Atari 2600(+) Games for Christmas 1983/2023: Chosen by my Kids
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- I play 20 of my favourite Atari cartridges for my kids on our new Atari 2600+ so they can choose what game they'd like for Christmas 1983 in case that somehow became a decision they had to make. This somehow made sense to me when I realized that my kids' favourite console, the Nintendo Switch, was released in 2017, 40 years after the Atari VCS in 1977. In the same way the Switch is now 6 years old and still has life left in it, there were a lot of new games still coming out for the 6-year-old 2600 in 1983. I have convoluted ideas sometimes.
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: / 8bitshowandtell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: / @8-bitshowandtell247
Index:
0:00 1977-2017 Atari VCS to Nintendo Switch
3:10 Why I like the Atari 2600+
5:06 Bowling (1979)
8:07 Adventure (1980)
10:57 Space Invaders (1980)
13:01 Asteroids (1981)
14:16 Pac-Man (1982)
16:49 Yars' Revenge (1982)
19:10 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1982)
21:00 Cosmic Ark (1982)
23:24 Pitfall! (1982)
26:09 Berzerk (1982)
27:53 Megamania (1982)
29:13 Fast Food (1982)
31:11 Spider-Man (1982)
33:06 Vanguard (1982)
34:50 River Raid (1982)
36:53 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
40:12 TRON: Deadly Discs (1983)
41:20 Phoenix (1983)
43:30 Smurf (1983)
46:13 Enduro (1983)
49:46 Kids choose what games they want for Christmas
54:40 Summary and thanks! - Наука та технологія
I enjoyed hearing the kids chuckling at the different games. Our picks for best 2600 would be surprisingly similar!
Merry Christmas to you and the family Robin!
Thanks Ian, Merry Christmas!
I agree. Kids are the best part of Christmas, in my opinion. Hard to pick favorites, but 1) Adventure, 2) Yars' Revenge, and 3) Empire Strikes Back. I also liked ET a lot, and never understood why it ranks so low in fans' picks lists.
Your family is delightfully wholesome, Robin. Merry Christmas to you and family and god bless you all.
What a nice Christmas gift! Your kids surely appreciate having such a cool dad. Merry Christmas to the entire 8 Bit Family!
8 kids...How do you have time to do these videos... Faints at the thought... What a fantastic and wholesome video, tell all those kiddos thank you for helping dad make this great content!
8-kid show and tell
Very impressed with the smart kiddo that guessed correctly why the sprites were flickering.
8 kids for an 8-bit guy, thank god you weren't into 16, 32 or god forbid 64-bit machines.
I love hearing your kids laugh - it's heart-warming to hear the bonding.
8 kids? you got my full respect - thanx and merry xmas to yall
Wait. Multiple of your children can coexist in the same room without a death match breaking out? Please teach me your ways!
I love that your kids are quoting Homestar Runner in this
Did I mention that one of my kids is Truckhead Homestar? Or at least, inspired that character due to fan costume?
@@8_Bit that's awesome
@@8_Bit 2018 truck-head Homestar? That's extracurricular-iffic!
Wow I didn't know about the reset-hold on Space Invaders. That's amazing.
While playing Adventure, I always think about the secret dot and the easter egg and the story of Atari not giving coders recognition on the games and how Activision happened etc.
That walking bass line! What a Christmas Treat! Thanks! 😀
Sorry there probably weren't enough root eighth notes for your liking. With a towel wrapped around the amp.
@@8_Bit I compliment the baseline and I get snark in return. Thanks a lot! 😀
You're much more fun than my dad was. :)
Merry Christmas to the 8-Bit Show and Tell Clan.
That was really fun and what a lovely family! In 1983 I got Keystone Kapers from my grandparents and it remains my favorite Atari 2600 game to this day.
And I love how you all moan, groan and cheer together. LMAO... so awesome. ❤
I used to slum it with my neighbour and spent many hours playing playing QBert with her on the 2600. I had a 64 but carts were much better than cassettes we had in the UK!
Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for a lovely video :-)
I am shocked that you’re raising kids in 2023 and they were engaged the entire time! You are very multi-talented.
