Kabobber

Prototype ROM
Unreleased
Released by the Atari 2600 Nexus
Owner Unknown.

There are a couple of types of games in this world. There are those that are instant classics, the mediocre titles that can be liked by one person and completely hated by the next person, and then there are those games that just defy explanation. Kabobber falls into that third catagory. Honestly, this game reminds me of the days of sitting back in my dorm room in college, a joint in one hand, a beer in the other, and a group of friends sitting around the room just lauging our asses off - this game just simply defies all rational explanation, and it's quite fun for that fact alone!
Now, from an Atari 2600 Nexus contest, there is one person's interpretation of the game that was turned into an Activision-like manual available for download. If you want a more detailed description, you can scoot over to AtariAge and take a look. Gameplay is pretty simple - you start with five "Kabobbers" on the board. For every enemy "Kabobber" you catch, you get an extra "baby kabobber" in reserve. These can be placed on the board by pressing the fire button, up to a maximum of 9 "kabobbers" total. "Baby kabobbers" become adult by capturing an enemy. You can capture an enemy by hopping into him from the sides or back, except for the indestructable boot. The goal is to catch the pink "kabobber" before it reaches the rainbow at the end of the course.
This one's pretty good. It's a fast paced race to catch the pink version of yourself. Looking at some of the other game storylines of the day, it's damn near headache-inducing to think about what the story behind this game would have been had it been commercially released. Although the guy who made the manual for AtariAge is probably pretty close, it just seems much more drug-induced than having a rational explanation. Oh well, it's still a blast to play!

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