James Wickstead Design Associates was a design studio in New Jersey that created Atari 2600 games for other companies to publish. Much of its work went to U.S. Games, the video game label of Quaker Oats, which closed in 1983, and it also made conversions for Coleco and Parker Brothers. Garry Kitchen built his first game there, and programmers such as Sylvia Day, Henry Will IV and Wes Trager worked on several titles.
Many of the studio’s games are gentle, family-friendly ideas. Six to start with:
Gopher (1983): Sylvia Day’s farmyard game, defending carrots from a tunnelling gopher.
Space Jockey (1982): Garry Kitchen’s side-scrolling shooter and the first U.S. Games release.
Name This Game (1983): an undersea treasure guard whose title comes from an unfinished naming contest.
Word Zapper (1982): Henry Will IV’s spelling game that plays like a shooter.
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle (1983): a colourful jumping game made for Coleco.
Montezuma’s Revenge (1984): Parker Brothers’ tough platform adventure, adapted for the 2600 by the studio.
The list also includes Eggomania, Mouse Trap, Squeeze Box and more. Pick one below and play it in your browser.
Commando Raid is a 1982 Atari 2600 shooting game published by U.S. Games, the video game division of the cereal company Quaker Oats. It was developed by James Wickstead Design Associates and programmed by Wes Trager. Helicopters drop…
Play ▸Name This Game is an underwater action game for the Atari 2600, created by James Wickstead Design Associates and published by U.S. Games around the start of 1983. You play a diver guarding sunken treasure from a giant…
Play ▸Mouse Trap is Coleco's 1982 Atari 2600 version of Exidy's 1981 arcade maze game. It was developed by Wickstead Design, with programming by Sylvia Day and Henry Will IV. You are a mouse eating cheese in a maze,…
Play ▸Word Zapper is a 1982 Atari 2600 game that mixes spelling with a shooting game. It was designed by Henry Will IV at James Wickstead Design Associates and published by U.S. Games under its Vidtec label. A row…
Play ▸Star Wars: The Arcade Game is Parker Brothers' 1984 Atari 2600 conversion of Atari's 1983 Star Wars arcade machine. As Luke Skywalker in an X-wing, you fight TIE fighters, fly over the surface of the Death Star and…
Play ▸Squeeze Box is a 1982 Atari 2600 action game from U.S. Games, developed by James Wickstead Design Associates and programmed by Henry Will IV. A gun-toting jailbird is trapped in a room whose walls keep growing in on…
Play ▸Sneak 'n Peek turns the playground game of hide and seek into an Atari 2600 cartridge. It was published by U.S. Games in 1982, designed by Wickstead Design and programmed by Paul Willson. One player hides somewhere in…
Play ▸Space Jockey is a 1982 side-scrolling shooter for the Atari 2600 and the first game from U.S. Games, sold under its Vidtec label. It was the first video game by Garry Kitchen, who built it at James Wickstead…
Play ▸Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is a side-scrolling jumping game based on the Smurfs cartoon. Coleco released it first for its own ColecoVision console in 1982 and then for the Atari 2600 in 1983. You guide a Smurf…
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