From Atari 2600 to SNES and back again – nearly 40 years later

By Paul Drury

PITFALL!

Developer/publisher Activision Format Atari 2600 Release 1982

THE ACTIVISION DECATHLON

Developer/publisher Activision Format Atari 2600 Release 1983

GHOSTBUSTERS

Developer/publisher Activision Format Commodore 64 Release 1984

LITTLE COMPUTER PEOPLE

Developer/publisher Activision Format Commodore 64 Release 1985

A BOY AND HIS BLOB: TROUBLE ON BLOBOLONIA

Developer/publisher Absolute Entertainment Format NES Release 1989

DAVID CRANE’S AMAZING TENNIS

Developer/publisher Absolute Entertainment Format SNES Release 1992

CIRCUS CONVOY

Developer/publisher Audacity Games Format Atari 2600 Release 2021

DavidCrane is a towering presence among videogame developers – and not only because he stands six feet five inches tall. He co-founded Activision in 1979, kickstarting the notion of thirdparty publishing on consoles, and across a long career has produced more than 90 games across two dozen platforms. His degree in electrical engineering and two years working at National Semiconductor proved a solid grounding for working with so many different technologies.

“It was very helpful to know how the hardware worked when you came to write games for it, especially considering how limited it was,” Crane says. “I did take a television theory class as part of my degree and that was useful when I started work on the Atari 2600. That console can display one scanline. That’s all. You set up that one line, display it, and before the TV comes round to paint the second scanline, you made changes to the hardware, so it’s different to the first. You were literally painting the screen, one line at a time.”

And what pictures Crane painted. He joined Atari in 1977, producing arcadeinspired titles such as Outlaw and Canyon Bomber for the company’s 8bit console before leaving to form Activision where he would introduce the world to daring explorer Pitfall Harry and, later, preempt The Sims with Little Computer People. Along the way he dabbled in big-budget movie licensing with Ghostbusters and ensured the early retirement of countless joysticks via The Activision Decathlon.

As the ’80s gave way to the ’90s, Crane created a selection of games for Nintendo consoles, before moving into mobile game development. Early in 2021, together with brothers Garry and Dan Kitchen, he launched Audacity Games, a company dedicated to making new games for old consoles. The trio’s first release, Atari 2600 title Circus Convoy, is available to purchase now from www. audacitygames.com.

Atari 2600 games weren’t famed for variety or visual flair, and Pitfall! offered both, making it an easy sell, propelling it to sit behind only Pac-Man in terms of units shifted for the console. A sequel fared less well, thanks to its post-crash arrival in 1984

“IN 1984, ACTIVISION WAS THE PREMIER DEVELOPER OF VIDEOGAMES IN THE WORLD”