Atari Chainsaw Massacre

Produced by Wizard games in 1983 for the Atari 2600 game system (Wizard Video acquired the rights to Texas Chainsaw Massacre for $200,000 in 1982, which was at the time the highest price ever paid for an independent film, according to Wizard president Charles Band), but did you know that this wasn't Wizard's first idea for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre themed game? A prototype has recently surfaced containing a totally different design for the game. Apparently Wizard went with THIS idea over the other because it was more violent, and after all that's what the kids wanted. As the story goes, many retailers refused to stock this game, believing that a game so inherently amoral (the whole point of the game is to run around and kill teenagers??? *gasp*!) would've done more to alienate their customers than spark sales. Video game violence is pretty much a given these days, but certainly it was a more risque gimmick back then. Of the few stores who would/did carry it, TCM was usually kept off the shelves and in the stockroom on a request-only basis, so even if you wanted to play the game you had to know about it long before it landed at the stores. Very few copies were actually sold, and the lucky carts that've survived until now are rarities costing as much as $300(!!!) for still-boxed editions.
You play as Leatherface himself, wearing a pastel aqua colored jumpsuit and carrying around a similar colored chainsaw that looks somewhat phallic. The character looks nothing like the real deal, but they did what they could- this WAS Atari back in the early 80's folks. You run around, avoiding obstacles, trying to hit the same teenagers over and over again with something that almost vaguely resembles a chainsaw. You're given nothing for this but bonus points- for each victim you catch, you will receive 1,000 points- there's no "upper levels," no reward scenes, nothing. Amazingly, in a game where you're playing this iconic murdering monster, your goal is limited simply to survival. Killing the teens racks up points, and with enough of those, your gas tank is refueled. Leatherface loses one of his three lives anytime the tank hits "empty." Wheelchairs, cow skulls, fences and bushes halt your advances, and once Leatherface hits one of these things, he's stuck there until he chainsaws his way through it. And when Leatherface successfully catches a victim -- they sort of just shake, mildly, before turning different colors and vanishing. When you run out of fuel, one of the teens smell opportunity, sneaks up behind Leatherface, and wallops him with a kick to the ass. You can play the most brilliant, skilled game of TCM imaginable, and yet, you still can't avoid this dreaded booty-bump.