My cousin had a 2600 when I was a kid and I remember playing River Raid and Pitfall. And maybe Vanguard. Something Defender like anyway.
Great video. I enjoyed the commentary from the kids on the various games. And hearing you and some of the kids say “ugh” when you died. Haha.
Merry Christmas 1983!
Great video Robin. Love the Atari 2600. My cousins ended up with an NTSC 2600 in the early 1980s. Playing games in black and white with no sound on an Australian PAL TV wasn't the best. I think they ended up with an NTSC to PAL converter that was more expensive than buying a PAL 2600 🙂
Oh no he touched an Atari!! 😂
Also: missed opportunity of episode name: “8 kid show and tell”
(And OF COURSE 8 kids!)
God Jul 🎄Robin
So blessed to spend time with your family for the Holiday. I choose River Raid for my game!
Although I did not have an Atari back in the day, over at one of my friends place the favorite game was definitely Enduro. Many hours spent playing that after school! Oh yes, also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!
That was hands down the most adorable video I have seen anywhere in months. Watching this made me feel like a kid again. My first systems were C64 and Atari VCS. Had a lot of the games you showed.
Wow so much tech hit the scene in 1977. Atari, Commodore PET, TRS 80, Apple II and…me. I had not seen ET or Spiderman since I last played them in the 80’s. What a flashback! Thanks and enjoy the holidays.
Seeing this wholesome interaction with the family, seeing kids enjoy these simplistic games, using their imagination and creativity to interpret what the games are meant to represent, it brings a tear to my eye.
I was born in 2002, so I was well past that time, but yet still I adore the Atari 2600 and I hope that when I have a family of my own, we can all enjoy these relics of the past
27:21 "I'm going to be like Uncle Shroomie and restart the game every time I die." 😀
I didn't even tell them the Cosmic Ark story! But I told David here in the comments.
Idea for channel rebrand: 8-Kid Show and Tell.
Thanks for sharing the Christmas spirit Robin. Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas Robin and family. Great video!
Excellent choice of games, as I had most of the ones mentioned myself. I'd add Warlords due to its 4-player simultaneous mode, provided you have 2 pairs of paddle controllers in good condition (mine always get shaky over the years.)
Yes, Warlords is a great 4-player game. The new paddles set for the 2600+ was already sold out or I would have bought it too.
18:51 For anyone curious about that, Retro Game Mechanics Explained released a video just the other day where he deconstructs the whole code for it, Robin-style.
Merry Christmas Robin and family. Great family video, many great Atari picks.
Merry Christmas Robin and family!!! Thanks for another year of great videos (even if I didn't understand half of them)
I have to say that I appreciate you sharing such a special moment. Although I never owned an Atari, my friend had one and I would often visit them as well and play games at his house. My favourite was definitely pitfall.
Nice memories exprienced, thanks for this one!
What a treat! Merry Christmas to you and your sweet family!
My guy...
I had that exact style of Atari when I was a child. I have the 'newer' version that's smaller and w/o the wood grain still, but this one? Oh this one brings back memories. Thanks for that, and have a safe and wonderful holiday season :)
Yeah, that was fun. Happy holidays!
12:27 WHAT! Double shot?! Why did I not know this?!
21:01 My friend had cosmic ark and we'd play it at his house. I could get up to the pacman creatures but never past that. I wrote a letter to Imagic asking what came next. A woman wrote me back and said to keep at it, as there's a surprise after that level. From reading online, apparently it just repeats after the pacmans (and I looked at the rom's sprites, and sure enough, nothing new past that). :D I so wish I still had that letter, I might, but it would take some serious searching.
23:55 Yup, my brain thinks pitfall is years younger than the C64, that interesting...
Wow, every kid liked a different game!
Great Christmas episode Robin. And a very merry Christmas to you and yours.
I'm glad there's a bit of new-to-you info in this video :)
That's as far as I ever got in Cosmic Ark too. In one of my all-time favourite fibs, my friend Darren told me that he had gotten past there, and for the next planet you got back to Earth and there were a bunch of people waving at you in celebration!! He was totally making it up, but it was exactly the kind of game ending that they would be able to do in that game engine for minimal extra bytes, so it fit perfectly.
