DCEmu Asks - Atari2600 a History & Whats the greatest Atari2600 Game Ever ?

[wraggster]

Continuing our network wide feature for just about every console thats emulated and that we own, in time it can be used as a reference point for people to look at what games are the very best on each system

Firstly heres a look at each system and a description to remind you of the history of the console.

http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemuatari2600.jpg


Atari VCS / 2600
Atari VCS..later called the 2600 was released in 1977 and became the dominant console in the 1970's. The Atari 2600 boasted amazing specs for it's time, and amassed a library of thousands of games. The popularity of the 2600 grew even further when the arcade game "Space Invaders" was ported for the first time to a console. The success was also in part to the many arcade and movie licenses acquired by Atari. These licenses gave Atari the marketing edge over other consoles of it's time. The console introduced an enormous variety of games and controllers and was the console of choice well into the early 80's even when graphically out performed by newer consoles.

The success of Atari spawned many console redesigns. One example was the reduced sized Atari 2600 Jr. (Shown on left) released in 1986 as part of a campaign to rekindle the console's success. Also the Atari 2800, which essentially was the same build, but offered 4 controller ports instead of 2. The controllers were also redesigned to be a hybrid of both a joystick and paddle. The 2800 model was sold in the US under the Sears label Telegames II. This model was also the first official Atari release in Japan in 1982, and retailed for 24,800 Yen.

The success of Atari 2600 also triggered it's fall from glory. The console spawned numerous clones and adapters (These adapters allowed 2600 software to be played on other consoles). The Atari 2600 cart format also contained no restrictions, which allowed anyone to make their own 2600 games. These factors contributed to the fall of Atari in early years, and played a role to the "Videogame Crash of 1984".

FACT: The Atari 2600 was the first console to play adult type games such as Bachelor Party and the infamouse Custers Revenge.

Thanks again to Dark Watcher for his info above.

Now heres our question to you - Whats the greatest Atari2600 Game Ever ?

Check out Atari Age (http://www.atariage.com/) for info on all things Atari2600 Related.

More DCEmu Console History Can Be Found Here (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/)

Previous History Topics:

Playstation2 a History & Whats the greatest PS2 Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-playstation2-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-ps2-game-ever--83125.html)
Nintendo 64 a History & Whats the greatest Nintendo 64 Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-64-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-nintendo-64-game-ever--83028.html)
Nintendo Gamecube a History & Whats the greatest Gamecube Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-gamecube-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-gamecube-game-ever--82866.html)
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Nintendo NES / Famicom a History & Whats the greatest NES Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-nes-famicom-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-nes-game-ever--81428.html)
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[wraggster]

Hmm for me a toss up between Pacman and Space Invadors.

OK ill go with Space Invadors :)

[JKKDARK]

I wasn't interested in this system. Last year I got a collection of Atari 2600 games for PSX, really good and I liked Pitfall!, that's a classic.

[SSaxdude]

I can't decide between Pitfall! and Yar's Revenge. I love my woodgrain 6 switch VCS.

[____anders____]

i remember back in the days when i played bowling, human cannonball, dig dug, combat and other fun games..

it was very fun, and now i'm reliving these days on the atariDS emulator on my ds where i have dig dug, bowling and human cannonball..

still very fun to play sometimes..

[parkermauney]

I can't decide between ET and Michael Jackson.
Very tough choice.

[midget35]

never will it fail to amaze me - Adventure is the most overrated game imagineable.

[DCergo]

Probably Pitfall, but other notables are Yars Revenge, Hero, and Adventure.


never will it fail to amaze me - Adventure is the most overrated game imagineable.

That statement strikes me as kind of silly. Was there another action adventure game (Adventure was considered the first of this genre) in 1979 that was better? Was there another game that allowed you to pick up, use and drop various objects in a variety of ways, back then? It was also one of the first games to give us easter eggs. It was a game like Adventure that inspired games like Zelda.

