Page 49 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #6

"One label in particular was done around the kind of sorry for Kabobber, because all it was missing game web site, Retro Goodness, he has a sec-
same time that a friend of mine had interviewed a was the label artwork to make it 'complete.' So, I took tion called "Forge Your Own 2600 Carts." Eve-
former Atari 2600 programmer who now works at it on myself to do it. I wanted it to be absolutely au- rything you need is there - from blank Atari la-
Microsoft - John Marvin," Lee continued. "John had thentic, so that someone could burn a homebrew and bels (from a variety of companies and years) to
made "Crypts of Chaos" and several other games have a good quality label to print from their inkjet." the appropriate Atari fonts.
that weren't released. Among these was a game Christopher said that upon finishing that project, he “'Forge Your Own 2600 Carts' actually
called "Planet of the Apes." I had just finished watch- began to fantasize about games he wished had been started as a fun little side page of Retro Good-
ing the complete series on TV at the time and released for the Atari 2600. ness," Rick said. "My girlfriend's kid had never
thought that it'd be cool to make a label for this unre- "Most of them were old animé shows," he said. "It seen a Commodore 64 before, and when I told
leased game." was very easy to obtain artwork for use on the labels him 'These were state-of-the-art computers
Lee keeps creating new labels for non-existent by focusing my attention on the animated side of several years ago,' he gave this half laugh/
games, though he has created labels for real-life things. Still, all of the artwork I used was modified in snort sound. (Snot-nosed brat!) So that is why I
ones too. some way to accommodate the labels... either items put up my shrine to the systems of yesteryear."
"I just made one last night for the special cart were re-composited, or redrawn, or re-colored to fit Rick is a technical support analyst for Gam-
version of NWCGE Space Invaders. It will be one of the style I was looking for." bro Healthcare Patient Services, a provider of
the fabulous prizes for the Atari 2600 Championship Christopher explains that all the layouts for his dialysis services all across the United States.
down at the Hi-Score Arcade," he said. "I am also labels were done in Freehand 8. Occasionally, he said "When the computers or network crash, we
working with Chad Schell on the artwork for the Su- he has to composite many pieces of artwork together are the lucky nerds they call," he said.
perDuperCharger." to get one image he likes. Rick doesn't really call himself a "collector"
Lee is an aerospace engineer at Boeing where "The 'Evangelion' label, for instance, was two dif- per se, seeing as he still owns all his original
he works in a group called Computational Structures ferent pictures (if memory serves) composited to cre- Atari systems and carts from when
Technology. His expertise is in the field of multi-body ate something label-shaped," he said. "The Akira art- he first purchased them.
dynamics. work was a scan of a large poster I found on-line. The "Collector? Maybe. Obsessed
"I do a lot of consulting for all Boeing divisions: scan was horribly dark and muddy, but my skill with fan? Ohhhhhh yeah!" he said.
commercial airplanes, space station, etc.," he said. Photoshop (that's all I do all day long at Macy's) al-
"As you can tell, I am far-removed from being a lowed me to bring it back to life."
graphics designer." Christopher said that he's definitely going to be Where to See the Fakes
making more labels. One of his more recent creations
Autobots, transform! was a label for the newly-discovered "Combat 2" James Catalona's Doom for Atari 2600 hoax page is
Christopher Drum of San Francisco, CA is a pro- ROM. He said he'd like to do more labels for existing located at
fessional graphic artist for Macy's. Although he's just games. http://members.tripod.com/jims_digital_domain.
a beginning Atari 2600 collector ("I really only have "Things I'm mulling over presently are: RealSports
the games available from O'Shea's Ltd. and a pretty Basketball, Sinistar, Tempest, Twin Peaks (I just think Lee's ResQSoft web page is located at
rough looking copy of Decathlon," he said), Christo- the concept of a Twin Peaks Atari game is funny), http://home.earthlink.net/~resqsoft.

pher has created several slick-looking fakes for Save Mary, and Ewok Adventure," he said. Christopher Drum's web page is located at
Animé and cartoon-related Atari games. Games like Classic game collection-wise, Christopher said he http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum/.
"Akira," "Astro Boy," and "Macross" are featured on is trying to put together an original Infocom grey-box
his web site. set. Rick Cook's Forge Your Own web page is located at
Ironically, Christopher started making fakes after "I still silently kick myself every now and then for www.retrogoodness.com.
initially designing a label for a recently-discovered getting rid of my Coleco Adam too," he groaned. Yet another Atari fake label site is dedicated to label
game. "There was a contest being held at Atari re-makes of exsisting games. (Even this article's
2600 Nexus, if memory serves, for the Kabobber For the do-it-yourselfer... author has one posted!) The A-1 Fancy Label Club
ROM instructions. The winner had done a GREAT Rather than make fake labels himself, Rick Cook Gallery can be located at http://www.geocities.com/
job replicating the writing style and design of the of Nashville, TN, makes it possible for YOU to create SoHo/Workshop/2663/gallery.html.
original Activision stuff," Christopher recalls. "I felt your own real-looking Atari falsehoods. On his classic

Classic Gamer Magazine Spring 2001 49