Who is Atari’s mascot character? Join me for a deep dive into a question that pops up once in a while in Atari circles but it was also a question on the minds of Atari management back in the 90s. They tried to come up with a new character – when they had a bunch of characters to choose from already. Who were those characters? Would any be worthy of carrying the brand on their shoulders, like Mario carries Nintendo or Sonic carries Sega? Join me to find out! #atari #nintendo #sega #mascot #crystalcastles #bubsy #berzerk #videogames #arcade #atari2600
Timecodes:
0:36 – The Tramiels look for a new mascot
1:20 – Rare pics of Oswald
2:00 – What makes a good mascot?
3:21 – Are mascots even necessary?
4:47 – Where are my favorites like Paperboy, Peter Packrat and Xybots?
5:53 – Atari’s first character – Deep sea diver/shark hunter
7:12 – Outlaw
7:54 – Atari Pinball machines
9:26 – Commander Martin Champion
12:11 – Knight/gnome from Adventure
13:48 – Tor & Tarra from Swordquest
14:55 – Adventurers from Dark Chambers
15:43 – Oliver from Centipede
16:45 – The Archer from Millipede
17:42 – Yar from Yars’ Revenge
19:10 – The eyes from Haunted House
20:23 – Charley Chuck from Food Fight
21:19 – Major Havoc
22:57 – Bentley Bear from Crystal Castles
26:27 – Robot 1984 from I, Robot
28:05 – From Atari Inc to Atari Corp.
29:20 – Nine Iron Ninja from Ninja Golf
30:03 – Louie from Scrapyard Dog
31:00 – Trevor McFur
31:31 – Atari Karts
32:30- Fight For Life
33:14 – The Modern Atari – Atari SA
33:51 – Berzerk (Evil Otto)
33:34 – Bubsy
36:51 – In Summary
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great video thanks
Bubsy would probably be best choice although hardcore Atari fans would probably disagree but is probably the most overall recognized all round. Centipede obviously best villain. That pumpkin head guy off Atari karts is cool looking too.
Mario was on Atari in 1983 and Donkey Kong. I’d dare say Mario and Donkey Kong are Atari mascots. Nintendo was sneaky in the 80s. Sonic came out in 1991.
When I think of Atari I think of Tempest.
Bentley Bear.
Bently works as a mascot. I still wonder how things would have went if Atari Games was in charge of arcade and console divisions.
"Ali the Aligator" is clearly Arlo Armadillo!
Nintendo has a lot of IP; Zelda, Kirby, Mario / DK / Bowzer, Yoshi, …. No one can touch them so far… Playstation for some time had Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & clank, Crash Bandicoot, at the least.. Now they have Sack Boy (Little Big Planet). It's something at least oh and Drake from the PS3 onward in Uncharted.
Activision had a few good ones with Pitfall Harry way back that was hot. H.E.R.O., Keystone Kaper characters…
Even though Pitfall Harry was Activision and he was on a plethora of consoles, he was an Atari reminder when I was a kid.
Got a few other characters for consideration (though no, they are not good mascots!)
"Pong" – This might not seem like a character, but 2020's "Pong Quest" gives the paddle a face and… well actually I've never played it, so I don't know.
Fast Freddie – a weird situation where Atari localized the 1982 Kaneko arcade game "Fly Boy" into Fast Freddie. While Atari doesn't have rights to the game itself, they do have rights to the character of Fast Freddie, who appears in the 2023 game Pixel Ripped 1978.
I think Atari is just one of those brands that don't work with a mascot, though overall I'd choose Bentley Bear…
A hard pass on Bubsy. I still feel burned after shelling out on his first outing on the Genesis which I played twice and traded as soon as possible – can't imagine there is much love out there for his extreme annoyance. I do wish Atari had done more with Oliver from Centipede as the box art of him is amazing (comic look is cool also). Bentley Bear seems a bit bland atm but hey, has more recognition, so I do think he could be elevated to mascot status if developed well. I could imagine an in-game universe with Bentley, Oliver and the good/evil magicians from Adventure all running about alongside the assorted side characters from their titles.
I'm partial to Chalet Chuck and the Chefs.
Though Bentley has a more typical mascot look, to me there is little else more visually iconic from that era than the cover art depiction of Yar. I dare say taht the stylized robotic insectoid is up there with the pinball art for the gynoid on the old Xenon machines!
Bentley Bear, Period. Iconic look, good color palette, a solid boss villain in the witch, the hat for invincibility, the honey jar and the crystals as collectibles, and a recognizable and varied array of enemies. This is a no brainer…… and was absolutely cemented in place, IMO, with the Bentley Bear Crystal Quest homebrew. Go back in time and pack that with the 7800, and you have their flagship mascot title.
The trick to playing Crystal Quest is to play it like Mario, not Adventure Island. The run button needs to be held down almost the entire time, and the physics control extremely similar to SMB1.