I also posted this to RGVAC. I know it's not really vector related, but I
know some people on the vector list aren't regular RGVAC readers, and I
thought this might be a little entertaining reading (at least I hope so).
And I do mention at least one vector list person by name, so don't flame me
too bad.
INTRODUCTION
Even though I'd been addicted to video games since they started, it wasn't
until 1997 that I discovered they could be collected for home use. I bought
my favorite game of all time, Atari's Missile Command and Rick Schieve got
it going for me. He also invited me to one of his game parties. We talked
a little about the different games and he mentioned several games related to
Missile Command, namely Super Missile Attack, Liberator and Missile Command
2. I had never heard of any of these and immediately set out to find them.
This is the story of my search for Missile Command 2.
BACKGROUND
Atari Missile Command (henceforth "MC") must have been a big hit for Atari
as they released it upright, cabaret, cocktail and the rare cockpit version.
You use a Trak-Ball to fire missiles from three earth bases at attacking
enemies, trying to protect your bases and six cities. As I said, this is
the first game I bought, early 1997 (upright model). Not really interested
in cabaret or cocktail models, but still searching for the cockpit version
(feel free to help if you know of any).
Atari Liberator is sometimes referred to as the sequel to MC. It takes the
same idea and reverses it. You're in outer space using a Trak-Ball to
defend your four bases from the earth (in the center of the screen)
attacking you. Much harder than MC, and not as much fun (IMHO). I found
and bought a very nice example of this game while on a vacation in New York
City in late 1998.
General Computer Corporation (GCC) developed an add-on board to MC which
added new enemies, color and sped up the game, calling it Super Missile
Attack (SMA). Atari sued GCC over this and part of the settlement was that
GCC develop two games for Atari. From this settlement we got Food Fight and
Quantum. SMA is difficult to find, but with the help of a few fellow
RGVAC'ers (and money of course), I got an SMA board in early 1998.
Lastly, you'll notice I spell track ball as "Trak-Ball". An ex-Atari
employee (Dan Kramer, mentioned below) told me how specific and particular
Atari was about this. They developed it for their games and always made a
point of spelling it without the "c", both words capitalized and hyphenated.
THE SEARCH FOR MISSILE COMMAND 2
Atari's Missile Command 2 has proven more than elusive, it's kind of my
search for the grail, and it's taken me down some interesting paths. Rick
Schieve showed me some side art for the game ("Atari Arcade Classics
Featuring Super Centipede & Missile Command 2"), and he also had a boardset
that alas was ROM-less. The board was in the Atari classic single board
style and marked Missile Command 2 on the board. I didn't question it at
the time, but I thought it odd that the board would only reference MC2 when
the side art mentioned Super Centipede, etc.. I was to find out how
different the two pieces really were.
I posted every so often on RGVAC something along the lines of "looking for
any info on MC2". I always answered the discussions on "what's the rarest
piece" etc. by mentioning MC2. Mostly my replies/posts were ignored. One
day I noticed a post from an ex-Atari employee, and a self-signed "Trak-Ball
fanatic" by the name of Dan Kramer. I sent a general e-mail (not even
asking about MC2) and he replied describing MC2! My first hit. Turns out
he is the guy that developed the Trak-Ball for the Atari 800, 2600 and 5200.
His quote on MC2:
"One other variation on MC I saw in the early '80s was a test prototype of a
2-ended MISSILE COMMAND, in a cabinet like an elevated cocktail game you
would stand at each end of. The screen was oriented longwise, the planes &
satellites came out from the middle, and enemy fire was sent down in both
directions to cities at each end of the screen. You had to concentrate on
your own cities first, of course, but if you killed the current wave and had
rockets left, you could help the other player by launching against enemy
fire threatening *his* cities! I don't know what ever happened to this
proto..."
Robert Fulop and Dave Theurer are generally credited with writing MC. I
tried to track them down to see if they knew anything about MC2. I finally
found Robert Fulop's e-mail and asked him about MC2. He replied within a
day and cleared the air on the development of MC. Dave Theurer designed the
original MC. He (Rob) converted MC to the Atari 2600. He had no
involvement in MC2. He did confirm the existence of MC2 though and that he
played it many times in the lab, and that the above description was exactly
correct. His only info on Dave was that he worked on a project called the
DeBabbalizer.
I tried the Atari Vaperware page. No luck. I tried Curt Vendel. Curt
talked to some contacts and again verified the existence of MC2 and
described the game the same way. I found the company that made the
DeBabbalizer, but Dave Theurer is no longer was associated with it.
