The History of Indiana Jones Video Games

ign.com:

If you go by last year’s finalists for Best Independent Game at The Game Awards, there are indie games, and there are “indie” games. That is, there are independent games financed and made by individuals or teams free from the influence of a major publisher, and there are “independent” games that are… actually owned by billion-dollar South Korean corporations.

But if you’re not interested in the debate about what can be named an indie game and what can’t, there is a third type of Indy game, and they are named after a dog.

After well over 10 years since his last dedicated digital adventure, Indiana Jones is returning to video games in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is arriving imminently on PC, Xbox, and Game Pass.

But how did we get here? Well, Indiana Jones games may have otherwise dried up over the past decade-and-change, but before that, the good Doctor Jones’ video game history dates back over 40 years. So kick back as we dust off some antique hardware and whip through the history of Indiana Jones games.

First created by George Lucas back in the early ’70s, Indiana Jones – originally conceived as Indiana Smith – was heavily inspired by the adventure serials of Lucas’ youth, and the character’s trademark look took a heavy dose of inspiration from the likes of Alan Ladd in the 1943 film China, Humphrey Bogart in 1948’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas from 1954.

After a surname shift, Indiana Jones was brought to life by Harrison Ford on the big screen in one of the most magnificent action adventure movies ever made: 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. As you almost certainly already know, Raiders of the Lost Ark was followed by two absolutely outstanding films and two… other films.

What you may not know, however, is where Indiana Jones made his very first appearance on the small screen. The answer is Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600. It was created by legendary Atari game designer Howard Scott Warshaw, the man