I've been an Atari gamer since it came out in 1977 when I was a kid. I still enjoy the console in 2022. As for games, Imagic and Activision made some of the best games on the Atari 2600 back in the day. I was surprised you didn't have Pitfall or HERO on your list, but as you mentioned, not everyone's list will be the same LOL. As a side note, I have the exact same Pac-Man binder you keep your high scores in. Be sure to checkout some Atari 2600 homebrews. Wonderful stuff being made in present day for the console.
Indeed! Homebrews are amazing, such as "Pac-Man 8K", "Mappy" and "Donkey Kong VCS". Amazing what can be done when you have infinite time to work on your game. - Pac-Man 8K: ua-cam.com/video/JA3mIWzwrZk/v-deo.htmlsi=6Lkc6aJtB39zARzR&t=26 - Mappy: ua-cam.com/video/w-8xNE_Knx8/v-deo.htmlsi=R3XCFwiMtVzrZAkb - Donkey Kong VCS: ua-cam.com/video/_Y6vhLDN3dI/v-deo.htmlsi=VSaJfv4jQOE-Umov
Thanks for the tip about junior pacman it sounds pretty cool I'll play It. It probably gets overlooked because of pacman and miss pacman and people just assume it's more of the same.
i had to give u a like, no intro, no asking for subs, no sponsers, right to the point, i didnt have to skip the first part of the video as i do in any other video, thank you so much for this editing.
BTW, there is no writing for the Top 10s. I did some notes, but didn't really use them in the video. It's easy to talk about things that are enjoyable to you.
THIS! We use to speed run level one for time and practice it over and over. I've had a couple of the cheap emulator joysticks and Adventure is always the first game I go to.
I always enjoy firing up my 2600 and playing Pitfall II, HERO, Frogger, Yars’ Revenge, Keystone Kapers, Frostbite, QBert, Pengo, Dig Dug, Popeye, Jungle Hunt & Atlantis. River Raid & Ms PacMan are also great
A solid list. Here's my Top 10 from what I've played so far. 1. Yars' Revenge. 2. Raiders of the Lost Ark. 3. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. 4. Spider-Man. 5. Night Driver. 6. Street Racer. 7. Missile Command. 8. Video Checkers. 9. Dodge 'Em. 10. Ms. Pac-Man.
@@jasonflinders-1984 Someone did a video about _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial_ where he falls in a pit, tries to get out, falls again, and repeats. That's the experience of little kids, and why it was returned. If they had done playtesting they might have known this and fixed it. Or if they had made it about a bicycle chase action game it could have been great.
@@sandal_thong8631 maybe so, i was a little kid playing that game so maybe they had a glitch or something.? Who knows, it wasn't a great game from what i remember, but not terrible...
A woman did River Raid, but let's not forget a woman did (half of) the original arcade Centipede. Her name is Dona Bailey, but it's unconfirmed if she's actually the mother of Justin Bailey.
Too bad they didn't convert another text adventure game like _Voodoo Castle. Haunted House_ could have been so much better, if they'd used 24 screens instead of 4 screens with 6 rooms each. I played it, but it got old fast. I can't see playing it again since I beat game 9 in 5 matches.
Some of my favorite 2600 games are Enduro, Pole Position, Jr. Pac-man, Missle Command, Millipede, Pitfall, Hero, Keystone Kapers, along with lesser known games like Laser Gate and Star Gunner. I also love homebrews like Space Rocks, Juno First, Lady Bug, Scramble, Super Cobra the Arcade game, and Draconian.
There are three Atari games that I always come back to: Pitfall II, Aquaventure, Frogs & Flies. 2600 can be pretty rough around the edges, but those three are among my favorite games. Especially Frogs & Flies.
Favorite atari games, pitfall, seaquest, donkey Kong, pacman, frogger, space invaders. I know there were others too. The ones I listed I remember easily because they were played all the time. Thanks for sharing your list of favorites. 👍
This guy continues to be my friend in another dimension. Enduro was soo good and Ioved river raid. I was honestly thinking the same thing about megamania being a step above everything else.
Nice pucks! I never knew there was that Stargate cartridge fir 2600!!! I have to find that. I lost my original Atari and am now getting back into building another original 2600 collection. I had several of these as a kid. I had such a blast playing with these games. So many good memories from this system! These are some great suggestions of games that I have forgotten about. I will add them to my list to look for! Thanks.
Agree with Megamania, it was amazing how a 2600 game was a better playing and more fun game than most arcade games at the time with much better hardware.
I got nearly all my Activision games on the cheap at the thrift store, but they didn't have Megamania. I played a lot when they came out at other kids' homes but though they looked good, I didn't buy them (except for _Pitfall!)_ because they seemed too simple and quick.
Journey Escape - it had a great intro, music and was fun to play. It was also the only game I remember that were given money not points. Pele's soccer- loved the fireworks at a goal. Jungle Hunt- level variety kept me coming back Solaris- great graphics Donkey Kong Jr.-great graphics and variety. Realsports Tennis- putting your name on the scoreboard was cool. Realsports Boxing- one of the best boxing games ever. Love everything about it. Skateboarding- a lot of fun Freeway River raid Frostbite Decathlon Keystone kapers California Games Ok, I"ll stop🤣
When playing Vanguard, do not shoot the boss straight away. Hold your fire and dodge for as long as possible - the longer you wait the more points you get. Very good list - great to see Megamania get the recognition it deserves. Would be high up in my list too. I'd also have Kaboom, Super Breakout, Jr. Pacman, Yars Revenge, Atlantis, Demon Attack, Activision Tennis and Beamrider but I couldn't order them.
