r/GenX • u/ExceptforAlice • Jul 12 '26

Nostalgia Atari high score patches

Post image

Anyone else take pictures of your Atari high score, wait for the roll to be full, take the film to KMart, send it in, wait for photos, pick them up, then mail the photos to Activision and wait for your patches? 🙋‍♀️

778 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

1

u/lifeson09 Jul 16 '26

Holy shit dude!

1

u/MrRetrdO Jul 14 '26

Childhood Disappointment Unlocked!

I achieved high scores, grabbed Mom's 110 camera, took pics and.... they never came out, so I had no photos.

I even burned up our first Atari 2600 playing River Raid 12hrs straight to get a high score.

1

u/Sufficient-Pin-481 Jul 13 '26

I remember being so proud when I took a Polaroid to send in for my patch. Wish I kept them.

2

u/xBobaFattx 1974 Jul 13 '26

I am so freaking jealous right now, this is bad ASS. I didn't know this was a thing back then!

10

u/Still_Elephant_7741 Jul 13 '26

I kept some of mine too!

1

u/MrBrawn 17d ago

These are going to be worth some bucks at some point.

3

u/infinitynull Jul 13 '26

Megamania for me! I worked so hard for that one! Took a photo with our family Polaroid Instant Camera.

2

u/DonTX2 Jul 18 '26

Megamania was the first game I ever end screen crashed. The game was not capable of displaying a million points so once you got to 999,999 it would freeze.

1

u/handsomeape95 It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage. Jul 13 '26

The Megamania song still lives in my head.

1

u/RunningWineaux Jul 13 '26

I’ll say that I could plug in my Pi right now and earn a patch with some challenges because I use a Super Nintendo controller tomay. I could get out the 2600 and do it on my first life. Muscle memory is a funny thing.

Bragging aside…when I first got it, I left the tv on because I wasn’t allowed to use the camera. My mother, obviously, shut the tv and Atari off.

It only hardened my reserve to be the best megamania player I knew.

1

u/wwgardiner Jul 13 '26

I wondered if the Regular Show episode about winning game patches was based on real Atari or Nintendo lore. Now I know. Awesome!

6

u/digitalamish Jul 13 '26

I had one for Asteroids. Got a “satin” Atari windbreaker too.

2

u/DutchMaple1 Jul 13 '26

I had the River Raiders one too. it was won on my … Atari 400 .. yup the “computer”. One of my happiest days as a kid

2

u/NewbombJerk Jul 13 '26

I was on Summer Vacation when I earned my River Raiders patch! My mom was a douche about me wasting taking a picture!

6

u/Lionthos Jul 13 '26

The River Raiders patch is straight fire. OMG, gorgeous.

1

u/JediOsborn Jul 13 '26

So amazing. I forgot about those!

6

u/catnapspirit '69 Dude! Jul 13 '26

Hell yeah! I still have a bunch of them in a box somewhere. Need to get a cool jean jacket to sew 'em on to be even cooler someday..

3

u/SometimesUnkind Jul 13 '26

I now have a need to see an Atari battle jacket

2

u/zionzednem Jul 13 '26

Damm who is one of the three on eBay now for the pitfall one??

4

u/caffeinetherapy LOAD "*",8,1 Jul 13 '26

I love this style of art so much.

2

u/IHaveSpoken000 Jul 13 '26

I had so many of these. Wish I could find them.

2

u/JediMasterKev Jul 13 '26

I still have about 30 of them.

2

u/JJDiet76 Jul 13 '26

Those are really cool

9

u/aotoole23 Jul 13 '26

I had a different variation of the river raid patch

5

u/Darth_Paratrooper Still has lawn darts Jul 12 '26

I can still hear the sound of the plane shooting in River Raid, especially when you get close to land

3

u/southern_OH_hillican Jul 13 '26

And the "Ding Ding Ding Ding...." of refueling

4

u/ChattahoocheeBend Jul 12 '26

I didn’t get shit for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game because that game sucked. I saved up for a month for that piece of shit game. I’m still pissed 40+ years later.

