Atari Archive, Vol. 1: 1977-1978

by Kevin Bunch

Atari's Video Computer System is one of the most significant game consoles in the history of the medium, but much of the history behind its creation, its place on the market, and its games has been relegated to dusty memories, legal papers, and trade industry coverage. Historian Kevin Bunch has worked to reconstruct and contextualize the early history of Atari's woodgrain winner, covering its development, the history behind each game published in its first two years, and the tales of its contemporary competitors, too. The history of 1970s Atari is only a page turn away!

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 2023

Reviews

[Kevin]

I wrote this one so I don't feel right giving it a number score, but I will say not to let the name fool you into thinking this is *only* about the early games for the VCS/2600 platform. My approach here was to contextualize their releases by talking about the state of the home video game space in the 70s, what competitors were doing (and in some cases, doing better than Atari), the inspirations and prior games in a similar vein, how these games were received, and of course, the games themselves. A lot of interviews and research library trawls went into the making of this book, and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

[Rob Schmuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historian Kevin Bunch dives deep into the Atari 2600 and early games, painting a vivid picture of the landscape for this important period in video game history. On top of great contextual anecdotes and insights, the book features fantastic images that add to overall enjoyment while reading. This book is a tremendous archive of information for readers familiar with the time period and subjects or just starting to learn.