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Video Olympics cover

1977 · Bundle / compilation · Atari · Arcade · Sports

Video Olympics

Atari exclusiveBundle / compilation

Video Olympics a collection of games from Atari's popular arcade Pong series is one of the nine 2600 launch titles. The games are a collection of "bat and ball" style games, including several previously released by Atari as coin-ops in the early 1970s. The games are played using the 2600s paddle controllers and are for one to four players (three or four players requires a second set of paddle controllers).

Released
11 September 1977
Platforms
Atari 2600
Genres
ArcadeSports
Developers
Atari
Publishers
Atari, Inc.
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Bird view / IsometricSide view
Country
United States
Languages
English

About

Video Olympics is a sports video game programmed by Joe Decuir for the Atari 2600. It is one of the nine 2600 launch titles Atari, Inc. published when the 2600 system was released in September 1977. The cartridge is a collection of games from Atari's popular arcade Pong series. A similar collection in arcade machine form called Tournament Table was published by Atari in 1978.

Video Olympics was rebranded by Sears as Pong Sports.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The games are a collection of bat-and-ball style games, including several previously released by Atari, Inc. as arcade games. The games use the Video Computer System's paddle controllers, and are for one to four players (three or four players requires a second set of paddles).

Video Olympics includes 50 games and variations:

Reception

The cartridge and its individual games were reviewed twice in Video magazine. In the Winter 1979 issue of Video, the cartridge was reviewed as part of a general review of the Atari VCS where it received a review score of 8.5 out of 10, and its constituent games were characterized as "old standbys" but "still lots of fun". A more thorough review appeared in Video's "Arcade Alley" column in the Summer 1979 issue where the release was generally praised for "tak[ing] Atari's Pong concept and explor[ing] it to the limit." Individual games were singled out as well, with praise for Volleyball and Robot Pong (described as "astonishingly good"), and criticism for Handball (for its use of a visually disturbing blinking paddle rather than an absent paddle to indicate inactive players), and Basketball (described as primitive compared to Atari's own 1978 version of Basketball).

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Atari 260011 September 1977North America

Editions and related releases

Included in
Atari VaultAtari: 80 Classic Games in One!Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1Atari Flashback ClassicsAtariAtari Retro Handheld Console: Pac-Man EditionAtari Greatest Hits: Volume 2Atari Flashback XAtari Retro Handheld Console4 Games in 1 CartridgeAtari Flashback X DeluxeTiny Arcade: Atari 2600Pong 4 Player Pub TableAtari Flashback 4: 40th Anniversary - Deluxe EditionAtari AnthologyAtari Flashback 8 Gold: Activision EditionAtari Flashback 7: DeluxeAtari Flashback 50th Anniversary Edition GoldAtari Flashback 7Atari Flashback 50th Anniversary EditionAtari Flashback 4
Includes
PongPong DoublesQuadrapongSuper PongFoozpongBasketballVolleyballRobot PongSoccerHockeyHandball

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.