That would be amazing if you found that letter; gotta do another collab if you do, combining stories.
Merry Christmas to you and your family too :)
I knew about the double-shot from a mate showing me, but he got it by repeatedly switching the VCS off and on, it would sometimes kick-in that way. He, and hence I, didn't know about holding down reset, which is clearly a lot kinder to the electronics!
@@MarkTheMoroseThat rapid on/off trick was known as "frying" in some circles and many games respond to that technique in interesting ways. But yes, it's not the best way to achieve the double shot! :)
This was so wholesome that it even warmed my cold, dead black heart for a few minutes :D
Your kids seem absolutely awesome!
Great games, great video! Thanks a lot and Merry Christmas to you all. 🙏😉
I got the VCS for xmas in 1980 or 1981, I remember in 1982 my mate had Pacman and we swapped carts for a few days over xmas and I was shocked how bad it was. Space Invaders, Asteroids and Defender were incredible feats for the VCS. Megamania looks great in an Astroblaster type of way.
Individual games were altogether too expensive for most families back in those days however so we didn't have so many games and so swapping was essential. I remember seeing a picture of some celebrity in one of those glossy magazines you'd get in Sunday newspapers (perhaps it was Joan Collins but not sure...) back in the day and she had a VCS and TV at the bottom of her bed and literally 100s of carts...
Great fun! One of my favourite videos. It would have been great growing up in your house.
That was nice and fun!
My dad had a 2600 back in the day before I was born (I was born in 1984) and he lent it to my cousin who lent it to her friend and never saw it again. which made him not so happy.
His favorite game was Pitfall and my moms favorite was frogger.
Christmas 2010 I got him a 2600 from someone online which I made sure had Pitfall and Frogger among the games it had with it.
My father turned into N64 Kid that morning when he opened it.
One of the games it had was Yars' Revenge and I never did figure out (until now just seeing it in your video) how to play that game.
Dad and I spent all morning that christmas with a little 13" CRT and COMBAT
I never did really see him use the 2600 after that (Granted I didn't live at home) but I am sure he enjoyed owning it again.
He passed away September 2023, and christmas 2023 Facebook reminded me of the morning I gave him the 2600 so this video is perfect
Merry Christmas to you and yours Robin. also, I'm now a dad myself but I only have 1 child. I don't know how I could handle as many as you have but if it works for you then awesome.
Merry Christmas Robin and family! God bless you all!
Thanks, Merry Christmas to you and your family too :)
Your kids are having the best childhood ever!
i was just thinking about you, i finally went through my C64 disks and got the roms i grew up with onto my thumb drive for my maxi, so i can have a nostolgia trip tonight. Merry Christmas !
also, pacman on atari is the most nostolgic for me, all the sounds take me back so hard, it was my first pacman game
Nice video, Robin. What a great idea!
It did drive me nuts watching you play "Empire Strikes Back" that you forgot you could land your Snowspeeder on the flat ground to repair it.
And... Totally missed opportunity to not put your kids hands in the video!
There wasn't enough room for all those hands!! :)
And it seems I really should have re-read the manuals for a few of these games once I chose them! I was really rusty for some.
Canadian kids are happy to stand by while dad plays. American kids all want the joystick.
Merry Christmas!
Awesome video! Berzerk was definitely my fav. I remember losing my mind the first time I got shot through the neck.
Jungle Hunt was my favourite !
Late Merry Xmas to Robin and happy fam. :)
Finally! Christmas Special yeaaaa! Even if im not nostalgically connected with ataris or nintendos (just connodore hehe) your videos are really relaxing and enjoyable, have an happy and Saint Christmas!
Thanks! I saw your request and some others request for a Christmas Special and this is what came to my mind. I couldn't really think of anything else this year after I put all my Commodore ideas into the Christmas video for 2021! But if you have any ideas for 2024 let me know, it might happen :)
@@8_Bit thank u so much! Yes there are lot of possibilities for a Christmas special, i think u will get the righr inspiration when time will come, for now we enjoy this Christmas also thank to specials like yours, again have a good and Saint Chrismas and keep up with the good work! Cheers!
