Retro Videogames - Atari: Level 3 Mystery Cache
Retro Videogames - Atari: Level 3
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:  (micro)
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THE CACHE IS NOT LOCATED AT THE ABOVE LISTED
COORDINATES.
N 44° 1A.BCD W 088°
2E.FGH
Plug in your joystick and pull down the game select switch 4 or 5
times, because it's time to re-visit the Atari 2600 video games of
the 70's and 80's...
Level 3
The original Atari Inc. was founded in
197B by Nolan Bushnell and Ted
Dabney. The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October
197C. It is credited with
popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and
cartridges containing game code, instead of having
non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The
initial price was US $H99 and
shipped with two joysticks and Combat cartridge.
The basic layout of the 2600 is fairly similar to most consoles and
home computers of the era. The CPU was the MOS Technology
6G07 running at 1.19 MHz.
Atari Inc. also continued their OEM relationship with Sears under
the latter's Tele-Games brand label, which started in
197F with the original Pong. Sears
released several versions of the 2600 as the Sears Video Arcade
series from 1977 to 1983.
Atari Inc. continued to scoop up licenses during the shelf life of
the 2600, the most prominent of which included Pac-Man and E.T.
Public disappointment with these two titles and the market
saturation of poor third-party titles are cited as big reasons for
the video game crash of 1983. Suddenly, Atari Inc.'s growth meant
it was losing massive amounts of money during the crash, at one
point about $1A,000 a day.
The first sign of the coming disaster came from a company whose
games were perceived to be high quality. Activision was co-founded
by Atari programmers who left the company in
197(E+1) because Atari did not
allow credits to appear on the games and did not pay employees a
royalty based on sales.
In January 1983, Jack Tramiel, the head of Commodore, slashes the
price of the Vic D0 to 139 USD and
the C64 to 400 USD. Tramiel, still looking for market share,
slashed the price of the C64 to 200 USD and virtually walked away
with the holiday buying season for the second year in a row. This
home computer price war proved disastrous for some contenders in
that industry.
Series Instructions:
Each level should get harder. For year released you must use the
release date as referenced on
Wikipedia.
Winter Friendliness Rating: Findable in all
seasons.
Congratulations Sagasu on the FTF!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)