[HI-Saturn]

Dragonfire
Vangard
River Raid
Enduro

[classicgmr]

1.) Pressure Cooker
2.) Pitfall
3.) Space Attack
4.) Space Invaders
5.) Berzerk

[Veskgar]

1.) Berzerk
2.) Missile Command
3.) Asteroids
4.) Space Invaders
5.) Pac-Man

[brainpan]

My vote goes to Warlords. That game is awesome, especially when you have friends over.

[Yrkoon]

crystal castles (they tree's scare me still :P )

stargate and desert falcon were fun to :)

who can forget river raid 2 :)

i had my biggest scare earlier i found my 2600 kicking about the hall outside my room its there at the moment :P

[10shu]

1-hero
2-pitfall
3-master kungfu
4-river raid
5-defender

edit:Oh! and solaris too! :)

[jamotto]

Mario Bros.
Chopper Command
Battlezone
Stampede

[mr game porter]

pacman and asteroids :D

[mekarena]

river raid
rampage
smurfs
star raiders

[Tron_Fan]

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

[gelon]

Solaris

Best A2600 graphics ever

I love it, but Pitfall too

[snead hearn]

1. Yars Revenge
2. Spider Fighter
3. Combat

[matt2k]

Moon Patrol
Snoopy and the Red Baron
Crystal Castles

[brinstar]

am i the only one who played (and loved) Robot Tank as a kid?

[The_It]

Moon Patrol D:

[Joe88]

that bowling game was pretty good

[madcupid]

funny, nobody mentioned FROSTBITE...I really loved that one...and RIVER RAID

[Veskgar]

Best Ever...

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial :rofl:

[Emulation_Chief]

Hello:

The Atari 2600 is the first console I have since childhood, and the very reason I started my video game interest.

Altough many good games has this old but good console, my favorite and the best ever I played is Condor Attack.

[bah]

Kaboom!

Fast Food

They say today's games are bad influences on kids, the entire point of this game is to eat fast food with a disembodied mouth while avoiding purple sausages or something. As you get to each new level you're given the message 'you're getting fatter' and that's apparently the goal of the game. :)

[redsyrup]

1 Warlords
2 Moonpatroll
3 Miner2049er
4 Empire Strikes Back
5 Frogger

[don3z]

The games I spent WAY too much time playing (due to pure enjoyment) were..

1. Space Invaders
2. Pitfall
3. River Raid
4. Kaboom
5. Breakout/Super Breakout

and a few other bad arcade ports like Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Frogger, etc.. They were terrible ports, but what other choice did we have at that time? :)

[Atari]

Ram-It
River Raid
Enduro
Robot Tank
Asteroids

[Mr.Peanut]

I had an Atari 400, so the 2600 always seemed crippled to me.

[brinstar]

Ram-It
River Raid
Enduro
Robot Tank
Asteroids

yay for Robot Tank :)

[VampDude]

Defender II

[gumgod]

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

I hated that game

My favorites were

Defender
Sea Quest
Yars Revenge
Berserk
ET

Also liked:
Crystal Castles
Frogger
Combat - only good for 2 player
Astroids
space invaders

and of course

pacman

But that's getting close to half the games I had

[shaney2k]

roadrunner, also there was a game where you played the part of a fireman, i guessing it was called "fireman" lol but not sure

[kojiro7]

Enduro racer

[technoshock11]

Ms. Pac-Man is my favourite A2600 game.

Also, I love Space Invaders, Enduro, Megamania, Crystal Castles, Cosmik Ark, Breakout, Midnight Magic, Pole Position...

As for E.T. : Sure it's bad, but I'd play E.T. over Action 52 anytime.

[DrBlue]

H.E.R.O. as well as almost all of Activision's 2600 output in 1981/82.

[psx_geezer]

Ms. Pac-Man is my favourite A2600 game.

Also, I love Space Invaders, Enduro, Megamania, Crystal Castles, Cosmik Ark, Breakout, Midnight Magic, Pole Position...

As for E.T. : Sure it's bad, but I'd play E.T. over Action 52 anytime.

my fav Atari game is Midnight Resistance!

[PatrickSmith234]

thank you