recharged, with some cool tunes from Megan McDuffee!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Love scramble, was my go to game as a kid and is always the first thing I make sure is up and running on a new mame build. Now Tutankham was something I was terrible at but always went back for more, no idea why. It may have been the 80's version of a kid these days dropping thousands on fortnite shit, every coin I put in that game was a waste.

I liked Scramble too. Was never good at it since I was a kid, but at least you can last a bit just mindless shooting shit. I played Tut only a few times. Rarely saw that game in the arcade. A very hard game unless you know what youre doing and I'm pretty sure you could only shoot your gun horizontally making it harder.

 

[Agent X]

This article has revealed the full list of 12 games that Atari acquired from Stern:

• Armored Car
• Atomic Castle
• Berzerk
• Dark Planet
• Frenzy
• Great Guns
• Lost Tomb
• Mazer Blazer
• Minefield
• Moon War
• Rescue
• Tazz-Mania

It's almost exactly the list from Wikipedia, minus games that were developed by other companies or have other licensing issues.

Atomic Castle (which I've never heard of until now) wasn't on the Wikipedia list. Apparently, it was a laserdisc game that came out in 1984.

Berzerk Recharged, with some cool tunes from Megan McDuffee!

That gets my vote!

One great thing about the prospects of a modernized remake of Berzerk is that the IP has been dormant for over 40 years. This is a contrast from several of Atari's other classic video games, such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Breakout, Centipede, Tempest, and Battlezone, each of which have been remade, remixed, refreshed, and reimagined multiple times throughout the years. Some of Atari's popular games get overhauled 2 or 3 times within a single decade. The frequency of IP milking by Atari is so high that at least two well-known games were tackled twice (from different developers) just within the year 2022. Meanwhile, no one has touched Berzerk (or any of Stern's other games, for that matter), so a fresh take should stand on its own merits, without evoking comparisons to a growing stack of other developers' efforts to update the game.

 

[Thebonehead]

Atari limps on, a pale shadow of it's former self, but at least it's still going.

Nolan said it's just a cool logo on a t-shirt these days, and he may be correct.

Such a plethora of fantastic systems and games though..

Reminds me I need to fix the two Atari 400's I have, and about 3 800xls to repair as well.

 

[yurinka]

After selling off so many of their intellectual properties a few years ago, it appears that Atari has turned the corner, and is now rebuilding their empire. Today, they have announced that they acquired the rights to Berzerk, Frenzy, and 10 other unnamed classic arcade games. See the following articles for more details:

https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/03/16/atari-acquires-berzerk-frenzy-and-10-more-classic-arcade-propertieshttps://www.gameinformer.com/2023/03/16/atari-acquires-berzerk-frenzy-and-10-more-classic-arcade-properties

Atari Acquires A Dozen Classic Arcade Properties From Stern Electronics, Launches Private Investment Platform

Atari announced the acquisition of a dozen retro arcade games, including the '80s classics Berzerk and Frenzy.

worthplaying.com

Atari produced versions of Berzerk for the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. The game was not exclusive to Atari platforms, as GCE also produced a version for their Vectrex system. On top of that, the sequel, Frenzy, was not released at home by Atari, but rather was picked up by Coleco for their ColecoVision.

A "homebrew" version of Frenzy was developed in recent years by Bob DeCrescenzo for the Atari 7800. This version also includes Berzerk, and was developed with assistance from Alan McNeil, the creator of the original Berzerk and Frenzy arcade games.

The headline of the WorthPlaying article says that all of the IPs were acquired from Stern Electronics. Here's a list of video games from Stern Electronics, according to Wikipedia's page on the company:

• Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)
• Berzerk (1980)
• The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
• Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Moon War (1981)
• Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Armored Car (1981)
• Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Frenzy (1982)
• Tazz-Mania (1982)
• Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
• Pooyan (1982) (programmed by Konami)
• Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
• Rescue (1982)
• Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Mazer Blazer (1982)
• Lost Tomb (1982)
• Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
• Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
• Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
• Minefield (1983)
• Cliff Hanger (1983) (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
• Great Guns (1984)
• Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
• Super Bagman (1984) (programmed by Valadon Automation)

I see a large number of games developed by other companies, especially Konami. I would guess that most of that stuff is off limits.

