Akka Arrh, very detailed pics

[coinopper]

Ditto - thanks for posting photos and video of this. The integration of lights with the bezel certainly harkens back to 70s Atari designs, and the lighted Atari logo badges on either side of the marquee are truly a unique touch Was Target Outpost on the pcb the original name?

 

[joemagiera]

Was Target Outpost on the pcb the original name?

Yes, that was the original name. Makes a lot more sense than Akka Arrh.

 

[coinopper]

I agree. Either that or The Sentinel were better. "Akka Arrh" sounds like you already lost

 

[Yoeddy]

Thanks for posting that, Joe! Really cool! I think painting the cabinet black and covering it with Legend of Zelda stickers would be a nice touch, and maybe even a steering wheel, trackball, and an LCD monitor to really finish it off right.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[geech]

I agree. Either that or The Sentinel were better. "Akka Arrh" sounds like you already lost

There really should be a deep dive into how far the original Star Trek penetrated and inspired the arcade world in the early days.

 

[advans13]

There really should be a deep dive into how far the original Star Trek penetrated and inspired the arcade world in the early days.

if william shatners penis could talk

 

[geech]

if william shatners penis could talk

What makes you think it can't?

 

[advans13]

i dont know. go to the "captains chair" and find out!

 

[geech]

"set phallus to "stun""

 

[advans13]

"set phallus to "stun""

bullshit, go bareback....set phallus to cream pie

 

[coinopper]

Yes, that was the original name. Makes a lot more sense than Akka Arrh.

According to John Salwitz in his 2019 GDC presentation, Akka Arrh was the original, unofficial name and The Sentinel and Target Outpost were later titles.

Akka Arrh (found prototype of unreleased Atari arcade game; 1982) - The Lost Media Wiki

lostmediawiki.com

"Akka Arrh is an unreleased prototype arcade game made by Atari's Mike Hally and Dave Ralston. The name Akka Arrh is a play on words for Also Known As Another Ralston Hally production. The arcade game was shown in 1982 to a small test market. However, the test-market was unsuccessful as those that played Akka Arrh considered the game to be too difficult. This caused Atari to cancel Akka Arrh in support of other Atari arcade games at the time."

I wonder if other versions of the game with the later titles still exist.

 

[LordOfDoubleDee]

Rare and cool - thanks for sharing.

 

[Atari Force]

Will detailed pictures of the Agent X be next?

 

[dutchman]

According to John Salwitz in his 2019 GDC presentation, Akka Arrh was the original, unofficial name and The Sentinel and Target Outpost were later titles.

He mentions that The Sentinel was a later name but does not actually mention Target Outpost, so that may have still been the original name. That is unless there is other evidence that shows TO name came later.

 

[coinopper]

Considering the pcb has Target Outpost on it, I highly doubt that was the original name.

 

[dutchman]

Ever hear of a game called Tollian Web?

 

[XXI21]

Ever hear of a game called Tollian Web?

Tollian Web - Videogame by Atari

Tollian Web is a Videogame by Atari (circa 1983). You (Major Havoc) must search out enemy space stations: defeat their space defenses, dock with the mothership and then destroy each robot infested mothership by

www.arcade-museum.com

Verifying...

 

[coinopper]

Ever hear of a game called Tollian Web?

Yes, Ken, but Major Havoc was in development for nearly 2 years and underwent several name changes during that time. And yes, some game pcbs exist with earlier names in solder/copper traces on them. Agent X was another one. In that case, it would have been released under that name if Atari hadn't decided at the last minute to rebrand it as a movie license game. But you know those are exceptions to the contrary. Show me a pcb with "Akka Arrh" on it and you might have another example Until then, given what little facts we have about the game, it's a safe bet the title went from Akka Arrh to The Sentinel to Target Outpost.

 

[dutchman]

Btw, I'm not saying that it was likely Target Outpost before Akka Arrh, but the point is that Atari has shown that it will release games with old names on the pcbs. Stating it as fact is where I have a problem. Sure it's pedantic but that's how documenting history works.

Edit: Also, my name isn't Ken, so your assumptions have shown to be wrong as well .

 

[coinopper]

Ok that's exactly what you just said

He mentions that The Sentinel was a later name but does not actually mention Target Outpost, so that may have still been the original name. That is unless there is other evidence that shows TO name came later.

As I said, the facts are, the game started out as Akka Arrh. Of the 3 prototypes known to exist, the pcb in one of them shows Target Outpost on the board. If you have an issue with those facts, that's your issue

There's someone (Ken Van Mersgerben) on the Atariage forum with the username "dutchman2000" who's well known for archiving prototype home games. And then there's you on here talking about an Atari prototype arcade game. Again, given the facts available, that was a good assumption to make. But I'm sticking with my title assumptions unless you'd care to offer so more facts.