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Racing the Beam: How Atari 2600 Games Were Drawn

The film's page has its chapters, every source, the code and the full transcript: Racing the Beam: How Atari 2600 Games Were Drawn.

Sources and credits for the film. Every fact in the narration is tied to a quotation from a captured source; every image, clip and piece of music is listed with its licence and where it came from. Archive images and footage are public domain, openly licensed or used for commentary, criticism and historical analysis. Maps, charts and diagrams were made for this film from the cited sources.

Images and footage (51)

  • Page of Activision's 1981 Video Game Cartridge Catalog (AG-940-05, (c) 1981 Activision): 'THE WORLD'S LEADING DESIGNERS OF VIDEO GAMES.' with four black-and-white portrait photos and captions: ALAN MILLER (in suit and tie; designer of Checkers and Tennis), DAVID CRANE (Dragster, Fishing Derby, Laser Blast, Freeway), LARRY KAPLAN (Bridge, Kaboom!), BOB WHITEHEAD (Boxing, Skiing). Scan 600 px wide.
    Activision Video Game Cartridge Catalog (1981); scan via AtariAge. Fair-use candidate (copyright Activision). Source
  • PROVISIONAL (check shots): Activision's 1982 US TV commercial for Pitfall! (Internet Archive copy).
    Activision TV commercial for Pitfall! (1982); copy via Internet Archive. unknown. Source
  • PROVISIONAL (check shots): Atari's British TV commercial for the Video Computer System, 1981 (Internet Archive copy).
    Atari TV commercial (UK, 1981); copy via Internet Archive. unknown. Source
  • Pitfall!'s first screen (the original cartridge, NTSC) drawn in slow motion as the game drew one frame: the picture fills in behind the beam; the bar below shows the current line's 228 colour clocks with each write to the TIA marked where it took effect (line 59: HMOVE, PF1, COLUPF, GRP0, GRP1, NUSIZ0, PF0, PF2, NUSIZ1, HMBL); counters of the writes on this line and since the picture began (1047 by the last drawn line; the whole frame, with its blanking lines, makes 1081); the solid black bar down the left edge, where HMOVE on every line lengthens the blank by 8 colour clocks
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • A frame of the slowed Pitfall! drawing: the score and the top of the jungle drawn, the solid black bar down the left edge, and the bar below with the current line's TIA writes marked
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Argos catalogue (UK), Spring/Summer 1981, pages 218-219 'T.V. Games', full scan: a large photo of a woodgrain six-switch Atari VCS with joysticks and paddles under the heading 'VIDEO COMPUTER TV GAME'; item 8 'Atari Video Computer System. The use of microprocessor circuitry allows many varied and complex games to be played. You can even challenge the computer (it usually wins!)', 'Our Price £99.99', cartridges from £15.49 (Space Invaders £27.99); 'ATARI Great ideas from Ingersoll'; Binatone, Ingersoll and Grandstand Pong-type TV games on the facing page.
    Argos catalogue, Spring/Summer 1981 (Argos Distributors Ltd); scan via Internet Archive. Fair-use candidate (copyright Argos Distributors Ltd). Source
  • Argos catalogue (UK), Autumn/Winter 1982-83, pages 242-243, full scan: 'The ATARI Video Computer System With Free Combat Game Cartridge', a woodgrain six-switch VCS with two joysticks and a pair of paddles, 'Our Price £89.99', Cat. No. 530/0839; Atari cartridges (Asteroids, Missile Command, Space Invaders, 'PAC-MAN IS HERE!', Super Breakout, Yars' Revenge, Defender, Air/Sea Battle) with screen pictures; a banner 'ACTIVISION Cartridges also for use with your ATARI system' over Tennis, Freeway and Stampede; Binatone and Grandstand TV games below.
    Argos catalogue, Autumn/Winter 1982-83 (Argos Distributors Ltd); scan via Internet Archive. Fair-use candidate (copyright Argos Distributors Ltd). Source
  • The main board of a six-switch Atari VCS, flat from above on white, out of its RF shield (Evan-Amos, 2019). Legible at full resolution: A200 MOS C010745 1581 (the 6507 processor), A202 Synertek S 8113 C010750-03 (the 6532 RIOT: RAM, I/O, timer), A201 AMI 8111NQ C010444D-01 C04075 KOREA (the TIA), a National CD4050BCN buffer, the crystal X200 and the CLR DLY ADJ colour pot at top left, the black cartridge connector on the right with '(c) 1977' silkscreen beside it, joystick ports J202 and J203 at the right edge, and the wire harness to the switch board. The three large chips sit in sockets; their date codes are 1981. The board's part number is not legible in this view. No part looks modified or newer than the board.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • A demonstration cathode ray tube (Braun tube) seen face-on: the single bright spot where the electron beam strikes the screen moves as a magnet is brought near (Ecole Science experiment).
    Ecole Science (YouTube), CC0. CC BY 3.0 (YouTube Creative Commons). Source
  • A used Pitfall! cartridge for the Atari 2600, label side, photographed on a light background (JoRgE-1987, 2022): the green Activision label 'PITFALL! (Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure)', 'Conceived and designed by David Crane', 'For use with the Atari Video Computer System', with the TV-screen picture of Harry in the jungle. Scuffed label.
    JoRgE-1987, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (label artwork Activision). CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
