Video game division of Mattel
M Network
was a video game division of
Mattel
that, in the 1980s, produced games in
cartridge
format for the
Atari 2600
video game system.
History
[
edit
]
In the early 1980s, Mattel's
Intellivision
video game console was a direct competitor to
Atari
's Video Computer System (VCS), better known as the Atari 2600. Although Mattel designed and produced video game cartridges for their own system, the company surprised the industry by also releasing simplified versions of its games for the 2600 under the M Network label.
[1]
[2]
[3]
M Network produced home ports of popular arcade games, including
BurgerTime
,
Bump 'n' Jump
and
Lock 'n' Chase
(all 1982) as well as original titles such as
Tron: Deadly Discs
(1982 ? based on
the Disney movie
) and
Kool-Aid Man
(1983), one of the earliest "
promogames
", originally available only via
mail order
by sending in
UPC symbols
from
Kool-Aid
containers.
[1]
[4]
[5]
Mattel programmers (named by
TV Guide
as the "
Blue Sky Rangers
") were also encouraged to develop video game tie-ins with other Mattel properties; games such as
Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man
(1983), leveraging Mattel's
Masters of the Universe
media franchise
, were released.
[1]
[6]
M Network cartridges made for the 2600 were physically similar to Intellivision cartridges, but with a base designed to fit the 2600's larger cartridge slot.
[1]
Most of the names were changed for the 2600 version;
Astrosmash
was, for example, renamed
Astroblast
.
[3]
Although Mattel, through M Network, released cartridges for Atari consoles, they balked at allowing Atari to release cartridges for the Intellivision: in the early 1980s the company filed a lawsuit against Atari alleging that Atari had stolen Mattel's trade secrets when it hired former Mattel employees to develop a line of Intellivision-compatible cartridges.
[7]
In May 2023,
Atari SA
obtained rights for over a dozen M Network games, including
Armor Ambush
,
Astroblast
, and
Star Strike
.
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Yarusso, Al.
"AtariAge - Companies - M Network"
.
AtariAge
. Retrieved
January 5,
2012
.
- ^
Sullivan, George (September 1, 1983).
Screen Play: The Story of Video Games
. Warne. p. 75.
ISBN
978-0-7232-6251-0
.
It was almost as if NBC had started producing television shows for presentation on CBS.
- ^
a
b
Goodman, Danny
(Spring 1983).
"Home Video Games: Video Games Update"
.
Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games
. p. 32.
- ^
Bogost, Ian
(August 5, 2011).
How to Do Things with Videogames (Electronic Mediations)
. University of Minnesota Press. pp.
67?8
.
ISBN
978-0-8166-7647-7
.
- ^
Bogost, Ian
;
Montfort, Nick
(2009).
Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System
.
MIT Press
. p. 124.
ISBN
978-0-262-01257-7
.
- ^
Polskin, Howard (June 19, 1982).
"Behind the scenes with the Blue Sky Rangers who dream up Mattel's video games"
.
TV Guide
. Archived from
the original
on December 25, 2018
. Retrieved
January 5,
2012
.
- ^
Herman, Leonard (1997).
Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames
. Rolenta Press. p. 96.
ISBN
0-9643848-2-5
.
- ^
"Atari Announces Acquisition of M Network Atari 2600 Titles and Related Trademarks"
.
Atari
. May 5, 2023
. Retrieved
November 30,
2023
.
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