Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.
Workin' hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some will win
Some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the Atari 2600 game never ends
It goes on and on and on and on
Why the game hasn't been announced for Virtual Console yet:
We haven't stopped believin' that Atari games eventually will show up on the VC, but they haven't. The wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'. We don't know what systems will be on the VC tomorrow. If they do show up, hopefully at a thrifty 100-200 Points each, we'll come to them with open arms. If you wonder who's cryin' now, it's us thinking about all the potential 2600 games we could be playing.
Why we think it should be on the Virtual Console:
One of the best things about Atari 2600 games is that it's often impossible to tell what the game is about from the graphics or the gameplay. Case in point: this game consists of nondescript people walking straight up, avoiding huge disembodied heads and hearts that come at you in serpentine patterns. It is also about the band Journey. Sure! Why not?
Journey Escape is the riveting story of all five identical members of Journey (distinguishable only by their initials in the corner of the screen) trying to leave a concert venue in single file, and leave in the scarab vehicle from the Escape album cover. They must avoid Shifty-Eyed Promoters (huge heads in straw hats), Love-Crazed Fans (giant hearts with legs), and Sneaky Photographers (flashing lemons) on their way to their transport. Of course, the only way to know that your character was a member of Journey and that those abstract monsters represented humans was to read the instruction manual. If you're lucky, you can make contact with a Loyal Roadie (blue rectangle with antennae) who will make you invincible for a few seconds, or a Mighty Manager (flesh-colored Kool-Aid Man) allows you to walk through the entire level without taking damage!
The game starts with what passes for a cutscene in an Atari game, of the scarab thing flying through space shooting some lasers, to the strains of a very bleepy "Don't Stop Believin'." Conveniently, after all five members of Journey successfully make their egress, this same animation serves as the ending! We don't care-- we could listen to that music all day. We only wish we could find a recording for you!
Wouldn't it be great if, when left with like 200 Wii Points, you could spend them on Atari games instead of having to add another $10? The whole set of Atari games could fit on the Wii's internal memory 100 times over. Even if Atari was on board, Journey Escape is a third-party game from a publisher that basically died in the video game crash. We don't know who has the rights to Data Age's games, but maybe someone could use that $10 to acquire them.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-21-2007 @ 7:07PM
tactics said...
most psychadelic game evAr. i never had an atari myself, but i used to pwn this game on my colecovision. i loved how it played that one journey song too...
8 bit sound. awesome.
-"superfan" tactics.
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6-21-2007 @ 7:11PM
JC Fletcher said...
Do you still have it?
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6-21-2007 @ 7:12PM
Mr Khan said...
a homage to the later days of the most excellent classic rock era
excellent find, JC
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6-21-2007 @ 7:19PM
SnatchTheGravyUp said...
you could pick it up relatively cheap
http://cgi.ebay.com/Journey-Escape-Atari-2600_W0QQitemZ330136989337QQihZ014QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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6-21-2007 @ 7:33PM
Stew said...
Heck Yeah! Loved this game as a kid. I had no idea who Journey was or their music, but this was such a weird game, that was so fun to play!
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6-21-2007 @ 8:37PM
Joshua said...
Remember it, heck I still own it! Loved this game as a kid even though I never knew what it was about because I didn't have the instruction manual.
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6-21-2007 @ 9:12PM
snkngshps said...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TS16z9RbJKo
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6-22-2007 @ 1:18AM
Shogan said...
We loved this game on the 2600, but the arcade game was better.
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6-22-2007 @ 7:37AM
UpIrons said...
I agree with #8 and as much as I'd like to see Atari 2600 games on the VC, I would like to see original arcade games on the VC even more... especially the original arcade version of Journey Escape which had actual sound clips from the band and what could be considered early Mii's of Journey band members (with photorealistic facial scans on animated bodies).
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6-22-2007 @ 9:46AM
Neal Eaton said...
I will NEVER STOP BELIEVING! I still have this (along with about 500 or so other Atari 2600 games). I was playing this a couple of weeks ago! I agree with #8 tha thte Arcade version is better, but this one has that great 8-bit soundtrack...ahhh memories.
I would love to see Atari 2600/5200/7800 games on the VC, that would be AWESOME...my personal fave from the 2600 is KABOOM! (sorry for the yelling,, but it is in all caps on the game) by Activision...such a frantic game when you get up in the levels.
God...now I am going to have to play this again when I get home...time to change out the homebrew 'Combat Rock' (it is a hac of Combat with 'Rock The Casbah' music in all of its 8-bit glory) and jam some Journey.
ROCK ON!
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6-22-2007 @ 9:58AM
vidGuy said...
Sorry, guys, my gaming days started with the NES. I was so oblivious to this game I had to read the comments to make sure the post was serious and not just a spoof off the inclusion of "Journey" in the title. My only experience with Atari is one of those "100 games in one" knockoffs, so I may be missing out but I have little interest.
So, I'd support the notion of Atari on VC, but with my voice, not my wallet. I have a hard enough time dropping $5 for NES games.
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6-22-2007 @ 11:28AM
JC Fletcher said...
The arcade game may be better, but it's way different. There's room for both.
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6-22-2007 @ 11:29AM
JC Fletcher said...
And vidGuy: Not having played a game is a GREAT reason to buy it. Better than nostalgia.
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6-22-2007 @ 11:55AM
Skippy said...
I would LOVE being able to get old Atari 2600/5200/7800 games as well as ColecoVision and Intellivision games on the VC.
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6-22-2007 @ 1:07PM
Adam said...
I'm a fairly big fan of all things Atari and while this wasn't one of my favorite games for the ol' 2600 I would like to see 2600 on the VC. I would probably own all of them that they would release but I think the exposure would be what matters - too many gamers these days haven't experienced Atari - obviously many may come away underwhelmed due to the graphics but that's not what it was about - 2600 games were great for quick, addictive fun.
Now one game I would download on the VC is DragonStomper. It came out on the SuperCharger and is virtually the only RPG for the system.
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6-22-2007 @ 1:48PM
vidGuy said...
"Not having played a game is a GREAT reason to buy it. Better than nostalgia."
See, I'd disagree with that. I've downloaded several VC games that I loved as a kid and I love them now (didn't we have a thread here about that not long ago?). I think there's your nostalgia factor. I struggle to enjoy old games I never played, even though they may have been highly rated/very popular in their time. Chalk it up to the more immersive, detailed games of our time, but things don't seem to have the same wow when they are 10+ years old and NEW to you.
The one exception to this for me was LoZ: LttP, which I never played as a kid but love now. Of course, maybe that's because I loved OoT and TP, which are both so derivative of LttP it's crazy.
Anyway, cool post. I'm interested in how 8bit Journey sounded! ;)
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6-22-2007 @ 1:51PM
vidGuy said...
Dam, I read that as "Better the nostalgia." Ok, I getcha, but I'm only going to buy games that aren't IMPOSSIBLE - I'm looking at you, Kid Icarus!
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6-22-2007 @ 11:33PM
Sir Loin said...
Right on, Neal...still have my original 2600 (which works) and dozens of cartridges, including the Journey one--pretty cool we're still playing it all these years later, huh?
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7-03-2007 @ 12:30PM
Zack W. said...
Giggady giggady giggady goo!!!!!
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