What does Atari plan to do with these games? It would be nice for them to release the 2600 and 5200 versions of Berzerk as add-on DLC for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. They could throw in Bob DeCrescenzo's 7800 Frenzy, too. However, I feel they must have grander plans beyond that. I expect that we'll ultimately receive modernized versions, possibly as part of their "Recharged" line, or maybe even Jeff Minter's take on the games.

Regarding Konami, Sega or Jaleco games, back in the early '80s it was so common that many companies licensed their games to foreigner companies to produce and sell arcade cabinets of these games in other countries, because it wasn't a globalized world and companies were smaller. And it was cheaper to let a local company to make and publish their own version in other markets.

So Stern pretty likely doesn't own these IPs and only got the license to sell the games in USA/NA. Sometimes even many companies even made bootlegs: unoficial, unlicensed versions of the games that sometimes had some minor changes like the name, a few sprites or some minor programming change to change the difficulty. Many people didn't care about copyright back then, and not being a globalized world without internet almost nobody noticed it was a pirate copy of a foreigner game from a distant country.

Stern was a popular company in the pinball market, so I assume they properly licensed these foreigner games.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Hi old fucks.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Was I the only one who thought this was the Berserk anime and got confused when I read the title?

 

[ReBurn]

Was I the only one who thought this was the Berserk anime and got confused when I read the title?

It is possible

 

[Henry Panic]

"Atari" should buy back Alone in the Dark that they sold earlier so they have an IP that's relevant in modern gaming. They can't survive on retro games.

 

[Havoc2049]

"Atari" should buy back Alone in the Dark that they sold earlier so they have an IP that's relevant in modern gaming. They can't survive on retro games.

With the cost of modern AAA game development, they can't survive either, unless someone was willing to risk some serious venture capital investment on Atari. Their Retro Recharged series is perfect for a quick pick-up and play experience and games like Tempest 4000, Atari 50 and Akka Arra, provide a deeper experience.

 

[Henry Panic]

With the cost of modern AAA game development, they can't survive either, unless someone was willing to risk some serious venture capital investment on Atari. Their Retro Recharged series is perfect for a quick pick-up and play experience and games like Tempest 4000, Atari 50 and Akka Arra, provide a deeper experience.

Why would Atari have to make an AAA game?

Plenty of studios survive on none or that infrequently.

I think some gamer priorities are just as bad as AAA devs like Square.

 

[ReBurn]

With the cost of modern AAA game development, they can't survive either, unless someone was willing to risk some serious venture capital investment on Atari. Their Retro Recharged series is perfect for a quick pick-up and play experience and games like Tempest 4000, Atari 50 and Akka Arra, provide a deeper experience.

The cost of modern AAA gaming is going to kill modern AAA gaming. It's just not sustainable for a lot of developers without the backing of the really big publishers.

I'm curious as to what makes you think Atari needs AAA games to survive? There's lots of steam behind nostalgia and lots of people enjoy the style of their recharged games. I would imagine they could hold on in that niche for longer just like they have been.

 

[AJUMP23]

They will turn them into tshirts and other collectors items.

 

[Kacho]

Was I the only one who thought this was the Berserk anime and got confused when I read the title?

Same. Was disappointed to see that these are old games I’ve never heard of.

 

[spookyfish]

This article has revealed the full list of 12 games that Atari acquired from Stern:

• Armored Car
• Atomic Castle
• Berzerk
• Dark Planet
• Frenzy
• Great Guns
• Lost Tomb
• Mazer Blazer
• Minefield
• Moon War
• Rescue
• Tazz-Mania

It's almost exactly the list from Wikipedia, minus games that were developed by other companies or have other licensing issues.

Atomic Castle (which I've never heard of until now) wasn't on the Wikipedia list. Apparently, it was a laserdisc game that came out in 1984.



That gets my vote!

One great thing about the prospects of a modernized remake of Berzerk is that the IP has been dormant for over 40 years. This is a contrast from several of Atari's other classic video games, such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Breakout, Centipede, Tempest, and Battlezone, each of which have been remade, remixed, refreshed, and reimagined multiple times throughout the years. Some of Atari's popular games get overhauled 2 or 3 times within a single decade. The frequency of IP milking by Atari is so high that at least two well-known games were tackled twice (from different developers) just within the year 2022. Meanwhile, no one has touched Berzerk (or any of Stern's other games, for that matter), so a fresh take should stand on its own merits, without evoking comparisons to a growing stack of other developers' efforts to update the game.