Missed the game I played most as a kid. Friend of my had A2600 and he had Dig Dug for it and it was game we played most.
It's funny that you mentioned the pac-man 'wafers' - as a kid, i remember seeing them called 'wafers' in the instruction booklet and not understanding why they changed it!
the sears cover of bowling looks so 70s it actually transports you back to the 70s just by looking at it.
My word, 8 kids? If I didn't know, I would say you didn't have any entertainment at home to keep you busy, but from your videos, we all know you had plenty of games and commodore stuff to keep you busy. How did you have time to make them?😲 But seriously thanks for sharing your family time with us, I have to agree Fast Food is fun.
Mery christmas all and Robin in family
Merry Christmas Robin!!!
🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄❄❄❄❄
Thanks Ron, Merry Christmas to you too :)
My buddy had Colecovision and that Smurf game was awesome.
What a cool dad!
My all time 2600 favorite is always going to be Reactor, maybe you can pick it next year? Merry Xmas and a happy new year!
Never seen _Cosmic Ark_ before; that interstitial section where you shoot meteors flying at your ship looks like it might be the world's first quick-time event.
See how wonderful and fun it is to have a large family? the more the merrier!
Merry Christmas Robin and the 8 bit-crew!
You should have shown the hands of all your children. LOL Nice system! I have a few original carts from back then (including the famous ET). I may have to look into that system. Anyhow, love their giggles and laughter... sounds like wonderful children who have a kewl dad. ❤👍 I think Pitfall 2 was my favourite cartridge. I also didn't think ET was that bad as, like you, I understood how to play it. The worst game for me was some adventure game, I forget the name... Quest for the Sword maybe? Had a sword prize you would win, but nobody ever claimed it. It was confusing and very poorly mad I felt.
Atari made more Pacman cartridges then the total number of Atari 2600's that existed. They lost a ton of money on Pacman, expecting to sell more systems just for this game. Empire Stikes back was a fav of mine, once you make it thru all the waves it repeats.
I think the same is true for E.T. which is one of the causes of that infamous dump in the desert.
Merry Christmas! I remember spring or summer early 1980s, probably 1985 my father brought someone's old Atari 2600 and all the games and cases and stuff. Me and my brother sat in my room playing on an old black and white white 13-In TV. And I think eventually we got a 13" color TV because I do remember playing it in color. I remember getting confused and frustrated with a bunch of games and there were a lot of games you had fun with too. I remember hearing how popular Pac-Man was and that was one of the games that was in this collection and we had fun with it and that's what I thought the actual Pac-Man was. I don't think I even knew there was an arcade version. I think Phoenix was my favorite game too. And me and my brother had a lot of fun playing circus the one with the two clowns bouncing around the screen. You would just have fun trying to kill each other and hearing the fart sound when they splatted. The odd thing is that's the one system I don't have any nostalgia for.
Venture's the one that confused 11:12 to figure out that the arrow was a sword and I thought you could drag the bridge around too
I never knew about that cheat and space Invaders
Yar's Revenge was my favorite.
Danke!
Thanks very much!
Have you got or used a Vectrex? cartridges like the PiTrex open up a lot of possibilities for it
I remember playing asteroids for like a whole day one time.
In 1977 there was barely a home video game market. Basically a bunch of Pong clones. Everyone was clamoring for Star Wars toys.
Granted I was likely in Kindergarten when Space Invaders and Galaxian were the hot new thing, but I have memories of PAC-Man being a “new” game a year or two later. And I remember trying to put nickels in dimes in the sit down console of Sega’s Monaco GP not understanding that 25 cents meant quarters only 😊. The existence of the 2600 wasn’t on my “radar scope” (see what I did there, Nintendo?). I recon that the big marketing push on tv and in-store displays got our family interested. In particular, at Sears where we bought their Tele-Games Video Arcade flavor of the 2600. I can’t say when we got it but the 2600 Pac-Man was not out or even announced yet. I’m going to guess Christmas 1980 or perhaps earlier in 80. And, to the point, that’s when arcade games started to get really good. And I started spending time there and our earliest 2600 games (again, the Sears version that sadly did not have the artwork on the cartridge, only the box) were Combat and Space Invaders and Asteroids and Night Driver and Indy 500 (with those special 360-degree paddles). And soon Activision was on the scene. Dragster and Laser Blast and Kaboom. In a way, the 2600 just got started by 1980 - early 1981.