I had Vanguard as a kid and played countless hours and I didn't know that. I also found something new about this game just this week. The level before you get to the boss has these coiled snake looking enemies. If you let them hit you in a certain way, your score racks up for a couple of seconds instead of losing a life.
River Raid, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall (and unlike most people, I like it way better than Pitfall II), Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Phoenix, Frogger. I likely pick these as they are some of the relatively few games I had back in the day. I didn't have an Atari, I had a Coleco Gemini, which was an Atari Clone. I no longer have the Gemini, but I do have a 2600 and lots of games for it now.
Nice list of games! I also like: - Kangaroo - Street Racer - Concentration - Sneak'n Peek - Haunted House - Adventure - Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em (oh wait, nevermind, lol I've never actually played this game haha)
Your list is gold! I actually grew up with a lot of these games and were definitely blown away how good they were. I remember playing Vanguard the first time and being able to travel upside down in that cavern. And all the Activision titles mentioned are still my favorites. I would recommend Pressure Cooker and Robot Tank if you haven't played them.
12:00 - Missile Command might be my fav game on the 2600! When my fam and headed to Denver, CO in 2009 for my Grandma's funeral, my sis and I were at a mall and she discovered a vintage arcade there. There was my first and only time I've ever played MC on an arcade cabinet.
If you have someone to play against, Frogs and Flies on the 2600 is incredible. Literally the best head-to-head two player game ever made. Just make sure both players are on Hard mode to enable free movement. Every time we bust it out around here people get really into it, it's so much fun.
At the time, I didn't know that M-Network was porting Intellivision games in 1982-3. Too bad they didn't do that a year earlier (and add 1-player modes) when there was less competition so they might have scored a 1-million seller. I got _Armor Ambush_ and _Super Challenge Baseball_ when they came out, but the "super challenge" was finding opponents willing to learn the controls and play well. Someone and his brother should do videos about the best two-player games on Atari that they loved playing. It's almost a different system from 1977-1980 (lots of two-player games) to 1981-1984 (popular 1-player games).
Just today I brought on atari junior from someone in london. He sold it 25 pounds and came with 15 games. I thought it was a scammer, but I hit gold there, and he gave me one atari 2600 wood ribbon damaged for free.
I didn't even know they had a chess game with a competent AI for the 2600, the surprise for me was not that you chose it as an honourable mention, but that it had a competent computer player
also I've read that there was a difficulty setting 7, in which it takes on average 10 hours per turn! a person said they played that setting, they'd turn off the TV and go to school, and they had a physical chess board, which they would update
I may just be bad at chess, but it seems like the default game has a competent computer opponent. The fact that the computer can play chess at all is amazing; especially given this it came out in 1979.
Watch out, they say the computer cheats (moves pieces) while the screen is off. I had a lot of fun playing _Backgammon_ on the Atari, but haven't committed to the brain challenge to win at no-luck strategy games like _Othello_ and _3D-Tic-Tac-Toe._
Always keep coming back to the 2600, the first console/ computer that came in our household when I was a kid...Demon Attack without a doubt my personal fave...
Love the 2600. It's the only original hardware console I have attached to a CRT television. Using a MiSTer FPGA for everything else.Think of Atari 2600 game graphics as abstract art. It simplifies art to its essentials while focusing on game play.
Some nice surprises on this list! The 2600 was my family's first console in the late '80s, and I genuinely love playing these games to this day. My current Top 10: - Gravitar - Demons To Diamonds - Adventures of Tron - Solaris - Mouse Trap - Galaxian - Desert Falcon - California Games - Phoenix - Defender 2 / Stargate Honourable Mentions: - Fantastic Voyage - BMX Airmaster - Fathom
What a relief you mentioned Pac-Man Jr.! Though I don't remember a whole lot from being 4, 5, 6 years old, I remember plenty of fun on the 2600 during those days. I specifically picked out Pac-Man Jr. at the store when I was a youngling getting to pick a birthday present (5th birthday I think?). LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I also spent a TON of time on Centipede. One game that was really unique in my opinion was Star Raiders. It used an additional controller. It was like a 9-key dial pad. I don't remember much about the gameplay, but I do remember having some fun with it. While I don't have a "top 10", here are some games I'm SHOCKED got no mention in either of your top 10 videos. (Yes, opinions are subjective, mileage varies lol) These seemed like such HUGE titles whether on the 2600 console, in the arcades, or both. Frogger, Q-bert and Breakout. And last but NOT lease, a game that was played the most BY FAR in our household was Circus Atari! I don't know if it was a port/rename of an arcade game, but OMG it was so satisfying! :D
Interesting choices, Defender II / Stargate is so good on the 2600. Surely one of the best graphics games on the system. My top 3 favourites are Xenophobe, Radar Lock and Dark Chambers. Other top titles IMO are Centipede, Mario Bros, Pole Position and Qbert.
@@danieldoyle8724 For sure do, Dark Chambers is a great dungeon game and better than "Adventure" IMO. Xenophobe is a super tense Aliens inspired survival shooter.