  • Handheld macro video of a colour CRT screen showing an unidentified computer image: the shadow-mask dot pattern and phosphor glow are visible (Grumbel).
    Grumbel (YouTube), CC BY 3.0. CC BY 3.0 (YouTube Creative Commons). Source
  • The standard Atari CX40 joystick: black square base with orange-red fire button top left and the eight-direction markings around the stick, three-quarter view on white. Studio photograph by Evan-Amos, 2010.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • Page 1 of the MCS6532 (Memory, I/O, Timer Array) data sheet, MOS Technology / Commodore Semiconductor Group, February 1977: 'The MCS6532 is designed to operate in conjunction with the MCS650X Microprocessor Family. It is comprised of a 128 x 8 static RAM, two software controlled 8 bit bi-directional data ports...', the feature list, the 40-pin designation and the package outline.
    MOS Technology / Commodore Semiconductor Group, MCS6532 data sheet (1977); scan via 6502.org. Public domain (published February 1977 without a copyright notice; no notice found on any of its 8 pages). Source
  • David Crane, designer of Pitfall!, head and shoulders in a checked shirt, October 2013 (photo Jason Scott).
    Jason Scott, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0. Source
  • David Crane at the first VCF LATAM (Vintage Computer Festival Latin America), April 2026, standing among visitors and exhibit tables (portrait-format photo).
    Vladimirvlek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
  • Die photograph of a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, revision A (Pauli Rautakorpi, 2016): the whole silicon die with its bond pads. It is a 6502, the processor family of the 2600's 6507; it is not the 6507 itself.
    Pauli Rautakorpi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. CC BY 3.0. Source
  • Our program drawing 2600 in slow motion: the picture fills in behind the beam; a bar below shows the current line's 228 colour clocks (horizontal blank, then 160 visible), the processor's instructions along it where they ran and the six playfield writes (PF0, PF1, PF2 twice) marked where they took effect, the wait after WSYNC hatched; on the right the program's source with the running instruction lit, the line and cycle counted
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program drawing its left-half-only picture, which comes out as 2626, quickly: the picture fills in behind the beam, the bar below showing the line's three playfield writes (PF0, PF1, PF2) all made before the visible line begins, and nothing written on the right; the program's source on the right
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program changing the background from black to yellow after a wait that grows by one cycle about every six lines, in slow motion: the picture fills in behind the beam, leaving a staircase diagonal edge; the bar below shows the current line with the processor's instructions along it (a run of short compare instructions as the wait, labelled 'waiting' beside the source) and the two background-colour writes (COLUBK) marked where they took effect, the yellow edge appearing exactly there; on the right the program's source, the running instruction lit; line 121 slowed right down
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program placing a white ball sprite by timing, in slow motion: on a band's first line the processor counts round a five-cycle loop (DEX, BPL) and then strobes RESP0, marked on the line where it took effect; the ball appears on the lines below from that position, each band one turn later and 15 pixels further right; the program's source on the right, the running instruction lit
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program writing all six playfield registers on every line, three of them mid-line: the digits read 2600 across the whole width
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program writing only the left half's three playfield registers: the right half repeats them, so the digits read 2626
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program changing the background from black to yellow after a wait that grows by one processor cycle about every six lines, from 0 to 32 cycles down the screen: the edge steps right three pixels per cycle, a staircase diagonal
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program writing the background colour once at the start of every line: down the 192 lines the colour changes every second line (the colour register ignores its lowest bit), 97 colours in bands of hue from green to grey
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program placing a white ball sprite by timing: twelve bands, each strobing the position register one more turn of a five-cycle loop later, so the ball steps 15 pixels right per band (the first three at the left edge, strobed during the horizontal blank)
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program's playfield written once, before the picture starts: yellow and blue vertical stripes, every one of the 192 lines the same
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • Our program's picture of a television set (antennas, cabinet, screen, feet) in white on blue, drawn by rewriting the reflected playfield every eight lines
    Retro Computer TV. Own work.
