Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
(800) 937-3880
SELL

Lot #5015
Apple II Cassette Tapes (2) - Breakout Arcade Game and High Resolution Graphics

This lot has closed

Estimate: $200+
Sell a Similar Item?
Share:  

Description

Two original cassette tapes produced for the Apple II computer: the arcade game “Breakout,” released in 1977 and developed by Steve Wozniak, P/N A2T0003X, with a 4K load, and the reverse side containing “Color Graphics,” with matching P/N and load, and both sides numbered 600-2014-00”; and a tape entitled “High Resolution Graphics (2 Program Load Machine and Basic),” numbered 600-2016-00, the right side marked “*C00.FFFR, >Load, >HIMEM: 8192, 16K,” and the reverse label plain. In overall fine, untested condition, with stains and wear to labels.

Designed by Steve Wozniak in October of 1975, the arcade game Breakout was released in Japan by Namco. In the game, a layer of bricks lined the top third of the screen, and the goal was to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them. Breakout was a worldwide commercial success, among the top five highest-grossing arcade video games of 1976 in both the United States and Japan and then among the top three highest-grossing arcade video games of 1977 in the U.S. and Japan.

Wozniak later claimed that Breakout directly influenced the design of the Apple II computer, saying ‘A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now.’ This included his design of color graphics circuitry, the addition of game paddle support and sound, and graphics commands in Integer BASIC. ‘Basically, all the game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with—Breakout—at the Homebrew Computer Club. It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout—totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world.’

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Apple, Jobs, and Computer Hardware
  • Dates: #673 - Ended August 24, 2023