Tracing esports’ humble beginnings with 7 Atari titles

Atari didn’t invent video games -- not even Pong (more on that below) -- nor was the company first to market with its home console, the Atari 2600. You could be forgiven for accepting either premise as fact, though.

Atari was responsible for taking video games mainstream. And, as the saying goes, history is written by the winners.

Released in 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, the Atari 2600 was the first home gaming platform to achieve widespread commercial success, selling more than 30 million units during its 14-year lifespan. Looking back on that era, it’s not terribly hard to figure out how the VCS came to dominate. The console boasted by far the largest software library for its time, a lineup that included adaptations of arcade hits -- many of them Atari’s own properties -- as well as groundbreaking innovations and pop culture tie-ins.

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Crucially, there were a number of great multiplayer titles for the 2600, too.

Even when the industry was in its infancy, Atari, Inc. co-founder Nolan Bushnell realized there is a social element to gaming. Bushnell is sometimes referred to as the “father of electronic gaming,” but given his contribution to the competitive scenes of today, the grandfather of esports might just as well suit.

Thanks to the console’s popularity, most Atari 2600 hardware and game cartridges are easy to find and relatively inexpensive today. Whether you’re in search of a history lesson or actually want to play these games with some friends, here’s where to start.

Space War

Image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp

Actually, you can trace esports’ roots to a time before Atari and Bushnell, to a computer game called Spacewar!.

Developed on MIT’s campus in 1962, Spacewar! pit two players against each other in star ships with a limited supply of fuel and missiles, all while battling the gravitational pull of a deadly sun at the center of the screen. The game was popular among programmers and computer scientists, who would congregate in the computer lab after hours for late-night play sessions. Over time, its code was shared or recreated on other machines, and by the late 1960s and early ‘70s, the first Spacewar! tournaments started popping up.

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Bushnell was a fan and, before forming Atari, helped produce an arcade machine clone in 1971 called Computer Space. One year after the 2600’s launch came a final attempt to bring the game to a wider audience in the form of Space War, an obvious precursor to Asteroids.

Among the 17 variations in Atari’s version, Space War are modes intended to be played with rules similar to the original (specifically Game Nos. 4 and 5), which, while a tad more complex than some of the system’s other multiplayer titles, have an obvious appeal once players get the hang of everything. Be forewarned, though: the stripped-down modes on this cart aren’t nearly as interesting and the graphics are quite primitive.

Video Olympics

Image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp

Some things in life truly are timeless. Pong is one of them.

Released as an arcade machine in 1972 -- one of the very first, and the first title under the Atari brand -- this simple concept essentially built the video game industry. In this electronic adaptation of table tennis, players use a paddle on one side of the screen to try to hit a ball past their opponent’s paddle on the other side. First person to 21 points wins. That’s it.

Hundreds of standalone home Pong consoles and clones would flood store shelves over the next few years, but with the release of the 2600 came a definitive port. Video Olympics touts 50 variations on Pong based around eight different sporting events including soccer, hockey, volleyball, basketball, handball and regular ol’ conventional Pong. Several of these even support four players simultaneously for 2v2 play.

Not every mode is praiseworthy, but a good number are enjoyable -- classic Pong in particular still holds up (Game No. 3), while the team games (Nos. 5-8, 11-12, 15-18, 21-22, 29-34. 37-38, 41-42 and 47-50) can get downright raucous. Make sure to pick up a couple sets of paddle controllers, though, for the authentic Pong experience.

Fun fact: While Bushnell and Atari are often credited with inventing Pong, the title borrowed heavily from Table Tennis for the Magnavox Odyssey, a game and console developed by Ralph H. Baer.

Combat

Image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp

The original pack-in title with the VCS sent a clear message to consumers, as it was strictly a multiplayer game. No solo play at all.

Combat is a port of the coin-op Tank by Atari subsidiary Kee Games and represents an important-yet-oft-overlooked moment in the company’s history. But while the title had been a success in arcades in 1974, the home conversion was not as well-received years later, even though pretty much everybody had a copy.

It’s a shame, because Combat is a solid game. Two players battle head-to-head in tanks, planes or jet fighters. Whoever lands the most shots on their opponent before time expires is the winner. Different rules and maps allow for 27 variations on the action, including a mode called Tank Pong (Game No. 9), which forces players to bank their shot off a wall before it can strike an opponent.

Maneuvering is slow at times -- though the deliberate pace adds to the intensity -- and Combat admittedly is not much to look at. Its flaws are somewhat offset though by the fact that the short rounds don’t overstay their welcome, and anybody can pick up a joystick and master the controls quickly.

Space Invaders

The title that put the 2600 on the map (and is the lead image for this article) also had tremendous multiplayer appeal, unsurprisingly.

A port of Taito’s coin-op of the same name, Space Invaders was one the first fixed shooters and is credited with ushering in the golden age of arcade games in 1978. So, when Atari acquired the home console rights and released Space Invaders for the VCS two years later, it took a platform that was selling fine, albeit unremarkably, and turned it into a household name overnight.

