Tempest
Released October, 1981.
The game is a tube shooter, a type of shoot 'em up where the environment is fixed and viewed from a three-dimensional perspective.
The arcade interface used a trackball.
I can play for two minutes without being defeated.
The gameplay is random.
The game was published by Atari.
From Doteaters:
The arcade game made a TV appearance as a permanent prop on NBC's popular sitcom "Silver Spoons", which debuted in September 1983.
Centipede
Released in 1980.
The game is a vertically-oriented shoot 'em up arcade game.
The arcade interface used a trackball for movement and buttons for firing.
I can play for five minutes without being defeated.
The gameplay is random.
The game was published by Atari.
From Doteaters:
Over an illustrious 16 year career at Atari, Ed Logg created some of their more memorable arcade games, including Centipede (with Donna Bailey), Millipede, Gauntlet, Gauntlet II, XYbots, and Steel Talons.
Adventure
Released in 1979.
It was considered the first action-adventure game.
The interface was a joystick (on the 2600 - I'm not sure if there was an arcade version of this game).
I can play for two minutes without being defeated.
The gameplay is patterned.
The game was published by Atari.
From Wikipedia:
At the time of the game's creation Atari did not credit any of its authors for their work. Robinett included a hidden message in the game identifying himself as the creator, thus creating one of the earliest known Easter eggs in a video game. According to Warren, a young player from Salt Lake City, Utah first discovered the easter egg and wrote in to Atari regarding it.
Yar's Revenge
Released in 1981 for the 2600.
It was a (side-view?) shooter.
Not sure about the original interface.
I can play for less than a minute without being defeated.
The gameplay is random.
The game was published by Atari.
From Wikipedia:
As with several other video games for the 2600 system, a miniature comic book was included in the game package, illustrating the story behind Yars' Revenge. The comic book explained the "revenge" of the game's title: that the Yars were avenging the destruction of one of their worlds, Razak IV. The Yar race and the planet Razak were named after Ray Kassar, CEO of Atari at the time. Atari also released an album, under the label Kid Stuff Records, which contained a theme song and a radio drama-style reading of an expansion of the story in the comic book. A different, 7" recording explained the tragedy that revealed that a Yar could use himself to target the Zorlon Cannon rather than eating from the barrier. Both recordings were produced by John Braden.
Gravitar
Released in 1982 then ported to the 2600, originally just for members of the Atari fan club.
It was a shooter.
The original interface had five buttons.
I can play for about thirty seconds.
The gameplay is random. It's a vector-based game.
It was published by Atari.
From Wikipedia:
Gravitar wasn't very popular. Many existing arcade machines were converted to Black Widow, which utilized the same hardware. Its only port was to the Atari 2600. Originally, it was only offered to members of the Atari Fan Club, but in the late 80s, when Atari was attempting to revive the Atari 2600, it was released to the public. During that time, the games had a red label, whereas the previous version had a silver label. Because the silver label version was released only to Atari Club members, it was harder to find than the red label version. Today, the silver label version is considered a collectors item.
Crystal Castles
Released in 1983.
It was a maulti-level, maze navigating, hunter-gatherer.
Not sure about the original interface.
I can play for a couple minutes before getting killed.
The gameplay is patterned.
It was published by Atari.
From Wikipedia:
Crystal Castles is also notable for being one of the first arcade games with an actual ending, whereas most games of the time either continued indefinitely, ended in what was termed a "kill screen" (a level which was impossible to complete and resulted in the player losing all his 'lives') or simply just restarted from the first level.
