Atari 2600 - Should I even bother?

nesjess

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Okay, so I've decided try and plug in my late father-in-law's Atari 2600 and really play it in depth if possible/tolerable. Side note: He bought it when it first came out as a Christmas present to my mother-in-law. He slept on the couch that night. :)

Anywho, I've heard countless times that this console was legendary BITD. I have to admit, I haven't played it enough over my lifetime to put an honest opinion on it. I remember playing it at a friend's house in elementary school, but at that time I was playing NES, GB, SNES, etc. so it just seemed really lame at the time.

I think the last time I turned this baby on was last year and I played a game of Breakout, DK, Space Invaders and Missile Command. DK was complete garbage. SI, Breakout and MC weren't bad. He also has Superman, River Raid, Pole Position, Football, Breakout, Battlezone and a few more I can't remember off the top of my head.

With all this said, are there any must-play, actually good games on the 2600 that I should try to pick up? Is it a waste of time for someone like me who grew up playing the NES?
 
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Here are some of my favorites. Just keep in mind that I grew up playing many of these so to some degree nostalgia factors in, but I'm not including games that I loved then but don't think are still fun to play. Some on the list I never played as a kid.

If you want to get into playing the 2600 but aren't necessarily looking to become a collector I would suggest you get a Harmony cart. Put every 2600 title on an SD card so you can play anything. Sort of like mame in that regard but not emulated.


  • Adventure
  • Berzerk
  • Circus
  • Dodge 'Em
  • Dragonstomper (starpath)
  • Escape from the Mindmaster (starpath)
  • Evil Magician Returns (homebrew)
  • Fireball (starpath)
  • H.E.R.O.
  • Kaboom!
  • Keystone Kapers (homebrew)
  • Medieval Mayhem (homebrew warlords variant - very cool)
  • Pitfall
  • Seaquest
  • Stay Frosty (homebrew)
  • Superman
  • Warlords
 
My brother-in-law acquired a property where the previous owners had abandoned a 2600 and a bunch of games. We played them all and my overwhelming response was that they were even crappier than I remembered.

Having said that, the Activision games were always the best including a few of these:

...
  • Kaboom!
  • Keystone Kapers (homebrew)
  • Pitfall

Add:
Chopper Command
 
I remember having loads of fun with my 2600 as a kid, though I don't recall all the specific titles that I love since it's been so damn long now...one I got an NES, the 2600 never got used again, for the most part.

Berzerk is still the one I remember playing the most of, though. Man I loved that game.
 
Yeah Berzerk isn't that bad. It's definitely one of those things you have a stronger link to if you grew up with it. I only play 6 or 7 games on it, but if I can find a cart I don't have for $1 I'll buy it. The first time I got back into it, I thought it was sucky- being a NES era gamer myself. It has since grown on me though.
 
Off the top of my head:

Warlords
Jr. Pac-Man
Adventure
Save Mary (you have to get a repro cart, this game was never released)
Pitfall!
Enduro
Berzerk
Yars' Revenge
Indy 500
Frogger
Mouse Trap
Solaris
Railz (Homebrew)
Boulder Dash! (Homebrew)

P.S. Keystone Kapers is not a homebrew.
 
Here are some of my favorites. Just keep in mind that I grew up playing many of these so to some degree nostalgia factors in, but I'm not including games that I loved then but don't think are still fun to play. Some on the list I never played as a kid.

Thanks for the feedback, Jeff (and others). Nostalgia and personal gaming era definitely plays a huge factor in whether one thinks a game is awesome or not.

It's like when I say I love SFII, but anyone on KLOV born pre-1975 will think it's a stupid game that was responsible for so many classics being converted. Same with the NES. To this day, I still feel it's the greatest console ever bestowed upon mankind, but someone much older or much younger that didn't grow up in the late 80s-early 90s will strongly beg to differ.

It's all about nostalgia, but there can be exceptions where experience and appreciation can both factor in to sincerely loving a game. For me, it's DK. I wasn't even born when it was released in the arcades. I didn't really play until about 3 years ago. But now, it's one of my favorite arcade games hands down because of what it symbolizes and the fact that I've played it enough to appreciate and respect it. Oh, and I'm a Nintendo fanboy.

We'll see if the Atari 2600 is something I can learn to appreciate and love as well as I try out some of these suggestions. To be continued...
 
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My favorite Atari 2600 games:

River Raid
Fun vertical shooter where the narrow caverns get quite challenging and there's some strategy involved with Fuel

Sea Hawk
Kind of Defender-ish, but instead of aliens it's enemy planes and ships. I spent hours just kind of using it as a demolition sandbox.

Star Master
This was the coolest game in the early 80's... star fighters and space stations. I honestly wish I could play it right now.

Ice Hockey
This game is a blast with 2 players. We used to bet on the games, like loser buys lunch.

Grand Prix
Easy to Learn, Hard to Master... It can get quite nerve-wrecking at the later levels. The idea is to drive and keep accellerating without hitting obstacles or other cars. I should also mention that this game has the best engine sound ever.

Skiing
I almost pee'd myself whenever I played this game because the collisions can get so funny. Another good game to wager scores on.


I'm probably forgetting one or two, but good games are out there. Don't just go by the name or cover art... That's how kids got disappointed back in the day. If unsure watch some gameplay videos and that should help decide on the ones that are fun..
 
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I had good memories of the 2600 also, but my game selection was different. It was mainly Asteroids, Combat and Video Pinball. I've played other games, but most are horrible ports. Whatever you do, don't play Pac-man.
 