And although Space Invaders was only playable by one player at a time in arcades, many of the 112 game variations (specifically Game Nos. 33-48) are head-to-head PvE modes. In other words, you’re competing for the high score at the same time.

The Netflix docuseries High Score also recounts the story of the 2600’s role in what was perhaps the world’s first major esports tournament, the 1980 National Space Invaders Championship, with players vying to see who could survive the longest. It was far from a flawless port of the original, and the lack of PvP might leave some esports purists crying foul. Yet, with over 6 million copies sold and its reputation as gaming’s first “killer app,” you better believe there was serious competition.

Dragster

Image credit: Atari

Not only did the Atari 2600 popularize home gaming, but it inspired the first third-party devs, too.

A couple years after the system’s launch, a group of disgruntled Atari employees -- David Crane, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead and Jim Levy -- left to form Activision. Then, in 1980, their first titles launched for the system, Dragster among them.

Programmed by Crane, Dragster is at once a simple design -- a not-at-all-subtle clone of the 1977 coin-op Drag Race by Atari subsidiary Kee Games -- yet far more difficult than the previous titles mentioned here. The goal is to defeat your opponent across the finish line, or simply record the best possible time racing solo, by shifting through the car’s gears at the optimum moments while also being careful not to blow the engine.

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The controls are so intricate, rookie players might struggle to get off the starting line. Once understood, however, gameplay is surprisingly deep. Head-to-head is offered, as long as you can find a suitable competitor, though Dragster’s larger esports legacy lies in the speedrunning community. To date, 20 players have matched the world record finish of 5.57 seconds, according to speedrun.com, where 364 players have submitted times. And in 2018, the community ran into controversy when the previous 37-year-old record of 5.51 seconds was found to be fraudulent, proving cheating is almost as old as the competitions themselves.

Warlords

Image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp

Released in arcades in 1980 and ported to the VCS a year later, Atari took well-worn mechanics from Pong and Breakout such as the paddles, ball and brick-breaking and managed to create something that felt fresh in Warlords. The game pits up to four players against one another, each with a castle surrounded by a wall in a corner of the screen. The object is to deflect shots away from your castle while attempting to crash through to your opponents’ and deliver a deathblow to their warlord.

Records from that era are spotty at best, but there are indications that Warlords may have been the console’s best-selling PvP title besides possibly the original pack-in, Combat.

It wasn’t exactly revolutionary, but then there also weren’t a ton of four-player games at the time, either, particularly in homes, let alone those specifically designed for four players. Innovative or not, it’s a perfect party game -- easy to grasp and fast-paced, yet difficult to master with just enough strategy to learn.

As with Video Olympics, you’ll need a couple sets of paddle controllers to enjoy this one. As long as you can find three people to play against, it’s well worth the small additional investment.

Joust

Image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp

While traditionally thought of as a cooperative two-player game, or PvPvE at the very least, Joust was quite possibly the most influential multiplayer title to come along since Pong.

Developed by Williams Electronics in 1982, Joust cast players as knights riding atop a large ostrich and using a lance to unseat waves of AI enemy bird riders from the screen. Two players could work together to accomplish this goal or attack one another, be it an innocent case of friendly fire or devious subterfuge. The concept led to one of the highest-grossing coin-ops during a period when arcades had reached peak popularity and directly inspired Nintendo hits Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight in the process.

Atari acquired the home rights and produced ports for its many consoles beginning with the VCS in 1983. That was a fine translation, though the version for the 7800 released in ‘86 was by far the most accurate conversion of the bunch, with superior, almost arcade-quality graphics and truer gameplay to the original.

Despite the co-op mechanic at work here, players are still competing for the high score, and during the Gladiator Wave the goal is to unseat your buddy for points. The ability to sabotage your friend’s run solidifies Joust’s bonafides as a head-to-head experience.

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All things considered, the 2600’s success was short-lived. Atari produced high-profile colossal failures such as its port of Pac-Man as well as its rushed movie tie-in for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, which famously resulted in millions of unsold copies being buried in a landfill.

Competitors were also flooding the market with derivative games on rival consoles such as the Intellivision and ColecoVision. Even Atari released its own ill-fated platform, the Atari 5200, which was largely supported by reproductions of games already in the 2600 lineup, undoubtedly doing more harm than good.

In 1983, within three years of Space Invaders’ home release catapulting the 2600 into the mainstream, the entire industry crashed. Perhaps coincidentally, multiplayer games were also deprioritized during that period. Bushnell left Atari in 1979, having sold to Warner Communications in ‘76 to help push development of the VCS across the finish line, and within a few years of his departure, the company’s attention had seemingly shifted toward single-player adventures or games where players alternated turns. The flood of third-party titles largely ignored multiplayer as well. While certainly not the root cause of the system’s downfall, we can at least infer this may have been to its detriment.

The Atari 2600 actually continued to sell in small quantities and was supported with new games all the way through 1991 before the plug was finally pulled. But it would take Nintendo’s entrance into the scene in 1985 to resuscitate the industry and solidify a permanent place for video games in American homes.

The humble beginnings of esports, on the other hand, were already well established by then.

Lead image credit: Atari via Andrew Kulp