Glad to see a top 10 game list from someone who is like me, in the sense that we both got the 2600 in 1981. Some of these younger gamers have a different perspective having not played them when they were cutting edge. Even I am guilty of judging games that I did not play back then too quickly rather than fully exploring the strategies that actually make the game fun. Was already stoked on your video, but when you put Megamania on top, I'm like- this guy knows what's up! That game is beautifully designed, and is the quintessential shooter of the time. The game play is fun and varied... and reasonably challenging. (You are better at it than me!) It is a game that would easily be dismissed today if you didn't take the time to get through more than the first level or two. Anyway, great to see an honest top 10 list that doesn't just automatically put H.E.R.O. at the top. (I'll admit it is a good game, but never saw it back in the day.) I was lucky enough to play Vanguard back then and was blown away by it. Also, the inclusion of Atari Chess was great. It was a technical A.I. feat for the time with limited memory and processing speed. It was largely felt, when the game was being developed, that it would be impossible to program a challenging A.I. on the Atari. Obviously there are better versions of chess now, but the fact they pulled it off in the late 70s is worthy of note. Nicely done video, I'll check out some of your others.
Some of my favorites: Dark Chambers - Gauntlet on the 2600 though slow Warlords - 4 player was an absolute blast. Atlantis - Favorite shooter. California Games - Specifically the BMX portion Raiders of the Lost Ark - First game I remember with inventory management. E.T. - I thought it was a fun adventure game. Definitely not the worst game ever. Indy 500 - Favorite racing game Solaris - Felt like a really complex game for the 2600 but I never was able to finish it.
I know Dark Chambers on the 7800, there was one on 2600 too? Does it ever get like harder and faster or does it stay kinda sluggish and slow? It seems like a cool game but it's just so sluggish at first...
Top 10 in no particular order: Yar's Revenge, Centipede, Berserk, Solaris, Missle Command, Defender, Asteroids, Demon's to Dimonds, Joust, & Moon Patrol. Most I remember from my childhood, but Yar's Revenge and Centipede are relatively recent additions from playing the Evercade. Three honorable mentions are Crystal Castles, Kangaroo and Human Canonball. I actually have tons of honorable mentions as well as lists of games I want to try, like Megamaniac and the Pac-man sequels. Great video.
Nice list! I did not have a 2600 as a kid, but my cousin did and one of my best friends did. That’s where my early experience of it came in (1980-1984). Eventually, my friend picked up a C64 and we switched accordingly. My family finally picked up a home console in 1988-the Atari 7800-and over the next couple years I collected about two dozen games for it; 12 of which were 2600 titles. The 7800 gets a lot of grief for its sound--but it’s backward compatibility and affordability for our family at the time gives it a solid place in my heart. Here’s my top 10 favorites: 10) Space Invaders. This really was the killer app for the system, considering how big this game was. My cousin killed it at this one. 9) Ms Pac-Man. Big boost when it went to 7800. 8) Berserk 7) Missile Command. 6) Phoenix. I prefer this to Demon Attack. Honorable mention to Galaxian. 5) River Raid 4) Frogger 3) Wizard of Wor. Huge fan of this game. Probably spent more time playing this with my friend in the early 80s than any other game 2) Pitfall. 1) Mario Bros. The 2600 port of this is surprisingly excellent, with great controls. Other honorable mentions: Commando, Kaboom!, Keystone Kapers, HERO, Dig-Dug, Joust, Combat, Defender.
Missle command is my go to game, Maga maina I have not played yet. Looks fast for a 2600. Great video. Good job. 👍 Okay people of the world don't forget to use your sega genesis control! :)
Magamania was one of my favorites as well. I got really good at it and would clear a screen in one pass on certain levels. What I remember most was the greater of Magamania put his own best score in the booklet you would get with the game and would invite anyone who could beat it to take a picture of you tv screen and send it to him. I did beat it but never got around to sending it. Another favorite of mine was Atlantis.
Wow! I did NOT expect Megamania to be #1! I spent the whole vid hoping it would at least get an honorable mention. I didn't have my own 2600 as a kid, just played with other folks when i could. Later, as a young adult in the early 2000s, I finally bought my own 2600 on ebay. Megamania was in the lot of games I bought, and it was the first time I ever played it. So, it's a "later" game for me. But, wow, it stood out as the most playable and re-playable game I had for the system. As much as I love old faves like Pitfall, I spent way more time with Megamania. Thanks for the video! I subscribed!
My Sears Tele-Games version was from Christmas 1979 I believe. It was my machine of choice until about 1981 when I got my VIC-20, but I still used it a lot until about 1985 or so. Freeway, StarMaster, StarRaiders, Ms. Pac Man, Demon Attack, Yars Revenge, Combat, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Missile Command and Atlantis were in my top ten in the early 80's. The list is a bit different now. I still love playing my 2600 games to this day.
I can totally relate to joust, so many times I've been out taking a stroll on my flying ostrich and other people mounted on flying ostriches have begun swooping down on me and after I've managed to get past that, those pesky pterodactyls are always the bane of my day admittedly flying ostriches come in quite handy when living in a world engulfed with lava
I tried my first Atari 2600 game a few days ago, it was a console that was before my time, but based on your recommendations I felt like giving it a try. I'm super impressed that they are as fun as they are. I now have a love hate relationship with megamania, it's so difficult and frustrating, but I keep coming back to it for one more try. Thank you for your video.
Stargate! Brilliant game. It gets manic as you progress. My brother and I used to love playing it together, we'd take turns in being pilot and gunner! (The second joystick controlled ’inviso' which was temporary invulnerability, smart bombs which took every enemy out on screen and emergency hyperspace which could get you out of and sometimes into a jam!)
