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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.
![[Photo: 2600]](images/2600.jpg)
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:
![[Image: Case]](images/sf02.gif)
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.
![[Photo: Mustard and leaf]](images/font07.jpg)
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.
![[Image: HammerFat TrueType font]](images/ttf01.gif)
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:
![[Image: Hammer Fat "A"]](images/font18.gif)
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.
![[Image: MumboSSK Bold TrueType font]](images/ttf02.gif)
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.
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![[Photo: Microbore]](images/font08.jpg)
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Shop
sign: Atari-authentic in all
respects except the "R".
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![[Image: Suna Communication]](images/font10.gif)
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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.
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![[Image: Fan heater]](images/font11.jpg)
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Electric
fan heater circa 1982. Non-Atari
"R".
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![[Image: Hot pepper tuna]](images/font12.jpg)
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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.
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![[Image: Atari games]](images/font13.gif)
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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.
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![[Image: Retro Gamer]](images/font14.jpg)
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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.
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![[Image: Atari web site]](images/font17.gif)
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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!
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![[Image: Esclator at London Underground Leicester Square Piccadilly Line]](images/font19.jpg)
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Hey,
what's that...
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![[Image: Free pregnancy test]](images/font20.jpg)
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U-turn
and go back up the other side...
Fiddlesticks! How do you use
this camera...
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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
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