Cosmic Swarm
Cosmic Swarm for Atari 2600 Overview: In the vast expanse of space lies WAYPOINT, a major interstellar trading hub operated by a small crew at a strategic crossroads among the stars. It’s a role that promises tranquility but…
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CommaVid was a small company from Aurora, Illinois, founded in 1981 by Irwin Gaines, John Bronstein and Joseph Biel. It first went by the name Computer Magic Video, made only a handful of Atari 2600 games, and closed in 1983 as the video game market collapsed. Reviewers have often credited its games with fresh ideas, and today the original cartridges are among the rarest on the console.
The site has six CommaVid titles. Room of Doom (1982) traps you in a room of hidden gunmen, Stronghold has you breaking into fortified asteroids, and Cakewalk (1983) is a frantic conveyor-belt game about a baker. Video Life is not a game at all but Conway’s Game of Life, offered by letter only to owners of CommaVid’s Magicard cartridge. The list also includes Cosmic Swarm and Mines of Minos.
All of them can be played below in your browser.
Mines of Minos
In Atari 2600 Mines of Minos you are the last mining robot on the Minos mine. Monsters have destroyed all your comrades. As the last robot, you must traverse the mine’s various levels, gathering spare parts to make…
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Video Life
Video Life is a CommaVid cartridge from the early 1980s that brings John Conway's "Game of Life" to the Atari 2600. It is not a game you win or lose: you draw a pattern of dots, start it,…
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Stronghold
Stronghold is a space shooter for the Atari 2600 from CommaVid, a small company from Aurora, Illinois. It was programmed by Joseph Biel, one of CommaVid's three founders. You attack a series of fortified asteroids, fighting off drones…
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Room of Doom
Room of Doom is a 1982 single-player shooter for the Atari 2600 from CommaVid, a small company from Aurora, Illinois, programmed by co-founder Irwin Gaines. You are trapped in a room whose walls hide gunmen behind slowly opening…
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