Circus Atari
- $8.99
- Regular price
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$10.99 - Sale price
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- Unit price
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The cartridge or disc on its own, cleaned and tested — no box or manual. Game condition guide →
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Item Condition
Game only: the cartridge in a protective holder, no box or manual. The photos are of this exact cartridge — look them over closely for its condition, packaging and details. Every cartridge's shell, label and board are checked for authenticity when it comes into the store, and it's tested before it's listed. It ships in a collector's bag or a hard plastic case.
Item Description
Circus Atari takes the brick-breaking idea behind Breakout and gives it a big top makeover. Instead of a ball, you are launching clowns; instead of a paddle, a seesaw slides along the bottom of the screen. One clown leaps from a jumping board, lands on your end of the seesaw and catapults his partner up into the rows of balloons above, where every pop scores and the whole trick is to keep the act going without letting anyone hit the floor.
It is played with the paddle controllers, and the analog dial suits it perfectly. You sweep the seesaw across the screen and try to land each falling clown squarely on the raised end, because a sloppy landing sends the next one up without enough speed to reach the balloons. Fast clowns punch straight through several balloons at once while slower ones ricochet, and clearing whole rows earns bonus points. Several game variations change how the clowns and balloons behave, and two-player games turn the act into a friendly competition.
An official home adaptation of Exidy's 1977 arcade hit Circus, programmed for Atari by Mike Lorenzen, it squeezes the whole show onto a tiny early cartridge. It is one of the best showcases for the 2600 paddles, and a cheerful, easy-to-learn game that's perfect for passing the controller back and forth on a lazy evening.
Fast factsgame data via IGDB
- Released
- 1979
- Publisher
- Acetronic
- Developer
- Atari
- Genre
- Simulation, Arcade
- Players
- Single player
About the game
3 rows of triangular balloons move along the top part of the screen, each overlaid with blue, green, and yellow (colors used in the original version), counting from the top row. A clown appears from the edge of the screen where there is a jumping board, and the player must move the seesaw located at the bottom of the screen so that the clown can bounce back off the seesaw once he jumps off from his starting position. If the player successfully gets the clown onto the seesaw, the clown on the other side shoots off into the air towards the 3 rows of balloons on the top of the screen. The clown may not have enough speed to reach the balloons if the first clown does not land squarely on the seesaw. Clowns bounce off of balloons, walls, and jumping boards, but will pass directly through multiple balloons if they are moving quickly enough. They will only bounce off the jumping boards when they are heading downwards, and will pass straight through the boards while moving upwards.
Summary from the IGDB community database — the condition and contents of this listing are described above and in the photos.Watch gameplayCircus Atari on Atari 2600
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Atari 2600
Circus Atari
$8.99
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Atari 2600
Circus Atari
$8.99
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