Have You Played Atari Today?

Back in the day, Atari had some of the most over-produced and strangely entertaining commercials. They were king of the industry, and they would spend millions to keep that crown. Sure, they could just show you gameplay, and people playing it, and you could infer whether or not it was a game worth your time and money. But what’s the fun in that. They decided to take it a step further, and produce what are still some of the most outlandish and odd video game commercials. Now the quality on these aren’t that great given their age, but feel free to grab some popcorn, and hit the jump for some great game commercials.


This is a clip I recently saw on Joystiq that got me searching through YouTube for all these great commercials. I must agree though that guy does look like a Jerk!


Who knew such a simple game could produce such an infectious dance beat. I bet you people were dancing to this ditty for years. Oh wait, they weren’t?


Such memorable lyrics. “We got those legs that are nice n’ hairy, but you can’t choose ‘cuz we’re too scary!” Actually, now I do want to go to the Club Centipede.


Could this guy have a worse voice? Oh well, at least it’s not Lou Albano. Hey, Pizanos!


Wow, Atari, you really read my mind on this one. What if Napoleon and his family did have an Atari. What if lamps could talk? What if human ears tasted like chocolate? This one really is a stretch. Here’s one I want answered Atari. What if Jesus had an Atari? Would he use it for good, or awesome?


Now this commercial isn’t necessarily by Atari, but it is probably one of my favorite video game commercials of all time, so I let it slip in. I’m not sure if anyone knew who Phil Hartman was at the time, but he gives a great performance. I would like to see this same commercial done for a video game that, even more so, in no way warrants it. Like, “Think you’re ready for Nintendogs?”


Well, it looks like the Germans got off to a pretty good start with video games. Who knew they would grow to hate them so much. “Un da Pac-man es Dat!”


Finally, I figured it would only be proper to end with the video of the game that all but ended Atari’s reign. What many consider to be the worst game of all time: E.T. You want to know how bad this game is? Consider this, the entire game is shown to you in this commercial. “Running away from secret agents, falling into danger…” Yep, that’s it.