Star Wars:The Arcade Game (ColecoVision, 1984) Game Cartridge – Early Concept & Film Screening Logo
Star Wars was an important movie for many reasons beyond the success it achieved as a motion picture. The Star Wars phenom had been born.
Not only did we see the almost immediate impact it would have on motion picture technology, or computer camera controlled stop motion animation, but it wrote the playbook on movie merchandising. Merchandising that included arcade games and home video games. Converting a state of the art Vector graphic arcade game into a home system was a challenge for all systems except for when it came to the ahead-of-its-time Coleco Vision. More on this later….
Had to pay for movie adaptation comic to be created
It’s hard to believe that a movie we have ‘only ever known to enjoy’ the runaway success it has now didn’t have that success so assured early on. That it really came down to one man, first LFL marketer Charles Lippincott – who barely managed to get a toy deal done with Kenner (after MEGO turned him down), and who had to pay (via Fox/Alan Lad Jr.) for the first 5 issues in order for Marvel to agree to draw and write the comic book series, and have the first issue ready before the movie would hit theaters in 1977.
By the time this video game was made by Parker Bros. for the Coleco Vision game console, Star Wars had become a movie merchandising juggernaut, and it was now time to not only refashion the same thrill late 70’s kids experienced through toys, comics and trading cards, but to open up their imagination by reinterpreting iconic ships like the X-Wing and TIE Fighters in pitched battle in a video game format to be played on on their own TV screens at home.
In 1984, Coleco Vision released this Star Wars arcade game.
And to anyone remembering the vibe and nostalgia of growing-up in those early days of video games and the arcade experience, it’s an image that’s been burned into your brain. However, what you might not realize is that this arcade conversion cartridge utilized a very early logo that was used on the first movie poster. It was part of early concepts logos that Ralph McQuarrie had come up with for use in the very early screenings of the movie. The cone-top of this original early Star Wars logo evokes the iconic opening crawl of the film, which was completely unknown to audiences in 1977. Don Perri, the person who came up with the conceptual design, was influenced by the 1939 film Union Pacific’s opening credits.
Label Variant
There are collectors of early arcade games, there are collectors of early Star Wars cartridges and video games, and then there are collectors who just buy any of the early logos used on merchandise. Because of the label, this cart has great cross-collector appeal, and while I haven’t tested it for some time (used to play it with my oldest, who is now off to college), here is a screenshot I took when we played it on our home projector. I have decided to pass this beauty on and so it is for sale and I am happy to tell you more about this totally awesome cartridge.
For the Silo, Bounty Quicker.