First videogame tie-in for a movie

Initially launched in December 1978, Superman for the Atari 2600 is the first time that a videogame was released to coincide with a movie, in this case John Donner's superhero classic of the same name (starring Christopher Reeve). However, unlike the 1982 action-adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark – the first videogame adaptation of a movie – this Superman game featured its own standalone storyline, written by programmer John Dunn (USA). Dunn told GWR: "I developed the story entirely on my own. I had no input from [film studio] Warner, and I didn't see the movie until it was released in December,1978. I saw it with friends at the local (Palo Alto, CA) movie theater".

The game also has the distinction of being the first official superhero videogame.

Atari’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982) was the first game to be directly adapted from a movie. It is also widely believed that Exidy’s 1976 coin-op Death Race was inspired by the satirical action movie Death Race 2000 (1975).