Stunt Cycle

Sometime in 1980 Atari decided that Stunt Cycle would make a great 2600 game, so Bob Polaro was tapped to do the conversion. Using the paddle controllers to simulate the original consoles bike grips, Bob made a near perfect port of the standalone console. One change that was made to the game was the addition of color. Since the original coin-op and home console were from 1976, the graphics were in Black and White which was standard at the time. However Atari 2600 games had to have the option of color or B&W, some color was added to the game (although not much) to spruce it up. After a few months of programming, Stunt Cycle was finished and ready to go.

It was around this time that marketing had a 'brilliant' idea; why not make Stunt Cycle into a Dukes of Hazzard game? So Bob went back to work retooling the graphics to fit the new Dukes of Hazzard theme. The cycle was changed into the General Lee, while the row of cars was changed into a lake. The colors were brightened up a little and some Dukes of Hazzard theme music was also added to the game to complete the illusion. So after a few more months of tinkering, the new Dukes of Hazzard version of Stunt Cycle was good to go. However by this point (late 1980/early 1981) the game was starting to look a bit dated so management decided that a completely new version would be better. So programmer Mark Hahn of the Atari NY field office was tapped to do a new Dukes of Hazzard game from scratch which was also never released.

So after a few more months of tinkering, the new Dukes of Hazzard version of Stunt Cycle was good to go, but there was a problem. Clever playtesters soon realized that you could change the speed on the car in mid-air! This means you could go full blast at the ramp and then slow down suddenly after you've made the jump, but before you've landed. This basically took the challenge out of the whole game, making it fairly boring. After Dukes of Hazzard was shelved, programmer Mark Hahn was then tapped to do a totally new Dukes of Hazzard game from scratch (which was never released either).

Only one TIA sound register is used in the game. There are three types of sounds, acceleration, wipeout, and a ding ding ding when you successfully make a jump. Each sound cancels out the other.