Halloween (video game)

Halloween
DeveloperMicroGraphicImage
PublisherWizard Video
DesignersTim Martin
Robert Barber
PlatformAtari 2600
ReleaseOctober 1983
GenreAction
ModeSingle-player

Halloween is a horror video game for the Atari 2600, released in October 1983 by Wizard Video. It is based on the 1978 horror film of the same name. The game was programmed by Tim Martin.[1] When Games by Apollo went bankrupt, Martin and another former employee, Robert Barber, developed Halloween.[2]

Although the game was called Halloween, and featured the film's theatrical poster as its cover art as well as the movie's main music theme, the game itself never refers to any characters, including the killer, by their names in the film.[3]

Gameplay

In 1983, Halloween was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video.[4] None of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter (Laurie Strode) who tries to save as many children from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer (Michael Myers) as possible.[5] In another effort to save money, most versions of the game did not even have a label on the cartridge. It was simply a piece of tape with "Halloween" written in marker.[6] The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck as she runs around exaggeratedly. The game's primary similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears onscreen.[7]

The player obtains points in two ways: by rescuing children and taking them to "safe rooms" located at both ends of each floor of the house, and by stabbing the killer with the knife (if it can be located). The player advances a level either by rescuing five children or stabbing the killer twice. The killer gets faster with each level increase, and the game continues until all of the player's three lives are lost.

Development

Film director Charles Band was in the film industry by the mid-1970s. Have difficult experiences with distributors, he created an independent home video company called Media Home Entertainment in 1978.[8][9] and shortly after, Wizard Video.[9]

Band said he saw how well Atari, Inc. had been doing during the early 1980s with their video games. Around that time, Band had already licensed home video rights to the films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978) for home video release.[9]

Release and reception

Wizard Video presented The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 1983. Both games were incomplete at the time of this presentation.[11] Both games were initially announced to be released March 1, 1983, for the Atari 2600.[12] Tom Shea of InfoWorld wrote in February 1983 that versions would be made for the Atari 400 and 800 computers and the Commodore's VIC-20 by June.[12]

Halloween had a slightly better reception than their The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,[13] although the limited number of copies sold has made both games highly valued items among Atari collectors.[14]

In a retrospective review from the online game database AllGame, the reviewer said that most attempts at creating a mature-themed games for the Atari 2600 in the early 1980s were predominantly crude in terms of quality and handling the subject matter. They found that Halloween was among the best of these attempts despite repetitive gameplay and "cartoonish stabs at violence" it was able to create a certain level of suspense.[10]

Aftermath

Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost wrote in Racing the Beam (2009) that both Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1983) were designed to create controversy, the Atari 2600 was already suffering the effects of the video game crash of 1983 and both titles "didn't manage to create much of a stir."[15]

References

  1. ^ Fahs, Travis (October 30, 2009). "IGN Presents the History of Survival Horror". IGN. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  2. ^ Stilphen, Scott (July 23, 1982). "DP Interviews ... Ed Salvo". Digital Press. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "Halloween - The Atari Game". X-Entertainment. October 29, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
  4. ^ Perron, Bernard (2009). Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-45479-2.
  5. ^ Bradley-Tschirgi, Mat (May 30, 2017). "9 Spooky Horror Atari 2600 Games That Are Worth a Damn". Dread Central. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  6. ^ Panico, Sam (July 15, 2017). "Unearthing Wizard Video's Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre Atari Cartridges". That's Not Current. Retrieved August 30, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. ^ George, Gregory D. (October 31, 2001). "History of Horror: A Primer of Horror Games for Your Atari". The Atari Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2006.
  8. ^ McCullaugh 1979, p. 4.
  9. ^ a b c Parker 2014, p. 18.
  10. ^ a b Allgame.
  11. ^ Softalk 1983, p. 193.
  12. ^ a b Shea 1983, p. 67.
  13. ^ "Halloween for the Atari 2600". Rogue Cinema. April 1, 2008. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  14. ^ "Halloween". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  15. ^ Montfort & Bogost 2009, p. 128.

Sources

  • "Halloween". AllGame. All Media Guide. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
  • "Software and Video Games Galore: 80,000 Attend Winter CES". Softalk. Vol. 3, no. 7. Hollywood, CA: Softalk Publishing. March 1983. ISSN 0274-9629.
  • McCullaugh, Jim (March 3, 1979). "Vidcassette Sales Big for Calif. Firm". Billboard.
  • Montfort, Nick; Bogost, Ian (2009). Racing the Beam. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
  • Parker, Trevor (July–August 2014). "Chainsaws, Shapes and Joysticks". Delirium. No. 3. Los Angeles, California.
  • Shea, Tom (February 28, 1983). "Horror Films' Themes Reappear in Video Games". InfoWorld. Vol. 5, no. 9. San Francisco, California: InfoWorld Media Group. ISSN 0199-6649.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.