Issue 51: Jan 2005
Features
- | Foreword
- | Tip of the day
- | Am I The Last One?
- | Atari Font
- | Roger's Code Workshop: Part 1
Reviews
- | Ausbruch
- | Zview
M@ilbox
| Atari Font ...continued Upper and lower case There is actually a lower case set in the real Atari font, it's rarely used, mainly because it looks dated and doesn't suit the headline style for which the upper case version is often employed. You'll see plenty of it or something that looks like it on VCS games. Here's a photo (courtesy of Atari Historical Society) showing a 2600 box using both upper and lower case. SF Atarian is one of those fonts that simply has a scaled down version of the upper case acting as lower case, check the letter "E" here: Something like this can be seen on this can of preserved vegetables (no, I don't like this stuff, but I didn't have my camera with me at the time so bought it to photograph later...). Everything else here is correct, though I think the enlarged letters at the start and end are more for stylistic reasons than to indicate case. Where can I find Atari style fonts? There is the SF Atarian already discussed at length so far, available for free download at numerous on-line font sites. A more accurate one I've found is Hammer Fat from AtariAge's web site. As you can see from the sample below, it includes true lower case. The only glaring anomaly I've noticed immediately is the letter "A", where the two long slanted strokes are not equal in thickness all the way. This leads to the centre triangle being stretched upwards, and the upper half of the letter looking incorrect. On the correct Atari version, the inside of the two long strokes would follow the green lines indicated: A loosely related font also found at AtariAge is Mumbo SSK Bold, a clone of Bauhaus, used on many early VCS game labels and boxes, and if you look closely you can see the origin of the circular Atari "G" we looked at earlier. Miscellaneous sightings Now we've looked at the details, let's look what's out there in the real world. All around, there are variants of the Atari font. Here are some examples we've seen.
Shop sign: Atari-authentic in all respects except the "R".
This is from a web site. I saw one of the company's vans while out one day but was also driving myself so couldn't take a photograph anyway. It would appear that the Falcon's rounded ends of several letters like the "L" and "N" are styled for the Falcon logo alone.
Electric fan heater circa 1982. Non-Atari "R".
Besides being unusual in having its lid on the bottom, this can of tuna has a chunky, tasty Atari "A" and Atari ST style diagonal lines.
Randomly culled from the internet: I believe this to be non-genuine. The Atari logo is right but the text below it uses the wrong font and the entire graphic is otherwise too clean to have been scanned, and the internet didn't exist in the form we know it for the image to have been captured from an Atari web site. Wrong era.
The popular printed magazine Retro Gamer uses what I think is the SF Atarian font on its cover for its logo and headings - it shows all of the traits described earlier. Perhaps it wasn't meant to look like the Atari font but I doubt it was co-incidence - note the stylized CX40 joystick that also appears on every cover.
Atari's global web site from two years ago, when I wrote about the Atari Fuji logo. That looks to me like SF Atarian in the headings!
Hey, what's that...
U-turn and go back up the other side... Fiddlesticks! How do you use this camera...
I'm almost certain there is a brand of instant noodle that uses the Atari font in its name but I can't remember the name or find it in any shops yet. Hopefully you are now well-versed in the subtleties of the Atari font and its variations, so send us photos of good examples you see! shiuming@myatari.net
Useful links
AtariAge - excellent Atari resource http://www.atariage.com Bauhaus-style font guide http://bowfinprintworks.com/BauhausFaces.html Servernside - learn about waste management http://www.severnside.com Suna Communication - for data and telecoms cabling http://www.suna.co.uk
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MyAtari magazine - Feature #4, January 2005
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