I had Termoil too and River Raid, Enduro, Atlantis, Bobby is going home, Frogger three deep II, Keystone Kapers, Commando, Outlaw, Combat, Threshold, Missle Command, Astroids, Berzerk, Space Invaders, Cosmic Arc, Othello, Mario Bros, Laser Gates, Wizard of Wor, Title Match, Pac Man, Astroids, Solaris, Q Bert, Demon Attack and the other 9 games i had i cant remember atm
Nice video! I'll need to check out Vanguard. My pics: Air Sea Battle Combat Dragonfire Fantastic Voyage Frankenstein's Monster Frostbite River Raid Seaquest Video Olympics
I will play kaboom and warlords for hours. Gotta be quick with the paddle. Adventure might be my favorite, and pitfall II will give you the sweats or make you want to pull your hair out
1:59 - I too had an Atari 2600 AND 7800 in the house due to my Dad's fondness for video games at this point in time. I also played it up until and beyond the release of the NES. I distinctly remember playing Kaboom! at daycare when I was in 2nd grade ('88/'89) and their neighbor owning The Legend Of Zelda at this time. Only reason I remember the latter is cuz I had learned some great tactics about TLOZ from a friend and the neighbor letting me (and only me) in his house to help him with an enemy. He was having trouble defeating a boss (either Dodongo or Manhandla) I think. This neighbor was prolly around 15 or 16 and I was 7 or 8. Since I was the only one allowed in the house, I recall the neighborhood kids gathered around a window at that house to watch the gameplay. Once I was done helping out Jason (the teen), he invited me to leave his house. Anyway, that's my recollection of my own experience with the Atari/NES overlap... which prolly didn't last much longer after that point.
Awesome recommendations! River Raid is also one of my favs. Gonna try them out soon. Here are mine: Yar's Revenge Warlords H.E.R.O. Cosmic Ark Wall Defender Criminal Persuit Jungle Hunt Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi: Death Star
If you're looking for unique, off-the-wall Atari games, give Tunnel Runner a shot. It's a first-person(!) maze game; you have to avoid monsters, find the key, find the exit. Original carts can be rare and expensive, but there are alternatives.
Mines are Yars Revenge, Defender, Combat, Air sea Batlles, Mrs Pac-Man, Pole Position, Qbert, Missile Command, Adventures, Galaxian, Démons to Démons, Star Wars.
I played so much Megamania when I was a kid just watching and listening to it just bow triggered something in me. I need to play this soon. Always been in my top 3 with Yar’s Revenge and Adventure. Order keeps changing.
My top 3 are Kaboom (a unique and frenzied experience you can only get on a 2600 with paddles), River Raid, and Enduro. I also love Megamania. I enjoy the unique gameplay of Reactor and Stampede as well. Watching an Atari 2600 video which has Shenmue music, wild.
These look like some great games, you've got good taste. Never played the Atari but my favorite games that had old versions are: Space Invaders Extreme, Frogger Hyper, Burger Time, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Boulder Dash, Asteroids, Lode Runner, Pac-Man 256 & Galaga
As an eight year old I remember loving the box graphics. Bought many games that were crappy but they had great box art. Every little mom & pop store had one to three game cabinets & I aggravated mom & dad for quarters endlessly. Don’t doubt my mom got an Atari 2600 just to stop hearing the work quarter.
First console I ever played, like most people I imagine. Some of my favorites were: River Raid Pitfall Phoenix (demon attack clone?) Megamania Mountain King Frogs and Flies Berzerk Seaquest Chopper Command RealSports Volleyball.
Actually Phoenix was an arcade port. Demon Attack is a clone and had a boss, but due to an Atari lawsuit it was removed. However, the Intellivision Demon Attack has the boss.
Dude I used to love Demon Attack! I must have played this 1000's of times. I always thought it was better than Space Invaders. Thanks for the trip down 2600 lane!
solid list I agree with almost all of them. You are so right about centifpede it may not have the graphics but holy crap the game play is so fantastic.
One game that I liked was the one that came packaged with it, Combat but they should have included a single player mode. It's not all that exciting to shoot down enemy planes or tanks when they are just sitting ducks.
The Atari logbook challenge says to play game 15 on difficulty B. Pro (Blue Angel): shoot 17 (I did 19 in 1982) Master (Flying Phantom): shoot 26 (I did it in 2006) Wizard (Scourge of the Skies): shoot 34 (I did 35 in 2020) I felt it made the Atari look bad by 1981. I got _Armor Ambush_ in 1982, but that didn't have a 1-player mode either. _Time Pilot_ looks like the flying part of _Combat._ Maybe for variety you could have another player use paddles to avoid being hit in the jet fighters. If you press both buttons simultaneously, it thinks you're moving the joystick left and right at the same time, which causes a weird effect.
I begged my mother for Atari's Chess back in the early 80s. I specifically remember her saying it was an extra expensive game and it was $50 at the time. She ended up relenting and got it for me as a Christmas gift. I played the heck out of that game. I remember at the highest difficulty, it took the computer 24 hours per move. That cracked me up... I guess you would have to leave the Atari on for like a month straight to play a proper game at that level. I never did it, but I think I did let it think for most of a day, just as a goof... with the screen flickering non-stop while it computed its next move. lol
I think it came out in January 1983, (I got it) and they stopped doing catalogs, so anyone who bought an Atari cart in late 1982 or later, didn't get the "ads" for other "new" games.
