Atari A to Z: Jawbreaker

Pac-Man didn’t make it to Atari 8-bit computers until 1982, but that doesn’t mean that people were short of some dot-eating maze-based funtimes until then.

Nope; we had John Harris’ Jawbreaker, an excellent Pac-Man clone that was extremely well-received at the time of its 1981 release — and which was so uncomfortably close to Pac-Man that Atari ended up suing publisher On-Line Systems.

Atari’s suit was ultimately unsuccessful, but Harris chose to play it safe and follow up the original Jawbreaker with a successor that was less obviously based on the Namco classic. But that’s a story for another day!

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One thought on “Atari A to Z: Jawbreaker”

  1. It was great seeing Jawbreaker again and how well it holds up. I remember being one of those who’d laugh at the teeth falling out though as i get older I think that’s changed! 🙂

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