Well, I knew this one was coming. A relatively infamous episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd, this video focuses on several video games produced for the Atari 2600 that were of a less-than-proper nature, shall we say – the legendary “Atari Porn” games.
Yes, seriously, video games for the Atari 2600 that were focused on sex, and nothing else.
I remember hearing about these games way back when, namely the absolutely offensive nightmare that was Custer’s Revenge, among others that we were aware of, but didn’t know by name. I’ve certainly never seen these games in person, as few people have – they were rather rare in the day and due to rarity and infamy are now highly sought after by collectors.
These games are often blamed for causing the video game crash of 1983-1984, but that’s far from the case – they did gain some infamy and news attention but were just too poorly distributed – usually being per-request items at seedy shops – to ever be a real problem of being picked up by random parents. They weren’t being sold at Toys R Us or K-Mart for example (at least, as far as I know.)
Probably one of the few images from one of these games I can share in good conscience. Seriously, for Atari titles, they do their best to show everything.
The games were, however, indicative of a problem in game production for the Atari 2600 that was the cause of the game crash – anyone could produce a game for the console, and with the non-existent quality control from some publishers, well, you can imagine how consume confidence eroded.
Anyway, in covering the Nerd episode itself, James covers these games about like he does any game. He doesn’t gloss over the issues – Custer’s Revenge is outright offensive on all fronts and he doesn’t ignore this, but the other games are a little more absurd. The funny thing is, these are still just plain old Atari-era games – they don’t need to be sexual, but they are.
Beyond covering the games, The Nerd does throw a few jokes in at his own expense, but the absurdity of the games really steals the show. It’s just amazing to think, a company actually took the time to produce, well, this stuff for the Atari 2600. There’s just nothing good to be found here; only depression, sickening regret, and the ever present question of “why?”
James has no reason to look as proud of himself as he does here.
Interestingly, thanks to the nature of the games played, the video actually was removed by YouTube back in the day, and is now only found on the Cinemassacre website via uploads from other YouTuber’s.
Final Rating: 3.0/5
The episode, sadly, is average – it’s a little short, or at least feels shorter than most, but that’s mostly due to the fact you can’t actually say too much about most Atari era games – there isn’t really anything to them! The most you can do with these is comment on the sexual nature of them, but that only gets you so far. Bottom line, the games are sick, and the Nerd going over them at times ranges from absurd to disgusting in its own right.
Due to the nature of the games being played in this AVGN episode, I feel it worth warning you there is offensive content here – more offensive than what an AVGN episode would naturally have in it.
You’ve been warned…
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