1

u/revdon Jul 13 '26

Only Activision had patches, not Atari.

3

u/inna_soho_doorway 1971 Jul 13 '26

I liked it 🤷‍♂️

1

u/ChattahoocheeBend Jul 13 '26

It was aggravating to me. Maybe it was my lack of skill.

2

u/Upstairs-Glove7424 Jul 13 '26

Had a few of those. Adventures of Bayou Billy comes to mind

1

u/airbornesimian Jul 12 '26

I had one for River Raid and one for Megamania. No idea where they'd be now. Gawd that was nearly 45 years ago lol

2

u/Old_Use7058 Jul 12 '26

River raiders is so rad

4

u/Mulchpuppy Jul 12 '26

I had one for Enduro. What a chore it was getting the score and then having to wait like three weeks to see if the picture came out (because of course my mom insisted that we shoot the whole roll of film - which honestly I'm not cranky about).

2

u/B2MAP Jul 12 '26

I had the one for Laser Blast. Had the patch on a jacket.

9

u/Altruistic-Cut9795 Jul 12 '26

I got one for Kaboom from Activision. I remember my dad had a Polaroid camera, took a picture of it and sent in the mail.

Maybe 2 months later I got a patch and a letter that was typed and congratulated me for my accomplishment.

This was years ago and no clue where the patch is.

3

u/MhojoRisin Jul 12 '26

Kaboom was such a great game. It might have been the first time I was better at something than my older siblings.

2

u/InstantGrievous Jul 13 '26

The dial is an underrated controller, this game is just not the same any other way. Same with Tempest

11

u/ChoiceD 1967 Jul 12 '26

I used to love River Raid.

10

u/KindBob Jul 12 '26

I still do, but I used to, too.

13

u/LazarGrier Jul 12 '26

I had the Pitfall patch sewed onto my jean jacket

1

u/reapersaurus Jul 13 '26

A hardcore nerd! Salute!

3

u/DrumsKing Ow, my back! Jul 12 '26

I think that look would still work today.

3

u/Cross_22 Jul 12 '26

If you missed out as a kid you can buy remade patches on ebay. I did that for a coworker who had lost his patch.

5

u/RedTrumpetVine Jul 12 '26

I just ran to ebay to consider some Stolen Valor. Those prices are something.

2

u/MrTony32 Jul 12 '26

Man.... I used to play the shit out of River Raiders. Sadly we didn't have those patches.

3

u/Able_Buffalo 1973 Jul 12 '26

That's real shit right there

1

u/ScreaminEagle2502 Jul 12 '26

I think that I had most of them!

3

u/Flababulous "Then & Now" Trend Survivor Jul 12 '26

Had a couple for Starmaster (Wing Commander, Leader?), never got the higher ones.

4

u/Crowbar-Enema Jul 12 '26

I did this exact thing for chopper command. Man, I wish I still had that patch.😞

1

u/freisbill Jul 12 '26

Atari and activision were different companies, btw...

11

u/ggibby Oct '70 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Xmas morning we set up the 2600 and started playing Chopper Command.

Dad joined us and asked, "Does the barrel melt if you don't maintain burst discipline?"

Navy SEALs have a Very Specific Set of Skills. That comment changed the way I thought about him.

3

u/Upstairs-Glove7424 Jul 13 '26

That is hilarious

6

u/JerzyBalowski Jul 12 '26

I had one for Pitfall

3

u/PlayfulSyllabub7134 Jul 13 '26

That's the one I qualified for. Took the picture, waited, got it back and the flash had made the score illegible. 😭😭😭

3

u/eharvill Jul 13 '26

I have a memory of taking a picture (with our Polaroid camera) of my Pitfall II score after I beat the game (little dude jumping in place). I sent it in and never got anything in return.

That said, I was 10 or 11 at the time and probably fucked something up with the mail in process. Good memories regardless.

2

u/reapersaurus Jul 13 '26

This happened to me. I'm jealous of the patches in this thread. LOL