  • An Atari 2600 paddle controller: a large black dial on a wedge-shaped base with a red fire button and the 'paddle' tennis-racket decal, three-quarter view on white. Studio photograph by Evan-Amos, 2014.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • US Patent 4,112,422 (Mayer and Milner, Atari), Sheet 2 of 2. FIG. 2: '8 BIT HORIZ. MEMORY' (cells 1 to 8 across) and a car shape built from line pairs, each pair marked ORIGINAL and REPEAT, against vertical scan lines '(10 of 240)'. FIG. 3: the line counter (vertical sync generator) and the RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY OF MICROPROCESSOR holding vertical positions for car #1 and #2 and two non-graphics objects, '2^7 = 128 (for 120 line pairs)', a vertical delay bit for the B latch, and an output table of graphics data (top line car #1, top line car #2, 2nd line car #1...).
    US Patent 4,112,422 (USPTO; Google Patents). unknown. Source
  • Pitfall!'s first screen as the game starts (the original cartridge, NTSC): score 2000, timer 20:00, three tally marks for Harry's spare lives, Harry at the left, a hole with a ladder down to the tunnel, a rolling log, and below, the tunnel with a brick wall
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Pitfall!'s 255 jungle screens one after another, in the order Harry meets them running right from the start, each as the game drew it, beside its number (SCREEN 1 OF 255, the byte in hex and binary: , then , , ...); a second each for the first four, then faster, down to a frame each; the last held
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Pitfall!'s first screen beside its number: SCREEN 1 OF 255, , 11000100
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Pitfall!'s 255th screen beside its number: SCREEN 255 OF 255, , 11100010; the next screen is the first again
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Pitfall!'s eight grounds, one real screen of each from the original cartridge, labelled with the three bits of the screen's number that choose it: 000 one hole, 001 three holes, 010 tar pit with a vine, 011 water with a vine, 100 crocodiles, 101 pit and treasure, 110 shifting tar pit, 111 shifting quicksand (the last two caught open)
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Page 3 of the Atari 2600 Pitfall! manual (Activision, 1982): 'SPECIAL FEATURES OF PITFALL! BY ACTIVISION: There are 255 jungle scenes through which Harry can travel. Each scene covered underground is equivalent to three on the surface. Pitfall! is a circular maze, which means that, if Harry safely goes through all 255 different scenes, he will come back to the starting point. In the course of that journey, Harry will also encounter all 32 treasures.', then 'THE HAZARDS OF PITFALL!' and a labelled composite screen (Score, Time, Vine, Replacement Harrys, Pitfall Harry, Gold Bar, Cobra Rattler, Brick Wall, Ladder, Underground Passage, Scorpion, Crocodiles). Scan 600 px wide.
    Pitfall! instructions (Activision, 1982); scan via AtariAge. Fair-use candidate (copyright Activision). Source
  • Cover of the Atari 2600 Pitfall! instruction manual (Activision, 1982, AX-018-03): 'ACTIVISION PITFALL! INSTRUCTIONS', the box artwork of Pitfall Harry swinging on a vine over a crocodile pond, with a scorpion in the tunnel below, and the opening paragraph 'Picture this! You are deep in the recesses of a forbidden jungle...'. Scan 600 px wide.
    Pitfall! instructions (Activision, 1982); scan via AtariAge. Fair-use candidate (copyright Activision). Source
  • Page 5 of the Atari 2600 Pitfall! manual (Activision, 1982): 'HOW TO SEEK YOUR FORTUNE WITH PITFALL HARRY. Tips from David Crane, designer of Pitfall!', with a black-and-white portrait photo of a young David Crane, 'David Crane is a Senior Designer at Activision. He also designed Dragster, Fishing Derby, Laser Blast, Freeway and Grand Prix', his tips in quotes, and his signature. Scan 600 px wide.
    Pitfall! instructions (Activision, 1982); scan via AtariAge. Fair-use candidate (copyright Activision). Source
  • Every one of Pitfall!'s 255 jungle screens (the original cartridge), each as the game drew it, in the order Harry meets them running right from the start, 17 across and 15 down; the score and timer cropped off; Harry at the left edge of each, just arrived
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Pitfall! (Activision, 1982), the original cartridge (AX-018), NTSC, with its sound: the game's first screen (score 2000, timer 20:00); Harry runs right, jumps the hole with its ladder, is knocked by the rolling log (the score falls to 1874) and runs on to the second screen, which has three holes
    Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane). Fair dealing (criticism, review, quotation): Pitfall! (Activision, 1982, David Crane); recorded by Retro Computer TV.
  • Moving close shot across the top of a woodgrain four-switch Atari 2600: the VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM label, cartridge slot and switches, the ribbed top; a console restored by Retro Rivals (2022).
    Retro Rivals (YouTube), CC BY 3.0. CC BY 3.0 (YouTube Creative Commons). Source
  • Page 3 of the Stella Programmer's Guide (1988 Darryl May edition of Steve Wright's 1979 guide), turned upright: 'TV FRAME, DIAGRAM #1': the frame's 262 scan lines (3 vertical sync, 37 vertical blank, 192 actual TV picture, 30 overscan) along one side, its 228 clock counts (68 horizontal blank, 160 picture) along the other, and '76 MACHINE CYCLES, 3 CLOCK COUNTS PER MACHINE CYCLE'
