Story Of Searching For A Prototype: My Quest For Missile Command 2 (long)
joe.m...@ameritech.com
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.m...@ameritech.com
work: (312) 335-6595 <--- much easier to reach me here
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Rick Goodman
Thanks for the story/description -- very interesting.
Sorry I don't have anything myself to add to your knowledge, but I was
wondering if any of these various pics are still/might become available
for viewing.... side-art, boards, screenshots mentioned in your post?
thanks,
rick g
*******
looking for:
unused CPOs for any Exidy shooters, Top Secret, Burgertime and
Robotron (no repro's)
marquee for Clay Pigeon (Exidy)
flyers for Chiller, Top Secret, Vertigo
*******
Indiana--Jones
board.
Rick Goodman <rmgo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7tvgh4$qc8$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> Joe,
> Thanks for the story/description -- very interesting.
> Sorry I don't have anything myself to add to your knowledge, but I was
> wondering if any of these various pics are still/might become available
> for viewing.... side-art, boards, screenshots mentioned in your post?
>
> thanks,
> rick g
>
> *******
> looking for:
> unused CPOs for any Exidy shooters, Top Secret, Burgertime and
> Robotron (no repro's)
> marquee for Clay Pigeon (Exidy)
> flyers for Chiller, Top Secret, Vertigo
> *******
>
>
>
Sam Gladstone
I thought the thing was super rare. Cool to see it emulated for
everyone to enjoy.
Sam
Indiana--Jones wrote in message <7u1vkc$o1c$1...@news2.support.nl>...