I like River Raid, but I think the game would make more sense if you have a boat rather than a plane. The fact that the plane crashes into the river bank or bridge doesn't make sense because it should be able to fly over them.
My top game for the 2600: _Adventures of TRON_ by M-Network. It's a platformer. Collect 7 "bits" per level then exit via the I/O tower. What makes it unique is that there are few places of safety, but the enemies always move in a predictable way, so a lot of the game is getting behind the enemies for a moment of safety. I also love the "solar sailer" which can carry you over the heads of enemies on one of the platform levels. IMHO it's a 10/10 game, and I still play it frequently (in emulation).
I always wondered how they came up with Joust. Knights riding ostriches over a pit to hell that has hands that try to drag you in? Then I remember how much drug use was going on in the industry at the time and it all makes sense.
Here is another Atari Top 10, but it's the greatest according to fans: ua-cam.com/video/sHZ-eqAHtPM/v-deo.htmlsi=iwHNUXd3M-KRpEBE
I've been an Atari gamer since it came out in 1977 when I was a kid. I still enjoy the console in 2022. As for games, Imagic and Activision made some of the best games on the Atari 2600 back in the day. I was surprised you didn't have Pitfall or HERO on your list, but as you mentioned, not everyone's list will be the same LOL. As a side note, I have the exact same Pac-Man binder you keep your high scores in. Be sure to checkout some Atari 2600 homebrews. Wonderful stuff being made in present day for the console.
Indeed! Homebrews are amazing, such as "Pac-Man 8K", "Mappy" and "Donkey Kong VCS". Amazing what can be done when you have infinite time to work on your game.
- Pac-Man 8K: ua-cam.com/video/JA3mIWzwrZk/v-deo.htmlsi=6Lkc6aJtB39zARzR&t=26
- Mappy: ua-cam.com/video/w-8xNE_Knx8/v-deo.htmlsi=R3XCFwiMtVzrZAkb
- Donkey Kong VCS: ua-cam.com/video/_Y6vhLDN3dI/v-deo.htmlsi=VSaJfv4jQOE-Umov
Thanks for the tip about junior pacman it sounds pretty cool I'll play It. It probably gets overlooked because of pacman and miss pacman and people just assume it's more of the same.
i had to give u a like, no intro, no asking for subs, no sponsers, right to the point, i didnt have to skip the first part of the video as i do in any other video, thank you so much for this editing.
Yeah. Compared to a lot of other videos, the writing is sharp and snappy.
I used to have a short intro, but cut it out in the last two videos. This is the first time I dove right into number 10.
BTW, there is no writing for the Top 10s. I did some notes, but didn't really use them in the video. It's easy to talk about things that are enjoyable to you.
My favorite 2600 games hands down was Adventure
THIS! We use to speed run level one for time and practice it over and over. I've had a couple of the cheap emulator joysticks and Adventure is always the first game I go to.
I always enjoy firing up my 2600 and playing Pitfall II, HERO, Frogger, Yars’ Revenge, Keystone Kapers, Frostbite, QBert, Pengo, Dig Dug, Popeye, Jungle Hunt & Atlantis. River Raid & Ms PacMan are also great
That's a pretty stellar list.
I like your list better.
I remember Yars Revenge
A solid list. Here's my Top 10 from what I've played so far.
1. Yars' Revenge.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark.
3. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.
4. Spider-Man.
5. Night Driver.
6. Street Racer.
7. Missile Command.
8. Video Checkers.
9. Dodge 'Em.
10. Ms. Pac-Man.
Will never understand why ET got such a bad rap lol always loved that game, maybe just sentimental . ?
@@jasonflinders-1984 Someone did a video about _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial_ where he falls in a pit, tries to get out, falls again, and repeats. That's the experience of little kids, and why it was returned. If they had done playtesting they might have known this and fixed it. Or if they had made it about a bicycle chase action game it could have been great.
@@sandal_thong8631 maybe so, i was a little kid playing that game so maybe they had a glitch or something.? Who knows, it wasn't a great game from what i remember, but not terrible...
Yes! I love to see Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET mentioned. I know ET gets trashed but that is honestly, no lie one of my favorite 2600 games.
A woman did River Raid, but let's not forget a woman did (half of) the original arcade Centipede. Her name is Dona Bailey, but it's unconfirmed if she's actually the mother of Justin Bailey.
ugh...
Adventure is probably my all time favorite on the 2600. First game with an Easter egg. Superman and haunted house are right behind it.
Too bad they didn't convert another text adventure game like _Voodoo Castle. Haunted House_ could have been so much better, if they'd used 24 screens instead of 4 screens with 6 rooms each. I played it, but it got old fast. I can't see playing it again since I beat game 9 in 5 matches.
Superman is fantastic! I still love that game.
1. Berserk
2. Yar's Revenge
3. Jr Pac Man
4. Crystal Castles
5. Blueprint
6. Warlords
7. ET
8. Cosmic Ark
9. Spiderman
10. Lock N Chase
Some of my favorite 2600 games are Enduro, Pole Position, Jr. Pac-man, Missle Command, Millipede, Pitfall, Hero, Keystone Kapers, along with lesser known games like Laser Gate and Star Gunner. I also love homebrews like Space Rocks, Juno First, Lady Bug, Scramble, Super Cobra the Arcade game, and Draconian.
How do you play Scramble on the 2600? Is it just the ROM? The reason I ask is because the joystick only has one button so how do you drop your bombs?
