Atari 2600’s “Man of Tomorrow”

Like a lot of geeks my age, I’m an unapologetic life-long Superman enthusiast. As kids, we may have seen reruns of the Superman serial starring Kirk Alyn, or the George Reeves Adventures of Superman series, or even the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons (I just love those!). However, we didn’t become truly inspired until we watched Christopher Reeve don the red cape and for the first time convincingly take to the sky in Superman the Movie. We geeks see that Superman is not just another superhero among superheroes. He’s not Spiderman, Batman or Iron Man…he’s much bigger than that: He’s a cultural icon, an unlikely prophet, a moral ideal, a philosophy and a metaphor.

Many of us were further inspired when, a year after the movie hit theaters, Atari, Inc. released Superman for the Atari 2600. It was Big Blue’s first appearance in a video game. Of course nowadays it’s hard not to snicker a bit at the blocky graphics and unsophisticated gameplay of this hunt-and-fetch quest/adventure game. But to a kid in 1979 it was an agreeably immersive experience. John Dunn, who designed the game, smartly included all of the Superman staples like Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Kryptonite and best of all, flying. It’s worth pointing out that it was a side-view game when there were very, very few side-view games. It was well before the side-view platformer craze that defined the game scene of the 1990's. This Superman game was released 3 years before Pitfall, 2 years before Donkey Kong and 4 years before Mario Brothers.

Now that’s…well, plenty SUPER in my book.