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20 May 2016

☆ The A To Z Of Atari - Z is For ? ☆ #Retrogaming #GamersUnite


Z is for...........

When trying to complete the A-Z of Atari I didn’t think that Z would cause me so many problems.

I searched high and low for an appropriate video game or Atari associated term that covered off Z and I was stumped to say the least!

This is where as always I can totally rely on all the good-good people of Twitter to lend a hand.

My question to the Retrogaming Twittersphere was “In the A-Z of Atari what does Z stand for?”

The people spoke and this is what they said,

Zaxxon (Atari 2600) @8BitCentral @Kitsuagi

Zone Ranger (Atari 5200) @8BitCentral

Zod @C64Television @HyrulesEvil

Zarlor Mercenary (Atari Lynx) @Gnollish77

The problem with all of the above is that none of the video games listed were published by Atari but this is all we have got to go on so it’s decision time!

I’ve looked at each of these games and I’ve made the executive decision that in the A to Z of Atari, Z stands for ………..

Zaxxon on the Atari 2600


Okay, I know it’s a SEGA game but the Atari 2600 version of Zaxxon was its own game as it switched the and the conversion faired pretty well in the gameplay stakes. It’s Zaxxon but not as we know it Jim!

For this article I thought I’d let you into some cool Zaxxon facts relating to both the arcade version and the Atari 2600 version.


So let’s have a look shall we?

1. Weirdly enough, in order to re-fuel the game requires you to destroy fuel drums!

2. Zaxxon was the first arcade game to feature Isometric view and display shadows cast from the spaceship

3. Zaxxon was also the first Arcade game to be advertised on television with a commercial produced by Paramount

4. The world record HIGH SCORE for Zaxxon is 4.680,740 points scored by a guy called Vernon Kalanikaus of Hawaii (March 15th 1982)

5. There was a bootleg released in 1982 of Zaxxon in the video game arcades called JACKSON!

6.  The Atari 2600 port and the Intellivision port were different from the original arcade as they adopted the 3rd person view rather than isometric view to great effect.

7. The Colecovision version was the first home port to utilise the isometric view

8. Zaxxon was included as an unlockable arcade game in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis collection for XBOX360 & PS3

9. A home video game console port of Zaxxon was shown in the music video for the New Order song “Blue Monday”

10. In the film Friday 13th – Final Chapter – Tommy Jarvis is seen playing Zaxxon….



So that’s it, my A-Z of Atari is complete.

Check all the articles out here 

Which Atari Game Would YOU Have Featured For Z?

Let Me Know In The Comments Box Below



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