I fire up my 2600 emu on iPad occasionally, get a lil nostalgic, but don't play longer than a 5 min session....:eek:
 
Okay, so I've decided try and plug in my late father-in-law's Atari 2600 and really play it in depth if possible/tolerable. Side note: He bought it when it first came out as a Christmas present to my mother-in-law. He slept on the couch that night. :)

Anywho, I've heard countless times that this console was legendary BITD. I have to admit, I haven't played it enough over my lifetime to put an honest opinion on it. I remember playing it at a friend's house in elementary school, but at that time I was playing NES, GB, SNES, etc. so it just seemed really lame at the time.

I think the last time I turned this baby on was last year and I played a game of Breakout, DK, Space Invaders and Missile Command. DK was complete garbage. SI, Breakout and MC weren't bad. He also has Superman, River Raid, Pole Position, Football, Breakout, Battlezone and a few more I can't remember off the top of my head.

With all this said, are there any must-play, actually good games on the 2600 that I should try to pick up? Is it a waste of time for someone like me who grew up playing the NES?

The 2600 was a great technology for it's time. It's graphics capabilities couldn't be beat for the price when it was released, and there were a LOT of games released for it, and some of the developers put a HECK of a lot of creativity into what they made.

Now, the downside is that the games had very little to work with, both in terms of graphics capabilities (the 2600 didn't even have a line buffer, let alone a frame buffer, so they were constantly racing to get something done before they had to go poke at the graphics hardware again to make the next thing show up on the screen) and in terms of program capacity (VERY small amounts of ROM on those carts).

This tends to lead to games that go over the same ground over and over with variations (think pitfall and river raid), or used randomization techniques to provide more interest (Berzerk's levels are generated using a technique sort of like a pseudo-random number generator that always starts with the same see. If you put Adventure on it's hardest setting the initial placement of all the stuff is random).

The thing is: gaming is kind of a personal thing. Some folks find it really fun to get as far as they can in pitfall or river raid. I generally get to a plateau of skill and then lose interest, yet I can still go back to Adventure and have fun playing it, even on the easy settings where I know exactly what's going to happen.

So, I have to say - try some different kinds of games. If they don't excite you, then, well, perhaps the 2600 isn't for you.

Oh yea, and don't try Q Bert. You'll regret it.
 
I never had an Atari VCS back in the day (I had an Intellivision), but a few of my mates had one. I liked River Raid, Pitfall and Kaboom, but that's about it. I remember even back then being very disappointed with Pac Man.

Many of the Atari 2600 games are just poor arcade ports.

I never saw the appeal of Adventure. It's pretty basic compared to Advanced D&D on the Inty. And the bloody bat... AAARGH!

If you don't have a nostalgic attachment to the Atari 2600 or specific games, then the 2600 is going to disappoint you. It is never going appeal to you in anywhere near the same way the NES would.

- James
 
Enduro is in my opinion the best game on the 2600 and was never ported to any other systems. Pretty much every other good game is available on the C64 in a far superior version.
 
Air Sea Battle (this was also called Target fun and was the game bundled with the Sears
version of The Atari - this is similar to Sea Wolf)
Tank
Missile Command
Space Invaders (a great version of this game - as good or better than the arcade version)
Pitfall
Chess (this is an interesting title because the game actually cheats)
Demon Attack
Adventure

Would I buy an Atari now? Absolutely not. I much prefer arcade games of this era.
 
As much as I love a classic like the Atari 2600, the evolution of games/systems appeals to me as a gamer. Even among the classics, there was change over time - "first generation" for the 2600, "second generation" for the Intellivision, "third generation" for the ColecoVision, etc. I was 7 years old when the 2600 was released, and 14 when the NES hit stateside; I think it would be hard to get into the 2600 if the NES was your formative system; it was the last and arguably the best 8-bit console that resurrected North American gaming after The Crash.

In my mind, the 2600 was never that great technologically; what made it fun was playing with friends.

Find a copy of Activision's Kaboom!, grab some paddles, and have friends over - it should be a blast. Then try some head to head matches on Combat.
 
After Activision, I'd stick to the Imagic Titles:

DSC00431.jpg
 
If the 2600 was your first home console, it will always hold a special place in your heart. Yeah, the NES rocked and it took things to another whole level, but it never seemed as "magical" as the Atari. Hard to describe.

Those I remember having a great time playing:

Defender
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Yar's Revenge
Enduro
Demon Attack
Cosmic Ark
Star Raiders
Sky Jinks
Battlezone
The Empire Strikes Back

Activision would send you a patch if you could complete the Sky Jinks course in under 37 seconds without hitting any pylons. You had to to take a photo of the screen to prove you did it. I managed to do it in under 37 seconds but the photo I took of the screen came out blurry and I never did get it done again. They had quite a few little clubs you could join by accomplishing certain feats in Activision games. Kind of cool.

And Yar's Revenge still kicks ass. Great game.
 
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I always loved arcade games, so for me, the Atari 2600 was just the only video game option when I didn't have any quarters. I never thought any of the games were great, though some of the two player games were fun, assuming there was someone else around to play. But it was all very ho-hum compared to the games I played at the arcade at the time; e.g. Punch-Out, Karate Champ.

I have an Atari 7800 (which can play 2600 games) but I rarely use it. Mame makes nearly all of the old console arcade ports obselete IMO, especially the ones that were on the Atari 2600.
 
I recently have been playing some Atari 2600 and am really enjoying SEAQUEST, fun game!
 
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