It's a homebrew developed by Champ Games. The button is for both shooting and dropping bombs.@@Gen-X-Memories
It also has an option for a Genesis controller for a 2 button game.@@Gen-X-Memories
There are three Atari games that I always come back to: Pitfall II, Aquaventure, Frogs & Flies. 2600 can be pretty rough around the edges, but those three are among my favorite games. Especially Frogs & Flies.
Oh I loved playing frogs and flies with my sister. We always made characters out of the frogs rather than playing the game.
Favorite atari games, pitfall, seaquest, donkey Kong, pacman, frogger, space invaders. I know there were others too. The ones I listed I remember easily because they were played all the time.
Thanks for sharing your list of favorites. 👍
This guy continues to be my friend in another dimension. Enduro was soo good and Ioved river raid. I was honestly thinking the same thing about megamania being a step above everything else.
Great list. Shoot me, but one of my favourite games is "Boxing". I could probably play that for longer in one sitting than most 2600 games.
Nice pucks! I never knew there was that Stargate cartridge fir 2600!!! I have to find that. I lost my original Atari and am now getting back into building another original 2600 collection. I had several of these as a kid. I had such a blast playing with these games. So many good memories from this system! These are some great suggestions of games that I have forgotten about. I will add them to my list to look for! Thanks.
Agree with Megamania, it was amazing how a 2600 game was a better playing and more fun game than most arcade games at the time with much better hardware.
I got nearly all my Activision games on the cheap at the thrift store, but they didn't have Megamania. I played a lot when they came out at other kids' homes but though they looked good, I didn't buy them (except for _Pitfall!)_ because they seemed too simple and quick.
Journey Escape - it had a great intro, music and was fun to play. It was also the only game I remember that were given money not points.
Pele's soccer- loved the fireworks at a goal.
Jungle Hunt- level variety kept me coming back
Solaris- great graphics
Donkey Kong Jr.-great graphics and variety.
Realsports Tennis- putting your name on the scoreboard was cool.
Realsports Boxing- one of the best boxing games ever. Love everything about it.
Skateboarding- a lot of fun
Freeway
River raid
Frostbite
Decathlon
Keystone kapers
California Games
Ok, I"ll stop🤣
I like the way you explained joust which I never understood but now I think I could give it a go.
When playing Vanguard, do not shoot the boss straight away. Hold your fire and dodge for as long as possible - the longer you wait the more points you get. Very good list - great to see Megamania get the recognition it deserves. Would be high up in my list too. I'd also have Kaboom, Super Breakout, Jr. Pacman, Yars Revenge, Atlantis, Demon Attack, Activision Tennis and Beamrider but I couldn't order them.
I had Vanguard as a kid and played countless hours and I didn't know that. I also found something new about this game just this week. The level before you get to the boss has these coiled snake looking enemies. If you let them hit you in a certain way, your score racks up for a couple of seconds instead of losing a life.
Commando, Ghostbusters, H.E.R.O. and Pitfall are my favourites, Vanguard was pretty amazing when it came out too
Really enjoy these type of videos you're making keep it up!
River Raid, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall (and unlike most people, I like it way better than Pitfall II), Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Phoenix, Frogger. I likely pick these as they are some of the relatively few games I had back in the day. I didn't have an Atari, I had a Coleco Gemini, which was an Atari Clone.
I no longer have the Gemini, but I do have a 2600 and lots of games for it now.
Nice list of games! I also like:
- Kangaroo
- Street Racer
- Concentration
- Sneak'n Peek
- Haunted House
- Adventure
- Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em (oh wait, nevermind, lol I've never actually played this game haha)
Great games!!! 🔥🎮😀
Megamania was great! My personal favorite game on 2600 was spider fighter
Another late one that’s amazing is the arcade adaptation of Phoenix. Fantastic list!!
I like it better than _Demon Attack_ which maker was sued for being a rip-off.
I'm surprised river raid never got a NES port, and I had vanguard as a kid, and yes it was great!
Now that would have been really cool.
@@jdd3786 it could still be made
Your list is gold! I actually grew up with a lot of these games and were definitely blown away how good they were. I remember playing Vanguard the first time and being able to travel upside down in that cavern. And all the Activision titles mentioned are still my favorites. I would recommend Pressure Cooker and Robot Tank if you haven't played them.
12:00 - Missile Command might be my fav game on the 2600! When my fam and headed to Denver, CO in 2009 for my Grandma's funeral, my sis and I were at a mall and she discovered a vintage arcade there. There was my first and only time I've ever played MC on an arcade cabinet.
I've been waiting for you to do this list! Great job. The 2600 was great 👍
If you have someone to play against, Frogs and Flies on the 2600 is incredible. Literally the best head-to-head two player game ever made. Just make sure both players are on Hard mode to enable free movement. Every time we bust it out around here people get really into it, it's so much fun.
At the time, I didn't know that M-Network was porting Intellivision games in 1982-3. Too bad they didn't do that a year earlier (and add 1-player modes) when there was less competition so they might have scored a 1-million seller. I got _Armor Ambush_ and _Super Challenge Baseball_ when they came out, but the "super challenge" was finding opponents willing to learn the controls and play well.
Someone and his brother should do videos about the best two-player games on Atari that they loved playing. It's almost a different system from 1977-1980 (lots of two-player games) to 1981-1984 (popular 1-player games).
Just today I brought on atari junior from someone in london. He sold it 25 pounds and came with 15 games. I thought it was a scammer, but I hit gold there, and he gave me one atari 2600 wood ribbon damaged for free.
