Atari 2600 Multiplayer- Best Games

More on the "Video Game Crash" of 1983 reasons. Probably have to throw in the proliferation of the VCR and the release of the Walkman. Bad port releases weren't going to cut it anymore.:cautious: Might as well just spend the 40 bucks at the arcade and play the real thing.
 
More on the "Video Game Crash" of 1983 reasons. Probably have to throw in the proliferation of the VCR and the release of the Walkman. Bad port releases weren't going to cut it anymore.:cautious: Might as well just spend the 40 bucks at the arcade and play the real thing.

There was also the rise of home computers and video games. I remember seeing more Apple II, IBM PC, Atari 400/800, TRS-80, TI 99/4A, and Commodore 64 computers around at that time.
 
There was also the rise of home computers and video games. I remember seeing more Apple II, IBM PC, Atari 400/800, TRS-80, TI 99/4A, and Commodore 64 computers around at that time.
Yeah, the "Home Personal Computer" was starting to heat up at that time.
Nobody was playing with an Atari 2600 with Mathew Broderick in War Games in 1983.:ROFLMAO:

:50:
 
The ice racing in Indy 500 was a riot trying to stay on the track while bumping into your opponent.

Demons to Diamonds was an enjoyable two-player game.

Fishing Derby was also lots of fun.
Demons To Diamonds looks Decent in 2 player mode, average at best in single player mode. I could see people getting into some pretty intense gaming in 2 player mode, though, Dont think I ever played it though
Demonds to Diamonds makes the cut, BONAFIDE!!


:LOL:
Not too sure about Fishing Derby, pretty primative, Borderline not Bonafide, maybe for 10 and under
🤣
What you say, BAD, BORDERLINE OR BONAFIDE?
 
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Todays Atari 2600 Game
STREET RACER
Get those paddles out🤣
BONAFIDE
Slolum was probably the best variant
VERIFIED AS BONAFIDE
 
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This youtuber went pretty far out rating Atari 2600 Games. Has it pretty dialed in. It just seems some of the sports games and multiplayer games might be off a bit. For the most part, Jon at GenXGrown is pretty spot on. Props to him. Looks like a lot of time and effort went into those reviews and rankings. I got my 2600 in 1978 and probably only ever played maybe 50 titles? and was pretty much over the VCS by 1983. Interesting to see the other titles that came out after 1982 and reviews of the ones I missed or never knew existed. Probably the most in depth "Rankings and Reviews" of pretty much the whole Atari 2600 library.

An example of a few of GenXGamers Atari 2600 Rankings and Reviews

Part 2

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I think the simple fact is that Bad Ports and Cartridge prices probably were another reason for the downfall of the Atari 2600. With no rental game market for the 2600, you were pretty much flying blind on a lot of cartridge purchases. usually the Big Port releases would be sometimes 40 or more dollars at the time of release including tax. After being burned a few times on some not very good ports (Pacman) Donkeykong), I think most kids thought, they would rather play 160 real Arcade games (40 Dollars) than buy a subpar Atari 2600 game cartridge. And That was all she wrote. People just moved on to a better product. oh yeah, I forgot, I think the No Store Return policy was implemented in 1982 at alot of stores, so basically if it was opened it was unreturnable.
I forgot E.T. was like 50 dollars retail in December of 1982. I think alot of parents bought that for their kids, when the kids kicked the game to the curb, Parents were like I am going to get my money back. Then they were told by the stores once the games were opened, they were unreturnable and unrefundable.
Then The E.T. Freakout Happened, 🤣🤣🤣
 
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Have not watched the video yet, but Maze Craze was one of the most underrated VCS games.
This game is a stinker IMHO. Also, Jon in this video review jokes about the 256 games where it's 250 too many. Why bother..?
 
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It Seems to me alot of Sports Titles are never talked about? Most of them were multiplayer. That's the one area that is not talked about much .
It looks like alot of the best Sports titles came out past 1986 which is kind of strange. The NES was already released and the writing was on the wall. Who was buying Atari Game Cartidges retail new in 1986? Funny thing is they were still selling new titles until 1990! Can you imagine someone walking into Toy's R Us and asking for an Atari game Cartridge in 1990? I would of been on the floor rolling around laughing🤣. Actually there are still making homebrew games, but ostly for nostagia sakes nowadays.
So lets just say that anything after 1986 was not really part of the original library option for the 2600. Although if you do include them the Date of their release should be noted next to the title.
I don't think I bought a game past 1982, "Pitfall" September of 1982, was probably my last Retail purchase of an Atari Cartridge.
So Lets get to it SPORTS
My personal early favorite was Bowling, had Home Run and Football, Home Run would get old really fast, football had a little more staying power but could get old pretty quick. Basketball had a shelf life of about 20 plays🤣 and is laughable when looked back upon. Boxing by Activision was a pretty good game. It had a unique top down perspective, but what could you do with a controller with 1 button? 🤣
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Boxing was one of my favs. My cousin and I would play for hours. There's a fun techique where you can "juggle" your opponent back and forth for a flurry of unlimited shots if you time it right. We played it again years ago as adults and it was just as fun...

