It's BAAACCCKKKK - The Atari 2600+ with a HDMI output?

I counted 36 of the cartridges in that graphic that I owned (and I guess I still do, buried in the back of a closet).
Yes, but which of the pictured games is the best? And why?

Strangly, I can't answer that myself. I get analysis paralysis just looking at them.
 
For reasons I can't thoroughly explain, the Atari 2600 box art that stands out THE MOST for me in that pic above and has some mysterious meaning, are

BARNSTORMING
DEFENDER
DEMON ATTACK
HERO
KABOOM!!
PACMAN
PITFALL
SPACE INVADERS
STAR WARS THE ARCADE GAME
WARLORDS
 
For reasons I can't thoroughly explain, the Atari 2600 box art that stands out THE MOST for me in that pic above and has some mysterious meaning, are

BARNSTORMING
DEFENDER
DEMON ATTACK
HERO
KABOOM!!
PACMAN
PITFALL
SPACE INVADERS
STAR WARS THE ARCADE GAME
WARLORDS
That pic has a wrong box cover art. The River Raid is the Atari 5200 box art, not 2600. Get it out of there ! LOL Whoever labeled it 2600 in that mock-up got it wrong. Thats a mock-up, not a real art.. The real version of that art had a 5200 on it, not 2600. Please note below:

5200.jpg

I spotted this because not only is it tied for the best Atari 2600 game EVER (not a opinion), BUT you're "mysterious meaning" opinions of your favorite arts to me seem to follow a pattern of those old toony Atari rainbow colored arts.. and I remember River Raid had that to a tee. So I was looking for it, then I noticed the issue.

Here is the real artwork:
RR2600.jpg
Cartridge.jpg

Box.jpg

Back.jpg


To me, thats iconic artwork. This and Kaboom.

Do you guys notice some artwork they used was very artistic like actual "good" artwork by real deal drawers/artists AND THEN others were more like Sesame Street art with their Rainbow colored Atari theme (total hippie '70's San Francisco Haight Ashbury influenced) and to me, THIS is the true original Atari 2600 art. I like it most cause its more original/unique and screams Atari 2600 to me.
 
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Humm, so Atari was using subliminal advertising to some degree. Mysteriousness solved.

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(Bonus cred it you can identify the movie from which this pic is taken)
 
Humm, so Atari was using subliminal advertising to some degree. Mysteriousness solved.

9gng.gif
\
(Bonus cred it you can identify the movie from which this pic is taken)
They Live

One of my favorites man.. Need something tougher than that ! lol You're talking to the man that invented the reality red pill glasses. God that was a great movie.

In a fun weird way I feel the new movie Free Guy was slightly influenced by They Live.
 
They Live is an all time classic. Highly quotable, and actually there is a message behind that movie.
And it resonates still.

Plus it has the absolute best alley brawl ever recorded on film.
 
@FrizzleFried you are definitely in the minority re: Atari 2600! But you still have a valid viewpoint and stated it well.

I had a similar situation, but opposite reaction. I love the 2600. Because it's all I had as a child. Arcades were inaccessible until I was 9 or 10 and could walk to a convenience store. But with no money, I could only watch even then. So home consoles were the only option. All my friends had a 2600. Enemies too. Cousins. Everybody. But I was probably the last kid to get one. (Except the one who had the Oddessey 2 and the other one who had an Intellivsion.) We finally got a 2600 sometime in maybe the fall of 1980. We got Asteroids and Space Invaders....the first killer app. YES! FINALLY! Videogames in the house!!!!!!! :D

When we went to the grocery store each Saturday, I would beg for quarters for the arcade games. I usually wouldn't get anything. Sometimes I would be given one quarter and told to make it last. (yeah....30 seconds and I was done.) But it was a rare treat. I could go and watch other people play while we were there. But I only watched for the most part. There were one or 2 pong consoles in town, and the Mattel handhelds of course. Then 2600s started showing up. By 1979 there were a lot of people who had them. Many of the early games sucked. Especially for 1 player. But the 2 player games were fun. And many of the later games were just plain amazing. We would have tournaments and battle royales (both Atari and outside in the dirt!) and Atari this and Atari that. Some of the games were great. Accurate arcade ports? Not so much. But they were fun and interesting. And they often did things that the arcades didn't. Zig zag bullets in Space Invaders? Invisible shields? Those were cool options. You could play with shields or hyperspace in Asteroids, your choice. Etc. Yeah, sure....they made all those variations to make the games more varied and interesting because they couldn't duplicate the arcade experience. But it worked for us. Especially for those of us who couldn't go to an arcade, or who didn't have money if we did go. The games were fun, they offered a (mostly) positive social experience, and they were pretty darned durable.

We skipped the C64 (no money) and Atari 8-bits (no money) and Colecovision (no money) and xxxxxxx (no money). So we only had a 2600 in the house until I think 1987 when my brother got an NES and I got a Color Computer 2 for Christmas. So we saw some great games come out for 2600 late in its life.

These days I like it mostly because it's so bare bones. It's a great challenge base for hardware and software development. Because basically nothing is done for you and there are preciously few resources to make use of. It's great for the engineers among us who appreciate elegance and efficiency and are looking for a challenge.
This was pretty much my experience.
 
The original Atari 2600 console is more than that, it represented a revolution in gaming and a unique time to be a kid.
Sure, consoles that followed had better graphics, but the 2600 is still the winner in my heart. And look at all the pretty boxes.

2600_art.jpg


As always, haters will always hate. Such a shame. I see comments of the 2600 on other non-gaming/non-arcade forums and they don't understand the appeal of these old games with the "blocky graphics". More evidence of "technology bias". For games, as most of us here on KLOV should agree, they can be low-res, 8bit and still be fun and challenging to play.

Don't listen to others. Make your own opinions.

That said, for a $100 investment, I would still claim an ORIGINAL 2600 w/ multi-cart is better than the new 2600+ (especially if it will not support homebrews etc).

View attachment 688826
The box art was frequently better than the game play.

Just saying.
 
With the box art they were definitely compensating for the poor graphics. That said, anyone willing and able to look past the graphics will find that some of the games hold up to this day fun-wise.
 
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