KC Munchkin had similar concepts to Pac-Man (maze, ghosts and dots) but it also introduced clever concepts as well: dots that move, shifting walls, etc. KC Munchkin is a fantastic game in it's own right.
That Atari's adaptation of the Pac-Man arcade game was inferior and that consumers were warming up to KC Munchkin and buying the Odyssey2 was the reason they pushed to legally force a competitor out of the market.
While the Atari 2600 was a superior piece of hardware to the Odyssey2, the main games programmer for the latter Ed Averett made many a great game for that forgotten machine. He was truly a genius and made beautifully crafted games in spite of the O2's limited hardware.
I dont think i can agree with KC being the issue, I believe the O2 sold roughly a million units (hardware). As for KC being the first with moving walls, and dots , etc.. Bootleg versions of Pac-Man had done this already before it came out (check out MAME bootlegs sometime). While the 2600 was in the 25 million area (in the 80's). Pacman for the 2600 was actually a HUGE success (sales wise, and is still the largest selling 2600 game) for atari it sold rouhgly 6 million units right away (year it was released) the problem was, ATARI had produced closer to 10 million, and didnt slow production down. This was the mistake, they didnt see the sales slump (which I must state was much to blame for the state of the game) untill it was sitting on alot of unsold carts (5 million or so, not counting the ones retailers wanted to return). The failing was not the actual sales, but overproducing a product. Pac-Man (2600 version) is often considered one of the major players in the video game crash. Pac-Man hype was so huge that many stores that didnt sell video games wanted a piece of the pie. Walgreens, and other non traditional stores bought into the hype and also got excess inventory and a bad taste for video games. remember at this time the 2600 was still a cash cow for alot of retailers, K-Mart, Sears, JCPenny, etc...
KC was sold roughly a year before any other Home version of Pac-Man, the designer had stated several times it was inspired by PAC-MAN, there was an Ad for it compareing it to PAC-MAN (pulled quickly). Atari was working on securing the home rights to Pac-Man at the time and when they had, they sued Phillips (and lost, most say becuase nobody knew anything about Video games and law). They appealed and won. I didnt have much to do with sales (KC did boost O2 sales, but unforntallty they where pretty dismal compared to the 2600). It was stirctly ATARI, they sued everybody and won most of the time as they where the biggest (at the time). Simply Put, much like MS (and APPLE nowdays) they where the big Kid on the block and when you couldnt beat somebody with brawn, you beat um with money. ATARI was SUE happy at that point in time, I really doubt sales had anything to do with it, it was a competeing product, selling 1 copy or 50,000, ATARI seen a way to sue and kill it, and possilby make some money. But by the time Atari had won the suit, O2 sales where back to what they where before KC, almost nothing.
The big thing KC and Atari sueing may just be it was the Basis for almost all Video game copywrite law after it. It was so strict that the Crazy CHase game (developed suposedly as a Jab at atari (the centipied character being eaten)) the "pac-man" eating didnt have the mouth go open and closed as they felt Atari would sue.
I do agree with the statement on Ed and his games.. excellent work with limited hardware. But I think if you take pac-man and compare it to the two games, The Atari version replicates the game better (but the flickering is horrible). KC was a good variation on the concept, and still one of my favorite games for my O2.
keep in mind many of my "facts" are all remebered from growing up ( i was about 14 at the time) and may not be correct, and its all opinion.
KC Munchkin had similar concepts to Pac-Man (maze, ghosts and dots) but it also introduced clever concepts as well: dots that move, shifting walls, etc. KC Munchkin is a fantastic game in it's own right.
That Atari's adaptation of the Pac-Man arcade game was inferior and that consumers were warming up to KC Munchkin and buying the Odyssey2 was the reason they pushed to legally force a competitor out of the market.
While the Atari 2600 was a superior piece of hardware to the Odyssey2, the main games programmer for the latter Ed Averett made many a great game for that forgotten machine. He was truly a genius and made beautifully crafted games in spite of the O2's limited hardware.
I dont think i can agree with KC being the issue, I believe the O2 sold roughly a million units (hardware). As for KC being the first with moving walls, and dots , etc.. Bootleg versions of Pac-Man had done this already before it came out (check out MAME bootlegs sometime). While the 2600 was in the 25 million area (in the 80's). Pacman for the 2600 was actually a HUGE success (sales wise, and is still the largest selling 2600 game) for atari it sold rouhgly 6 million units right away (year it was released) the problem was, ATARI had produced closer to 10 million, and didnt slow production down. This was the mistake, they didnt see the sales slump (which I must state was much to blame for the state of the game) untill it was sitting on alot of unsold carts (5 million or so, not counting the ones retailers wanted to return). The failing was not the actual sales, but overproducing a product. Pac-Man (2600 version) is often considered one of the major players in the video game crash. Pac-Man hype was so huge that many stores that didnt sell video games wanted a piece of the pie. Walgreens, and other non traditional stores bought into the hype and also got excess inventory and a bad taste for video games. remember at this time the 2600 was still a cash cow for alot of retailers, K-Mart, Sears, JCPenny, etc...
KC was sold roughly a year before any other Home version of Pac-Man, the designer had stated several times it was inspired by PAC-MAN, there was an Ad for it compareing it to PAC-MAN (pulled quickly). Atari was working on securing the home rights to Pac-Man at the time and when they had, they sued Phillips (and lost, most say becuase nobody knew anything about Video games and law). They appealed and won. I didnt have much to do with sales (KC did boost O2 sales, but unforntallty they where pretty dismal compared to the 2600). It was stirctly ATARI, they sued everybody and won most of the time as they where the biggest (at the time). Simply Put, much like MS (and APPLE nowdays) they where the big Kid on the block and when you couldnt beat somebody with brawn, you beat um with money. ATARI was SUE happy at that point in time, I really doubt sales had anything to do with it, it was a competeing product, selling 1 copy or 50,000, ATARI seen a way to sue and kill it, and possilby make some money. But by the time Atari had won the suit, O2 sales where back to what they where before KC, almost nothing.
The big thing KC and Atari sueing may just be it was the Basis for almost all Video game copywrite law after it. It was so strict that the Crazy CHase game (developed suposedly as a Jab at atari (the centipied character being eaten)) the "pac-man" eating didnt have the mouth go open and closed as they felt Atari would sue.
I do agree with the statement on Ed and his games.. excellent work with limited hardware. But I think if you take pac-man and compare it to the two games, The Atari version replicates the game better (but the flickering is horrible). KC was a good variation on the concept, and still one of my favorite games for my O2.
keep in mind many of my "facts" are all remebered from growing up ( i was about 14 at the time) and may not be correct, and its all opinion.