Love me some Frenzy and Lost Tomb. Play those pretty regularly on my MAME cab.

 

[Henry Panic]

Those 5200 box arts continue to be amazing. Here's the 2600 one:

Nice but lacks the thrills of the 5200 box art.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Those 5200 box arts continue to be amazing. Here's the 2600 one:

Nice but lacks the thrills of the 5200 box art.

This and Kangaroo were the first games I bought for myself as a kid (I had inherited some Atari 2600 games from my grandpa though). I mostly just bought it because I loved anything with robots and lasers and shit, and I liked the box art.

It ended up being a pretty good game though. I’d have nightmares about that floating face thing chasing me around.

 

[Henry Panic]

This and Kangaroo were the first games I bought for myself as a kid (I had inherited some Atari 2600 games from my grandpa though). I mostly just bought it because I loved anything with robots and lasers and shit, and I liked the box art.

It ended up being a pretty good game though. I’d have nightmares about that floating face thing chasing me around.

Mass meltdowns when magazines and other media reported Coleco paid for the sequel to be exclusive.

Atari was going to counter that with Pole Position 2 on the 7800.

Problem is Pole Position was never really good, and was a quick fading fad. No one cared about PP2. People liked the arcade of PP1 for the commercials and visuals, but after some time people realized the gameplay was garbage. Also started the narrow road racing fad which racing games were trying to avoid before.

Frenzy however, was great.

 

[poodaddy]

Here's hoping there's a necromancer on staff over there at Atari.

 

[Henry Panic]

Because I loved anything with robots and lasers and shit, and I liked the box art.

5200 wins again. Not sure what was going on with the Lynx artist. Far background was nice but everything else, rofl.

Not sure what Inspector gadget is doing on the bottom left.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Give me a Tutenkham release. Haven't seen that ported anywhere.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Make an Atari 51 release, including the Activision 2600 games and these just acquired like Scramble, Bezerk and Tutenkham

 

[Havoc2049]

Why would Atari have to make an AAA game?

Plenty of studios survive on none or that infrequently.

I think some gamer priorities are just as bad as AAA devs like Square.

I was replying to the Alone in the Dark comment, as the Alone in the Dark series was a AAA franchise. I was making the argument that Atari shouldn't go that route.

 

[Henry Panic]

I was replying to the Alone in the Dark comment, as the Alone in the Dark series was a AAA franchise. I was making the argument that Atari shouldn't go that route.

Alone in the dark stopped being AAA after the broken 360 game

 

[justiceiro]

Did any of those games or ips were still not made available in modern systems in previous collection Atari released?

 

[Havoc2049]

Alone in the dark stopped being AAA after the broken 360 game

Haha, I actually thought that was the last game in the series. I see there was another game released a while back and THQNordic has one in development. I watched the trailer for the new one and even that seems beyond the scope of current Atari. Tempest 4000 and the new Haunted House in Atari 50 are the most high speed (production value wise) games Atari has made recently.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Atari in name only. Zombtari

 

[calistan]

• Tazz-Mania

Wow, there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. My grandma ran a hotel in the 80s and that was one of the games they had in the bar downstairs. Happy times playing that on free credits. It was like Robotron with walls that start closing in on you.

 

[Kadve]

Cute. Does that mean they are stopping whoring out the Atari name? No more Hotels and crypto stuff?

Atari in name only. Zombtari

I like to call them AtariGrames. Because they are just Infogrames wearing Atari's clothes and has done nothing to earn the name (unlike new THQ).

 

[Henry Panic]

Haha, I actually thought that was the last game in the series. I see there was another game released a while back and THQNordic has one in development. I watched the trailer for the new one and even that seems beyond the scope of current Atari. Tempest 4000 and the new Haunted House in Atari 50 are the most high speed (production value wise) games Atari has made recently.

Atari won't be around much longer with no real modern releases.

Or the company using Atari's name which is more accurate.

Sucks if the brand ends up tossed to a Chinese company, but they've done almost nothing with it for 20 years.