At this point I was close to giving up when I made yet another post about
MC2. I got a reply from Jeff Hendrix. He had the board, it worked! He
posted a picture on his web page of the title screen and the board itself.
Hold on here, major problem. The board in his picture is totally different
than the board of Rick Schieve's. What's going on? Turns out that Jeff got
his from an ex-Atari employee that actually worked on the project. His name
is Matt Setzer.
With some more of Jeff's help, I actually caught up with and spoke with Matt
on the phone at his current place of employment. I learned a lot on this
call. I described what I knew of the game and got an unanticipated
response. None of what I described was familiar to him. He told me that
they started the project from the original MC (and Centipede) code and made
a multi-game (with Super Centipede). It was developed in 1992. The MC2
board from Rick is dated 1982. It was starting to become clear to me.
There were two attempts at MC2. The first was the classic single board
style, that I can only surmise that Dave Theurer worked on and is described
above. The second attempt was the board that Jeff had and that I talked
with Matt about.
Matt said the game was played two people side by side at the same time, but
it was an upright and actually went out on a "field test" in late 1992 to
see if it brought in enough money to go into production. It didn't pass
this test. Matt traded his board to Jeff as part of a Star Wars trade.
Matt did give me one other name that I could try, Kelly Turner, and some
contact info for him.
Kelly was the producer of the "Atari Arcade Classics" effort at Atari. I
spoke with Kelly on it and he confirmed that there were seven prototypes
made and sent out to be tested. Kelly still has his complete working game,
"Atari Arcade Classics Featuring Super Centipede & Missile Command 2".
Turns out that the stuff that Rick had was a board from the first attempt at
MC2, and side art from the second attempt. Kelly suggested I try one other
Atari ex-employee, Norm Avellar. I got his phone number, but I have never
been able to reach him, and he has never returned my call. I have not been
able to find an e-mail for him. Kelly remember one other person on the
development team, Kris Moser who was the artist for the project, but had no
contact info for her. If you should know how to get hold of Norm or Kris,
please contact me.
One other note here, I got an e-mail from someone that played Arcade
Classics at one of the test sites and really liked it. He still remembered
the game from there. His description of the game jived with Matt's and
Kelly's.
CURRENT STATUS
MC2 (first attempt)
I got the ROM-less board from Rick. I have verified by more than one person
the look of the game. I have been unable to make any contact with Dave
Theurer to possibly get ROM data or more info as to his involvement.
MC2 (second attempt)
I have one side of unapplied side art. I have located someone (Jeff
Hendrix) that has the board. I have located the full game itself (Kelly
Turner). Neither one is willing to sell or trade (I don't blame them).
Jeff also let me know that it is possible to play this version via MAME (you
need to make some custom enhancements, i.e., build MAME yourself), but I
haven't tried it yet.
CONCLUSION
On MC2 (first attempt), until I can make contact with Dave Theurer for more
info, I don't know what else I can do.
On MC2 (second attempt), unless Kelly or Jeff breaks down (I think that
chance is basically zero), I think I'm done here too.
FINAL PLEA
To anyone that may have contact info for Dave Theurer, I'd really appreciate
it.
To anyone that has anything to add to the story, let me know.
To anyone that has any pieces from the above games and would like to sell or
trade, let me know.
To Jeff, if you ever break down and want to sell/trade the board, I hope
that you'll give me a shot at it. Unfortunately I don't have any of the
pieces you're looking for right now to trade.
To Kelly, if you ever want to get rid of your game, please give me a shot at
it. I will do what I can to make you a nice easy deal. If you can think of
anyone else that may have the board/game, please let me know.
Also to Jeff and Kelly, as much as I'd like to get those pieces, please
don't feel any pressure. I definitely don't mean to come on too strong.
Finally, if you hear of a prototype and want to follow up searching for it,
good luck, and be ready for a lot of dead ends. Also be ready to do some
major deep digging to find anything out about it. My efforts above,
admittedly very part time, were well over a year's effort. But then again,
it was for my favorite game so I don't consider it wasted at all. I learned
a lot even if I didn't end up with the game.
Feel free to contact me with any thoughts, comments, corrections, further
info, complaints, questions, etc. on this story.
Joe
Joe Magiera
9311 East Prairie Road
Evanston IL 60203-1408
e-mail: joe.magiera@ameritech.com
work: (312) 335-6595 <--- much easier to reach me here
Received on Tue Oct 12 07:47:59 1999
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