Del
 
Wanted to also mention Space Invaders. This port of the game made it co-op which was genius. Many hours of "Rocking It" where we wouldn't die in the game. Super Fun!


SI Coop.jpg
 
Wanted to also mention Space Invaders. This port of the game made it co-op which was genius. Many hours of "Rocking It" where we wouldn't die in the game. Super Fun!


View attachment 821913
Yeah, Space Invaders was huge. The First game I got for the VCS. Shooters was where the VCS stood out, If it wasn't a shooter it probably wasn't gpoing to be that good. All the Pong variants were good too, Couldn't go wrong wih Breakout, Super Breakout, Video Olympics. Probably a big reason why Atari had trouble, after 81 it seems most of the popular games they were trying to port werent shooters.
 
Boxing was one of my favs. My cousin and I would play for hours. There's a fun techique where you can "juggle" your opponent back and forth for a flurry of unlimited shots if you time it right. We played it again years ago as adults and it was just as fun...

Del
🤣
Yeah, I had Activision Boxing. If you got into a groove you could unload on who you were fighting.🤣 Another one that was really competetive was Bowling. I think it gets trashed by most reviewers, But if you played the Varient where you could swerve the Bowling ball and were going up against somebody. It became a cut throat video game. Bowling was kind of huge in the 1970's.🤣
Space War also kind of gets a bad wrap Basically it was 2 player asteroids, where you just went at eachother. I remember buying it off a friend of a friend for 2 bucks.🤣 Was a blast in 2 player battle mode. Everybody knows how huge Asteroids was. Asteroids One on One, Space Combat!! I was sold.
Space Invaders, Missle Command and Asteroids were my jam on the 2600.🤣
The Settings of 1 on 1 where you could fly across the screen (no bouncing rockets) You could just book through the screen 🤣 In a lot of games you had to find the right variant (to maximize the fun).🤣
 
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Was Jungle Hunt a more superior game than Pit Fall or Pit Fall 2?
Honestly I always thought Pit Fall got old very fast, But Jungle Hunt was always fun to play. Obviously Pit Fall had great graphics as far as Pit Fall Harry goes, but beyond that the game just seemed too repetetive.
Jungle Hunt just seemed to be a better platformer, and probably one of the best on the VCS.
May just be a bias because I may of just been a bigger fan of the Arcade Game Jungle Hunt.
🤣
 
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Back to the Atari 2600 VCS downfall, I personally think Bad Popular Game Ports were probably the main reason for its downfall Defender in 1981 seemed shoddy on first glance, The "spaceship disapeared when it changed direction" fot Petes sake. :50: Remember playing it at a friends house and thinking what is up with that?:50: Yeah The VCS was DOA by Christmas 1982 because of the Defender, Pacman and Donkey Kong ports. 3 strikes and you were out. ET was just the exclamation mark. Intelevision and Coleco Vision were out by that time and the writing was on the wall, the best home arcade games were not going to be on the Atari 2600 VCS.
 
Really looking back at the 2600. The Defender Port in 1982 was probably up there as far as responsibility for the fall of the 2600. Althogh it sold close to 3 million cartridges it was a severely problemed port of the Arcade version. Defender was a huge Arcade hit when it came out. Although I was never a huge Defender "fan", I always seem to get blown up relatively quickly🤣. Kids were all over that game. Then The game port came out. The Disapearing ship changing directions, the graphiics and gameplay also were very suspect. I noticed it immediately, Why does the ship disapear when you change directions? 🤣 The shine was definitely off the 2600 after that game port was released, even though it sold close to 3 million copies.
Remembering back Pacman could occupy you for a half hour on a rainy day. I t was bad but I did'nt try to return it. But basically the beginng of the downfall. The Defender in June, not a huge fan and saw it at a friends, to me it looked and played like crap, so I passed on it. Then Donkey Kong in July, they got me on that one. Then I saw the ColecoVision version and was like the Atari version sucks, That is the one I tried to return. But no dice No returns on Opened cartridges. Now spidey senses are tingling. Pretty much was done. Then Pitfall showed up on the scene. Pretty sure the commercial got me. I bit, it was ok. But the shine was off the 2600. Then ET., I was already done with the 2600 by that time. I had survived the Summer of Sh*t and wasn't going back.
Those programers must of been taking payoffs, Those game ports from those popular arcade games were so bad in 1982, It was like a monkey was programing them. Pacman in March of 1982 then the summer of sh*t, with Defender and DonkeyKong in June & July of "82". Before the Big one ET got dropped. a non port but awful game in December of "82". I specifically remember trying to return Pacman, but the No Returns of Video Games had kicked into effect at most stores.
When ET failed and probably got kicked to the curb by most little kids and parents tried to return it, and got we don't except returns. I will bet more than a few parents went ballistic. I bet alot of stores changed their policy for that game and gave refunds. 🤣 Somehow I picture store clerks heads in head locks.🤣 Interesting it says ET initial release price was $24.95 plus tax. I remember it above $30.00? Hilarious🤣 That was it, no parent was going to buy their kid a video game cartridge again. I still think some of those Atari 2600 programmers were getting kickbacks from ColecoVision to flub Atari versions. The gameports and some games were just so bad.
🤣
😁
 
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