"Atari Anthology" Spell-It-Out Quiz

Answer: Airworld

Little me did nothing but run through the games having absolutely no idea what to do, but I enjoyed the three "Swordquest" releases of "Earthworld" (1982), "Fireworld" (1983) and "Waterworld" (1983) anyway. Later on, I learned how the games were meant to be played. Comic books were included with the games, and once a puzzle of a game was solved, it would reveal a clue to a certain panel of the comic book. A word would be hidden within the panel, and once all the clues of the game were found, a sentence formed from the comic book could be sent to Atari in order to take part in a contest. Sadly, though, the contest ended early, and no one ever got to see the $50,000 grand prize.

"Airworld" was the fourth in the "Swordquest" series, though it was never released as the company ran out of money and never finished the game.

Answer: Surround

"Surround" (released in 1977 in North America and 1978 in Europe) was a strategy game that followed "Blockade". In "Blockade", two players would wander around a maze, creating a chain behind their sprite (similar to "Snake"), and the first player to hit something would lose. "Surround" followed this concept, but instead of wandering around a maze, the players would be in an open square.

The object was to block the other player from being able to move any further, so they were forced to run into one of the chains created by either of the players, thus making them lose the round.

Answer: Tempest

"Tempest" (1981) was an addicting game that was originally intended as a 3D version of "Space Invaders". It would not take much playing of "Tempest" to realize this is not how the game turned out. In the game, a claw-shaped spaceship would travel on the outskirts of a geometric shape (which changed for each level) trying to shoot down enemies emerging from the center before they could reach the outside. Enemies were strangely shaped spaceships - mainly crosses and octagons. There was also the option of a superzapper for each level. The first use in a level would destroy all the enemies on the screen, but use it a second time and only a single random enemy would be destroyed. The ability could definitely be a lifesaver at times, though!

After the first few levels, a new enemy is introduced. These enemies would create spikes as they traveled up the columns. If not destroyed right away, the spikes could be quite a nuisance, especially when the level ended. If you weren't cautious while defeating the enemies, the spikes could end up destroying your spaceship when the level ended. This was because, once the enemies were destroyed in a level, the spaceship would speed towards the center, so you had to make sure you got there via one of the spikeless columns.

Answer: Extra ball

"Video Pinball" was originally released in 1978, and then for the Atari 2600 in 1980. The Atari 2600 version actually had flippers, bumpers, spinners, and a ball shooter like a real pinball machine (the original 1978 version was a bit different). One of the features of this game was a roll-over bonus. On one side of the screen, there was an Atari logo. If this logo was hit four times, an extra ball was earned.

Answer: Revenge

In "Yar's Revenge" (1982), the insect thing, known as a Yar, had to break through a barrier to destroy the enemy, Qotile, using his Zorlon Cannon. He could shoot or eat the shield around the Qotile, and the level ended once the Qotile or the Swirl was destroyed. There was also a safe zone in the middle of the screen, though the Yar could not shoot from in this area, and some things could still destroy him from here.

I had always thought, up until writing this very quiz question, that Yar was the enemy seeking his revenge on us. I had no idea Yar was the good guy!

Answer: Off the Wall

"Off the Wall" (1989) was basically a Chinese themed replica of "Breakout". In "Off the Wall", players controlled a character called "Kung Fu Lu", who had to destroy an evil wall to kill a dragon. Interestingly enough, in 1991, Atari released another clone of "Breakout", which was, coincidentally, also called "Off the Wall" (it was not the same as the Chinese themed "Off the Wall", however).

Answer: Inchworm

"Centipede" was originally released in 1981, and the sequel, "Millipede", was released a year later. The object of both games was to destroy the long insect (be it centipede or millipede) before it reached the bottom and killed you. In both games, mushrooms would block you from hitting the insect, and sometimes even accelerated the descent of the insects.

Other enemies appeared in the games. The scorpion (which became an earwig in "Millipede") turned mushrooms into poisonous fungus. When the centipede or millipede hit this, it would immediately storm towards the bottom directly. The flea (in "Millipede" it was a bee) went straight down from the top, leaving a trail of mushrooms in its path, and took two shots to kill. Spiders appeared in both games, and bounced around the screen. New to "Millipede" was the beetle (which bounced around and then left the screen, leaving invincible flowers in its wake), the dragonfly (zigzagging towards the bottom whilst creating mushrooms), the mosquito (when hit, everything would scroll up a row), and the inchworm (which, as mentioned in the question, slowed down all the enemies for a time).

Answer: Double Dunk

"Double Dunk" (1989) was not a full basketball game; rather, it was a two-on-two half court basketball video game. In a single-player game, the player controlled whichever character was the closest to the ball. In a two-player game, though, each player could control both players of a single team and play against each other, or they would each control a single player on a team and play against computers. "Double Dunk" was one of the very last games released on the Atari 2600.

Answer: Slot Racers

"Slot Racers" (1978) was an entertaining game that pitted two cars against each other. Found within a maze and equipped with missiles, each vehicle would try and hit the other 25 times in order to win the game. There were several variations to play, and many factors could be changed, such as the speed of the missiles as well as which maze to use (there were four mazes total).

Answer: Asteroids

"Asteroids" (1979) was my all-time favorite game as a young one, and I would play it endlessly. The object of the game was to destroy all of the asteroids and flying saucers without being hit by the flying rocks or the saucer's shots. When all were destroyed, the next level would begin, which would see an increased number of asteroids and faster saucers.

After playing this game for so long, I found ways to make it more challenging; I would stay in the same starting location in the center of the screen as long as I possibly could, not taking advantage of the spaceship's rockets until the last possible second.