And it was fresh enough that even when I got my 5200 in September 1983, and we gave our Sears “2600” to my cousins, I kept many games and even played Pitfall II on a 2600-adapter for our Coleco Vision (yeah, got one of those too, also had 5200-2600 adapter but it would not work on the original 4-port 5200 without paying a technician to mod it and I guess my dad thought “why not just get the Coleco?!?” I’m not complaining!). So by 1984 it was all 5200/Coleco (mainly 5200, the one I wanted and liked and saved up for myself). But the 2600 platform had 6-7 years overall and games were still trickling out. PLUS any game you wanted but had not gotten previously due to, you know, budgeting concerns, we’re now discounted!! I didn’t get Adventure until close to my replacing it (hardware) with the 5200. So while that may have still been in the prime price days , I see how I did not get every game when they came out but rather a year or two so later.
And I’m still working on the list. I kid you not, Christmas is two days away and I have a plastic tub full of 5200 games and Intellivision games that I need to move elsewhere. I had them on top of the fireplace mantle but had to move them for the garland and other decorations. Wife doesn’t want this tub sitting around. To me, it IS Christmas all over again. I got the 5200 Trak Ball for Christmas 1983 (thanks Dad! [R. I. P. ]) Anyhow I have most of the 5200 games in box. I can’t believe I passed on an auction for Meteorites for $150 the other year. Stoopid grocery shopping responsibilities!! But I am gonna keep hunting. And does my teenager need to go to college? I need to afford Bounty Bob Strikes Back !😂
Great review, thank you! I spent hours on Space Invaders and Pitfall. Do you remember Kangaroo? Kind of a Donkey Kong knock-off.
Yes, Kangaroo is a fun game too! I remember seeing it once in the arcade as well.
It's amazing, the Bowling game on the VCS is more advanced in terms of its controls and gameplay than Bowling Night on the Commodore 64. Have you played Bowling Night? It's one of the first C64 games I remember playing when I was about 5 years old or so.
I haven't tried that one. My favourite C64 bowling game is 10th Frame which is by the same guys that made Leaderboard golf game.
I was probably playing Omega Race or Radar Rat Race on my VIC-20 in 1983. Never had a 2600 VCS.
Good audience! :)
I loved Pac Man back in the day, it was my only game for quite a while. So I would either pick that one or River Raid, which is a really excellent shooter.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!!!
Thanks, same to you!
Pacman was rewritten recently by someone and its almost like the original arcade version!
I chuckled at seeing a cartridge system with a loading screen
Yeah, it's a bit strange. From what I've heard, the console is actually dumping the cartridge ROM contents into its own memory to run it locally.
I dig some of the cartridge art. Yar's revenge or Asteroids. It's so funny how much the game graphics are different from that art xD .
Pitfall II was was a real banger. I like Demon Attack, too. The different sounds the demons made when they got destroyed were mesmerizing. And that increasing pitch, like the motion tracker from Aliens.
I'd like to have enough place to set up my C64 and Vectrex but I guess I don't :( . Also: where the heck is my Atari 2600? I got the small black version first, but it somehow broke. After that my cousin gave me his "wood" version. I wonder if it's somewhere in my parent's cellar. I'd put it onto the "retro desk", just next to the C64 and Vectrex!
The tune vanguard played was from flash Gordon by queen
Hitting the 1/3 pins results in a strike.
i am somewhat surprised, that these kids are not disgusted by the primitive gfx!
It's interesting that they made okay to insert the cartridge while the system is on, which is something that is DEFINITELY not recommended on an original Atari 2600! Interesting also that it "loads" the game once inserted, meaning that the cart is not mapped to any internal memory per se but loaded into memory space in the emulator (or FPGA. Not sure which approach they used). It's a shame that they didn't include an SD card slot so you can play your own digital files though. Is there a cartridge out there that has one so you can choose your cart and then insert it? As lively as the Atari community is, I would be very surprised if such a cartridge didn't already exist.
