MASH II for 2600: The Untold Story
Tim Snider
TV's Frank Burns, to motivate me enough to write.
Everyone has speculated at one time or another on the existence of a MASH II
prototype game for the Atari 2600. Well, I can tell you a bit about what MAY
have been. You see, I helped design the game that may one day have become
MASH II...and I was only 14 years old. Allow me to explain:
When the original MASH cart by 20th Century Fox came out, it was all I
wanted for my 14th birthday. I was a HUGE MASH and Atari fan at the time. I
figured anything that combined the two was gonna be GREAT. Plus, the cart
came complete with a free T-shirt (remember those?), so I had to have it.
Sure enough, it was one of the gifts I got.
After playing it for what seemed like hours (and what probably WERE hours),
I got to digging through the miscellaneous paperwork that was crammed in the
box. Besides the instructions and warranty cards was an entry form for a
contest. In 50 words or less, describe the gameplay for a future MASH game
of your own design! The winning entry would have his or her creation made
into an actual released game and the designer would get, not only the
notoriety, but a game designer's contract with 20th Century Fox! Second
place winners (10 of them I think) would win a free 20th Century Fox game
and third place (20 kids) won a MASH t-shirt...just like the one I was
sporting. I raced to my room and began to fill out the form.
It took three days of writing on scratch paper before I had my idea down to
50 words or less. I actually found that scrap paper at my folk's house about
a month ago. Here's my entry:
"Hawkeye and Trapper are trying to help 5 O'Clock Charlie bomb the nearby
ammo dump! Watch for Frank Burns! He's trying to shoot Charlie out of the
sky! The Swamp-Boys move a target that Charlie's trying to hit. If they can
get Charlie to bomb the dump, you score!"
Yeah, it was based on one of the early MASH episodes you may remember.
Somehow, the voters at 20th Century must've remembered too because about
four months later, I got a copy of Turmoil in the mail along with a letter
of congrats for my second place winning entry. (The letter's long gone
though...) I was thrilled that someone at a Big Time Game Company thought my
game idea didn't suck.
Since no description of MASH II has ever surfaced, the paragraph above may
be the only description of an accepted MASH game. In a way, I'd like to
think that my 14-year-old ramblings on a scrap piece of paper is all that
remains of a potential MASH II 2600 cart. The bidding starts at $1,000. ;)
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Snider-man!"
Tim Snider - Atari 2600 fan - MST3K #6,894 - LARPer
and designer of Mystery Science Theater 2600
and HozerQuest: Thrifting Simulation!
Bill Combs
Great story! I didn't realize that a MASH II game had ever even been
considered. Pretty cool insight!
Bill.
Tim Snider wrote in message <2lSI4.4081$t_3....@cletus.bright.net>...
Rolenta
>Great story! I didn't realize that a MASH II game had ever even been
>considered. Pretty cool insight!
My book, "ABC To The VCS" has Mash II listed in Chapter 32: The Ones That Got
Away.
Leonard Herman
Cadimus
> My book, "ABC To The VCS" has Mash II listed in Chapter 32: The Ones That Got
> Away.
I guess it didn't get away after all. An information did confirm the
existence of the contest and the plan for MASH II. Now we will need to
add MASH II to list of possible prototypes.
--
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