GAMES

Five years after Michael Myers exploded onto the silver screen in John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 slasher Halloween, the character found himself exploring for the first time an entirely different medium: home video games. But how did he fair in 1983, a year in which the home video game space was dominated by such child friendly releases as Crystal Castles and Dig Dug?

Decades before the online multi-player Dead by Daylight allowed PS4 players to walk in the digital shoes of Haddonfield residents beset by The Boogeyman, Wizard Video Games employee Tim Martin took a stab at the intellectual property by programming the first Halloween game, a cartridge for the early home gaming console Atari 2600. Developed by Martin and Robert Barber, the game was released in October of 1983, and like Wizard’s other genre inspired cart release The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the title unfortunately received a rather tepid response from parents concerned over the title’s violent content.

While by today’s standards considered rather tame, the game’s central conceit (players attempt to rescue children while also attempting to avoid Myers’ slicing blade) didn’t sit quite well with retailers worried over potential parental backlash. This is perhaps rather unsurprising given that the 2600’s most popular games at the time were the fairly pedestrian shooters Combat and Space Invaders, neither of which featured a headless, blood-gushing babysitter as (the result of a Myers attack) or Halloween’s iconic central theme music and poster, all of which weren’t necessarily considered “acceptable” entertainment for children of the early 80’s, regardless of how primitive the gaming technology.

The result? Wizard Video’s Halloween game, which was manufactured in smaller quantities due to such, has become somewhat of a Holy Grail item for collectors, as carts now fetch prices in the in the hundreds of dollars depending on their condition.

Check out some Halloween gameplay from ’83 below, and let us know in the comments below, “What do you want out of a Halloween game release?”