I think a software-switched multi-cartridge wouldn't work because of how the 2600+ essentially dumps the cartridge into its own memory and then executes it. So further bank switching, or loading from SD cards or whatever wouldn't be seen by the 2600+.
Merry Christmas Robin and Family!
Are those all your kids or did you borrow a few? 😂
Simon
I kind of lost track, but I think most of them are mine!
I love it! Thanks for sharing this.
"A whole 20 years before I was born.."
"Amazing. Ok...!" *moving on*
I handle my kids' comments the same way. 🙂
What a great video showcasing a great system that brings back many memories from my childhood, as well as showing what a great set of kids you've got. My 3 sons, who are now in their 30's -well, the 2 youngest are right at the cusp- used to give me hours of entertainment, mainly on the early Nintendo systems, until they could easily and routinely whip my rearend in them. They still have a penchant for playing old-school games that I'm surprised they still have; must've gotten it from me!
Merry Christmas!
“Only 1-player games?!” …when you have an in-room audience?! Boo!
Growing up with my twin brother, the 2P-only games like Combat were GLORIOUS. If I recall correctly, there were only two or three games that were 2P-only, and Slot Racers ended up being our absolute favorite game on the system. It was like Atari’s version of Super Mario Kart Battle Mode… which wouldn’t exist for many more years. :)
Watching this console 'boot' was ..... well, let's just say that back in my day when you pressed the power button the game was ready to play. As in right now, not 10 seconds from now......
It's interesting to see how technology has 'progressed' here when the original Atari console actually boots several orders of Magnitude faster than this current reproduction.
Interesting piece of trivia which you may already know, the 2600+ was manufactured by the same company who make the Retro Games products, TheC64 etc, it's made by RichCo Asia Pty Ltd.
I actually didn't know! Do you know if there something about that particular company that makes them well-suited to making retro products? Like, maybe they have senior management or engineers that have a love for that stuff? Or maybe they're just the cheapest ;) (but I think the 2600+ and TheC64 are pretty well made).
@@8_Bit I know nothing about either RichCo Asia or Plaion, except that I think Plaion, formerly Koch Media, have lots of experience distributing electronic media. I'm under the impression that Plaion and RichCo Asia work hand in hand very closely to manufacture and distribute these products. If you look on the bottom of your unit, you should see info about the manufacturer and distributor. I don't have a 2600+, but I've seen pictures of the bottom on UA-cam, and RGL posted about the 2600+ on Facebook because Plaion distribute it, and of course their own products, at least, they do in Europe.
"Ive got a bunch of my kids here", how many do you have? 🤣
Merry Christmas, Robin and family from here in the UK.
A full byte of them! Thanks, Merry Christmas to you too :)
@@8_Bit Bitmapped? :)
ET Phone home!
I think someone phoned in ET's face.
The C64 version of River Raid is the definitive version IMHO.
18:00 Yars has the source code scrambled on the screen
I had an awesome double sided cartridge with “Pikes peak” and “haunted house “ from xonox. Does anyone else remember this?
I've got one or two of those double-enders. Different combinations of games though.
Drop down! Reverse direction! Increase speed!
Where's Custer's Revenge?
BTW, that purple pickle is an often used emoji.
How come some games have lots of sprites like space invaders and phoenix and there's no flickering. Enjoyed the show 🎄🎄🎄
The Atari 2600 has some weird tricks such as allowing each sprite to be duplicated (with identical graphics) up to 2 more times, and then with some very precise programming, made to turn on or off individually, or even have the graphics changed. But they have to be in a certain formation which Space Invaders and Phoenix lend themselves nicely to, and Pac-Man doesn't as the ghosts are free-roaming. Pac-Man certainly could have been better but they prioritized the 2-player mode which consumed a lot of RAM.
@@8_Bit: With Pac-Man, they have the excuse that the flickery sprites are supposed to be "ghosts".
E.T. is AAA compared to the thousands of scammy asset flips on Steam these days.