I didn't even know they had a chess game with a competent AI for the 2600, the surprise for me was not that you chose it as an honourable mention, but that it had a competent computer player
also I've read that there was a difficulty setting 7, in which it takes on average 10 hours per turn!
a person said they played that setting, they'd turn off the TV and go to school, and they had a physical chess board, which they would update
I may just be bad at chess, but it seems like the default game has a competent computer opponent. The fact that the computer can play chess at all is amazing; especially given this it came out in 1979.
Watch out, they say the computer cheats (moves pieces) while the screen is off. I had a lot of fun playing _Backgammon_ on the Atari, but haven't committed to the brain challenge to win at no-luck strategy games like _Othello_ and _3D-Tic-Tac-Toe._
@@sandal_thong8631Yeah, I remember reading many years ago that the computer will cheat sometimes.
Dreamcast is next!
Shhhhhhh! It's thinking
Can’t wait!
"Gentlemen, start your ENGINES!"
awesome!
Cool, thank you
Always keep coming back to the 2600, the first console/ computer that came in our household when I was a kid...Demon Attack without a doubt my personal fave...
Love the 2600. It's the only original hardware console I have attached to a CRT television. Using a MiSTer FPGA for everything else.Think of Atari 2600 game graphics as abstract art. It simplifies art to its essentials while focusing on game play.
I really prefer _Phoenix_ which _Demon Attack_ may have ripped off, since there was a settlement.
Some nice surprises on this list! The 2600 was my family's first console in the late '80s, and I genuinely love playing these games to this day.
My current Top 10:
- Gravitar
- Demons To Diamonds
- Adventures of Tron
- Solaris
- Mouse Trap
- Galaxian
- Desert Falcon
- California Games
- Phoenix
- Defender 2 / Stargate
Honourable Mentions:
- Fantastic Voyage
- BMX Airmaster
- Fathom
What a relief you mentioned Pac-Man Jr.! Though I don't remember a whole lot from being 4, 5, 6 years old, I remember plenty of fun on the 2600 during those days. I specifically picked out Pac-Man Jr. at the store when I was a youngling getting to pick a birthday present (5th birthday I think?). LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I also spent a TON of time on Centipede. One game that was really unique in my opinion was Star Raiders. It used an additional controller. It was like a 9-key dial pad. I don't remember much about the gameplay, but I do remember having some fun with it.
While I don't have a "top 10", here are some games I'm SHOCKED got no mention in either of your top 10 videos. (Yes, opinions are subjective, mileage varies lol) These seemed like such HUGE titles whether on the 2600 console, in the arcades, or both. Frogger, Q-bert and Breakout. And last but NOT lease, a game that was played the most BY FAR in our household was Circus Atari! I don't know if it was a port/rename of an arcade game, but OMG it was so satisfying! :D
Interesting choices, Defender II / Stargate is so good on the 2600. Surely one of the best graphics games on the system.
My top 3 favourites are Xenophobe, Radar Lock and Dark Chambers.
Other top titles IMO are Centipede, Mario Bros, Pole Position and Qbert.
I've been playing the 2600 for decades and have never played Xenophobe or Dark Chambers. I'm going to have to give them a try.
@@danieldoyle8724 For sure do, Dark Chambers is a great dungeon game and better than "Adventure" IMO. Xenophobe is a super tense Aliens inspired survival shooter.
excellent selection! i would have added berzerk and spider fighter
Glad to see a top 10 game list from someone who is like me, in the sense that we both got the 2600 in 1981. Some of these younger gamers have a different perspective having not played them when they were cutting edge. Even I am guilty of judging games that I did not play back then too quickly rather than fully exploring the strategies that actually make the game fun. Was already stoked on your video, but when you put Megamania on top, I'm like- this guy knows what's up! That game is beautifully designed, and is the quintessential shooter of the time. The game play is fun and varied... and reasonably challenging. (You are better at it than me!) It is a game that would easily be dismissed today if you didn't take the time to get through more than the first level or two. Anyway, great to see an honest top 10 list that doesn't just automatically put H.E.R.O. at the top. (I'll admit it is a good game, but never saw it back in the day.) I was lucky enough to play Vanguard back then and was blown away by it. Also, the inclusion of Atari Chess was great. It was a technical A.I. feat for the time with limited memory and processing speed. It was largely felt, when the game was being developed, that it would be impossible to program a challenging A.I. on the Atari. Obviously there are better versions of chess now, but the fact they pulled it off in the late 70s is worthy of note. Nicely done video, I'll check out some of your others.
Some of my favorites:
Dark Chambers - Gauntlet on the 2600 though slow
Warlords - 4 player was an absolute blast.
Atlantis - Favorite shooter.
California Games - Specifically the BMX portion
Raiders of the Lost Ark - First game I remember with inventory management.
E.T. - I thought it was a fun adventure game. Definitely not the worst game ever.
Indy 500 - Favorite racing game
Solaris - Felt like a really complex game for the 2600 but I never was able to finish it.
I know Dark Chambers on the 7800, there was one on 2600 too? Does it ever get like harder and faster or does it stay kinda sluggish and slow? It seems like a cool game but it's just so sluggish at first...
Top 10 in no particular order: Yar's Revenge, Centipede, Berserk, Solaris, Missle Command, Defender, Asteroids, Demon's to Dimonds, Joust, & Moon Patrol. Most I remember from my childhood, but Yar's Revenge and Centipede are relatively recent additions from playing the Evercade. Three honorable mentions are Crystal Castles, Kangaroo and Human Canonball. I actually have tons of honorable mentions as well as lists of games I want to try, like Megamaniac and the Pac-man sequels. Great video.
