And now, Archie playing Pong against Moose on a dedicated console.

filed under Categories archie, video games 10 Comments


from Archie #278 (March 1979)


Yes, you read that date right, “1979,” and consoles with swappable game cartridges, like the Atari 2600, had already been around for two or three years. The console pictured appears marginally like the 2600 (or “VCS,” if you prefer), with the raised back portion and its switches. The embedded knob controllers installed in the front of the console share more with the earlier home video game units, however.

10 thoughts on “And now, Archie playing Pong against Moose on a dedicated console.”

  2. Sadly, it’s not the introduction of Megatak from Thor #328 (1983), featuring the villain being given the power to shoot Pac Mans (Pac Men?) thanks to an arcade game malfunction.

  4. X-Men no. 123, July 1979, with the villain Arcade, is listed as an early example, where the X-Men must face a series of video game-themed obstacles to survive–but Archie no. 278 has that beat by a few months.

    The Atari Force 5 issue mini-comic promotional comics from 1982-’83 would be an early example of video games cross marketing into comics.

    Blue Ribbon Comics no. 11, August 1984, has a cover which shows The Black Hood stuck inside a “Galactic Invaders” video game. The story, “The Billion Dollar Rip Off,” written by Rich Buckler, Stan Timmons, with art by Dick Ayers and Chic Stone, is about a prominent video game designer who suddenly commits suicide, while the Black Hood suspects he was murdered.

    But the big question is–what happened to Archie after he defeated Moose while playing Pong?

  5. Not exactly comics, but Videoman debuted in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in Oct. 1981.

    Anybody else remember Videoman? I thought he was the coolest thing when I was eight.

  7. Flash #304, published in autumn 1981, had the Flash sucked into a malevolent videogame (anticipating the plot of ‘Tron’ the following year).

  9. Archie, ever eager to jump on new trends, probably did a video game appearance earlier than this. I remember a digest reprint where Betty and Veronica were sore the boys were spending all their time playing “that electronic tennis game” at Pop’s instead of dating them.

Comments are closed.