20th Century Fox, the Hollywood film studio, entered the Atari 2600 market in 1982 with its own game label, Fox Video Games. The idea was to turn films from the studio’s catalogue into cartridges, but most of the games were made by outside teams. Sirius Software, a computer game company, supplied a large share, including Fast Eddie, Deadly Duck, Worm War I and Fantastic Voyage. Doug Neubauer, who had left Atari, programmed Alien, Mega Force and M*A*S*H as an independent contractor. Some cartridges simply borrowed a film title, as The Earth Dies Screaming and Spacemaster X-7 did. The label closed in 1983 during the video game crash, and several finished or nearly finished games were never sold.
The site has 22 games under this name, released cartridges and prototypes alike. A few to start with:
Alien (1982): a maze game based on Ridley Scott’s film, with a flame thrower and a bonus stage.
Fantastic Voyage (1982): David Lubar’s scrolling shooter set inside a patient’s bloodstream.
Fast Eddie (1982): Mark Turmell’s platform game about grabbing prizes that float above you.
M*A*S*H: fly wounded soldiers to safety and then operate against the clock as Hawkeye Pierce.
Bank Heist (1983): rob banks in a getaway car while every second costs you fuel.
Meltdown: an unreleased reactor game, thought lost until a copy turned up in 2004.
Pick any of them from the list below and start playing in your browser.
Bank Heist is a 1983 maze game for the Atari 2600, designed by Bill Aspromonte and published by Fox Video Games, the video game label of 20th Century Fox. You drive a getaway car through a city of streets, rob every bank you can find and keep one step ahead of the police. The twist is the fuel gauge: every second and every stick of dynamite costs gas. You can play it here in your browser, with nothing to install.
Alien is a 1982 maze game for the Atari 2600, based on Ridley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction film. It was programmed by Doug Neubauer and published by Fox Video Games, the video game arm of 20th Century Fox, in November 1982. The idea will feel familiar to anyone who has played Pac-Man, but the flame thrower, the adjustable alien behaviour and a separate bonus stage give it a character of its own. You can play it here in your browser, with nothing to install.