    Steve Wright / Atari, Stella Programmer's Guide (1979, 1988 edition); Internet Archive. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ | Sexual Content Hate Speech Misinformation/Disinformation Marketing/Phishing/Advertising Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata texts Stella (Atari 2600) Programming Guide Publication date 1988 Usage Public Domain Mark 1.. Source
  • Page 4 of the Stella Programmer's Guide (Steve Wright 1979, typed 1988 Darryl May edition): 'The actual TV picture is drawn one line at time by having the microprocessor enter the data for that line into the Television Interface Adapter (TIA) chip, which then converts the data into video signals. The TIA can only have data in it that pertains to the line being currently drawn, so the microprocessor must be "one step ahead" of the electron beam on each line. Since one microprocessor machine cycle occurs every 3 clock counts, the programmer has only 76 machine cycles per line (228 / 3 =76)...' and the 'Kernel'; then 'the remaining 70 scan lines (3 for VSYNC, 37 for VBLANK, and 30 for overscan) will provide 5320 machine cycles... for housekeeping and game logic.'
    Steve Wright / Atari, Stella Programmer's Guide (1979, 1988 edition); Internet Archive. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ | Sexual Content Hate Speech Misinformation/Disinformation Marketing/Phishing/Advertising Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata texts Stella (Atari 2600) Programming Guide Publication date 1988 Usage Public Domain Mark 1.. Source
  • The 1975 Atari VCS development prototype at the Computer History Museum (2011), side view through the display glass: the circuit cards standing in their frame on the metal base, ribbon cables, switches on the panel, the museum's caption board behind.
    Chris Platsikoudis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source
  • The 1975 Atari VCS prototype in its Computer History Museum case (2008), portrait view with the museum's 'Atari 2600 Prototype' label panel above it; the photographer calls it 'the original Stella prototype'.
    csixty4, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0. Source
  • The 1975 Atari VCS development prototype built by Steve Mayer and Ron Milner, on display in a glass case at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View (2008): a metal box with plug-in circuit cards standing on top joined by ribbon cables, a museum label in front.
    Pargon, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0. Source
  • An Atari 2600 Jr (the smaller, cheaper redesign of the mid-1980s with a rainbow stripe and ATARI 2600 badge), front-left three-quarter view on white. Studio photograph by Evan-Amos, 2014.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • An original six-switch Atari CX2600 'Heavy Sixer' (the first, 1977 production version of the Video Computer System, per the photographer's title) on a plain white background, front-left three-quarter view: the six silver lever switches across the top panel (power, tv type, left difficulty, right difficulty, game select, game reset), the 'video computer system' label beside the cartridge slot, the woodgrain front with the Atari logo, and the thick moulded base (Dphirschler, 2018). No modification visible.
    Dphirschler, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
  • An Atari Video Computer System six-switch woodgrain console, the 'Light Sixer' (second six-switch version, per the photographer), front-left three-quarter view on white: six switches across the top panel, cartridge slot in the centre, woodgrain front with the Atari logo. Studio photograph by Evan-Amos, 2014.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • A woodgrain six-switch Atari VCS with a Jr. Pac-Man cartridge inserted and a joystick, on a white table below a Sony CRT TV showing the game's maze, at the Festival du jeu video, Paris, September 2008.
    Georges Seguin (Okki), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source
  • A six-switch Atari VCS with its top shell removed (Evan-Amos, 2019), three-quarter view on white: the tan upper switch board with six switch shafts, the cast-metal RF shield box (with the cartridge opening on top) that encloses the main board, the RF modulator box at the front right, a voltage regulator under a foil heatsink, and the colour wire harness, all in the black lower case. The chips themselves are hidden inside the shield.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source
  • An Atari 2600 four-switch woodgrain console (the 1980-82 'Woody' model, labelled VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM) with a standard CX40 joystick plugged in, front-left three-quarter view on a plain white background. Studio photograph by Evan-Amos, 2011.
    Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source

Music (8)

  • "Brain Dance" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Chill Wave" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Deliberate Thought" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Funky Chunk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Hypnothis" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source
  • "RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. CC BY 4.0. Source

Sources (58)