Watch Atari 8-Bit Computer TV Commercials (15-30 mins)

Media

Task: Watch Atari 8-Bit Computer TV Commercials

Needed: Web Browser 

Time: 15-30 minutes

Introduction

I honestly don’t recall seeing Atari computer commercials on TV as a kid. I must have seen a few over the years. These are really fun to watch now and there are many on YouTube. When I don’t feel like coding or playing a game I often will pull up some of these commercials. They definitely exude excitement about Atari technology and put me in a good mood. I have made a list below of some of these along with the 8-bit machine covered and the year they aired. They are addicting. Enjoy!

Instructions

  1. Atari 400 (1981) – featuring foreign languages and missile command
  2. Atari 400 (1981) – featuring states and capitals and basketball
  3. Atari 400 (1982) – what is the Atari family learning that the others are not?
  4. Atari 800 (1981) – covering coin-op, 2600, and ending with an Atari 800
  5. Atari 800 (1981) – featuring stock analysis and space invaders
  6. Atari 800 (1981) – featuring pac-man and PILOT
  7. Atari 800 (1982) – featuring a screen with GTIA graphics
  8. Atari 1200xl (1982) – starts at 1:26, awesome dissing of other computers
  9. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda like a kid in a computer store
  10. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda hooking up an Atari 800xl
  11. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda helping a kid convince his parents to buy an Atari
  12. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda using AtariWriter
  13. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda and girl using AtariWriter
  14. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda learning French
  15. Atari 800xl (1984) – Alan Alda with Typo Attack
  16. Atari 65xe (1986) – The 65xe makes you smarter than the Commodore 64 does

Comments

I am guessing there were more commercials that aired than are on YouTube. Would be nice to track all of these down and get them posted. I bet some could be found by watching old TV shows. Maybe that is how these were found.

Note that it was hard to pin down some of the dates. Assume that these are all approximate. It is possible that some of the Alan Alda commercials actually aired first in 1985 but I haven’t found a good source to confirm. I was also surprised I couldn’t find any Atari 130xe commercials. Let me know if you find any.