Nester's Top 10 Goofy Foreign Atari 2600 Covers!
One of the things I love most about Atari is how much odd stuff got released for this thing over the years. One of my favorites is the foreign releases. Most of these were illegal copies made overseas by companies wanting to cash in on the video game craze. For the most part they were the same old American games given different cover art and usually different names. Some of the results of these pirates and distributors are very goofy, and here are 10 of my favorites.
10. Earth Attack by Zellers
There's so much going on in this one that it's hard to believe it's just Defender. Let's examine it a little bit. There's some sort of space guy in the center. He's shooting cosmic popcorn around a half naked lady. It looks like he's got some magic coins under him. Oh and there's also a sailor! I'm not exactly sure what Zellers is trying to represent with this cover, but it certainly isn't Defender.
9. Billard by Quelle
It's actually a little strange when the picture on the foreign release actually represents the game itself. It's especially unusual when it's something as blatantly goofy as this. Quelle was probably the king of odd foreign covers, and this is a real good example of their work. It's very silly but eye catching at the same time, and it makes me think that Quelle tried to be more than just a money grab. They actually cared enough to come up with interesting covers, so you have to give them some points for that. Or is that looking too deeply at it?
8. Fuchs & Schweinchen Schlau by Quelle
That poor pig! What else can I really say about this one? I don't know much about it, but it's probably the game Oink by Activision with a different name. If that is the case than the pig still gets it in the end, but he is a lot less cute so don't feel too bad. It's also the only Quelle game that I know of with a red boarder, but I guess you don't really need to know that.
7. King Arthur by unknown Taiwan publisher
I'm guessing this is a foreign version of Joust, but it could just as easily be Basketball or any other game for that matter. I put this one on the list because I think a flying King Arthur would actually be cool. At least it would be in that cheesy 80s way. I could totally see Harry Hamlin starring in the movie version of Space Arthur and his Astro Knights. Once again though I doubt that's what this game actually is.
6. Spider Maze by K-Tel Vision
So what does the NFL, Robin Hood on a rocket, a griffon, and a man in blackface on not quite a whole unicycle riding on an upside down rainbow have in common? Why that's easy, they all have nothing to do with spiders or mazes! This game is actually a very obscure American release, but it's sure that that foreign pirate look to it. I've never made sense out of its cover, and the other game K-Tel Vision published looks exactly the same. So was this just a generic picture? It sure seems like it would be easier to just but a plain white cover with some text on it. Perhaps it was showing some of their concepts for upcoming games. If that's the case than maybe somewhere there's prototype for blackface unicycle clown. I sure hope that's the next great Atari find.
5. Ground Zero by Hot Shot
I just can't get over this one. It looks like a little kid that wandered into the control room during a field trip and accidentally blew up the whole city. I guess that's what they get for letting kids wander around their secret military base. This is probably Missile Command but once again I'm not sure.
4. Pac Man by CCE
Is this really what they thought Pac-Man would look like in the real world? He's just a little blue guy eating a Tums while some evil peas are sneaking up behind him. Although I don't know why it's such a concern since he can clearly float on out of the maze. I'm sure he could outrun a pea and float away to safety. Now I know that the 2600 version of Pac-Man doesn't exactly look arcade perfect, but it's a hell of a lot closer than this!
3. Donkey Kong by Quelle
Yep that's Donkey Kong alright. Mario's a clown and the barrels are some sort of strange punk unicorns. Doesn't that take you right back to 1983? Oh well it's probably closer to the real thing that that silly DK cartoon, and it does make "Mario" seem more like a hero than a villain. Perhaps it was a step in the right direction.
2. E.T. Go Home by Quelle
This one is just weird. Is that a piece of toast beside E.T.? What is that thing up in the tree? Why is E.T. so grey? I guess there are many questions to be asked about this one. Of course I could also point out that the flag says E.T. Go Come when the cart clearly says E.T. Go Home. You'd think they would notice that since the words are only a couple of inches apart. E.T. was torn between two places in the movie though, so maybe he can't decide if he should go or come. That's not a very decisive look on his face either. I guess he knows that if he leaves Earth he'll never see Toastman or Mr. Corn Pop again.
1. Superman by unknown Taiwan publisher
Seriously though this is a pretty awesome Superman. I always thought he would be cooler if he looked like Joe Flaherty and dressed in a pink leotard. It looks like he's almost saved block world, but there is a robot sneaking up behind him. Oh well, he'll probably just shoot it with his pink fire gun and save the day. Actually this picture makes it look more like Berzerk than Superman. Now I'm all confused!
Anyway those are some of my favorites. If you want to check out some more very silly (and some good!) Atari covers head on over to atariage.com or atarimania.com. They've really done a lot of work over there. Much more than me.
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