Nice list!
I did not have a 2600 as a kid, but my cousin did and one of my best friends did. That’s where my early experience of it came in (1980-1984). Eventually, my friend picked up a C64 and we switched accordingly.
My family finally picked up a home console in 1988-the Atari 7800-and over the next couple years I collected about two dozen games for it; 12 of which were 2600 titles. The 7800 gets a lot of grief for its sound--but it’s backward compatibility and affordability for our family at the time gives it a solid place in my heart.
Here’s my top 10 favorites:
10) Space Invaders. This really was the killer app for the system, considering how big this game was. My cousin killed it at this one.
9) Ms Pac-Man. Big boost when it went to 7800.
8) Berserk
7) Missile Command.
6) Phoenix. I prefer this to Demon Attack. Honorable mention to Galaxian.
5) River Raid
4) Frogger
3) Wizard of Wor. Huge fan of this game. Probably spent more time playing this with my friend in the early 80s than any other game
2) Pitfall.
1) Mario Bros. The 2600 port of this is surprisingly excellent, with great controls.
Other honorable mentions: Commando, Kaboom!, Keystone Kapers, HERO, Dig-Dug, Joust, Combat, Defender.
Nice list! Some of my favorites as a kid: Space Invaders, Pitfall, Berzerk, Ice Hockey, Atlantis, Phoenix, Dig Dug, Robot Tank, Hero, Haunted House.
Ice Hockey is really fun. Especially the 2 player mode.
Missle command is my go to game, Maga maina I have not played yet. Looks fast for a 2600. Great video. Good job. 👍
Okay people of the world don't forget to use your sega genesis control! :)
Magamania was one of my favorites as well. I got really good at it and would clear a screen in one pass on certain levels. What I remember most was the greater of Magamania put his own best score in the booklet you would get with the game and would invite anyone who could beat it to take a picture of you tv screen and send it to him. I did beat it but never got around to sending it. Another favorite of mine was Atlantis.
Wow! I did NOT expect Megamania to be #1! I spent the whole vid hoping it would at least get an honorable mention.
I didn't have my own 2600 as a kid, just played with other folks when i could. Later, as a young adult in the early 2000s, I finally bought my own 2600 on ebay. Megamania was in the lot of games I bought, and it was the first time I ever played it. So, it's a "later" game for me.
But, wow, it stood out as the most playable and re-playable game I had for the system. As much as I love old faves like Pitfall, I spent way more time with Megamania.
Thanks for the video! I subscribed!
My Sears Tele-Games version was from Christmas 1979 I believe. It was my machine of choice until about 1981 when I got my VIC-20, but I still used it a lot until about 1985 or so.
Freeway, StarMaster, StarRaiders, Ms. Pac Man, Demon Attack, Yars Revenge, Combat, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Missile Command and Atlantis were in my top ten in the early 80's. The list is a bit different now. I still love playing my 2600 games to this day.
Starting the actual content the moment the video starts is greatly appreciated.
I can totally relate to joust, so many times I've been out taking a stroll on my flying ostrich and other people mounted on flying ostriches have begun swooping down on me
and after I've managed to get past that, those pesky pterodactyls are always the bane of my day
admittedly flying ostriches come in quite handy when living in a world engulfed with lava
I didn't get a chance to try it out. Much as I loved the arcade game, it looked really bad in comic book ads. Same with _Mario Bros._
I tried my first Atari 2600 game a few days ago, it was a console that was before my time, but based on your recommendations I felt like giving it a try. I'm super impressed that they are as fun as they are. I now have a love hate relationship with megamania, it's so difficult and frustrating, but I keep coming back to it for one more try. Thank you for your video.
Stargate! Brilliant game. It gets manic as you progress.
My brother and I used to love playing it together, we'd take turns in being pilot and gunner! (The second joystick controlled ’inviso' which was temporary invulnerability, smart bombs which took every enemy out on screen and emergency hyperspace which could get you out of and sometimes into a jam!)
Great list . Enduro is on my top 10 . I know HERO has been over promoted but i was playing that before UA-cam was a thing . 👍🏼
Stumbled across your channel today from the uk yorkshire quality content your games knowledge is impeccable
2600 was before my time, but I definitely plan to get one at some point. Megamania looks like fun
I had Termoil too and River Raid, Enduro, Atlantis, Bobby is going home, Frogger three deep II, Keystone Kapers, Commando, Outlaw, Combat, Threshold, Missle Command, Astroids, Berzerk, Space Invaders, Cosmic Arc, Othello, Mario Bros, Laser Gates, Wizard of Wor, Title Match, Pac Man, Astroids, Solaris, Q Bert, Demon Attack and the other 9 games i had i cant remember atm
1. River Raid
2. Chopper Command
3. Atlantis
4. Berzerk
5. Stampede
6. Spider Fighter
7. Mr. Do
8. Lock N' Chase
9. Enduro
10. Reactor
Honorable mentions. Haunted House, Amidar, and Solaris
Nice video! I'll need to check out Vanguard.
My pics:
Air Sea Battle
Combat
Dragonfire
Fantastic Voyage
Frankenstein's Monster
Frostbite
River Raid
Seaquest
Video Olympics
Brilliant. Subbed. Retro game fanatic here, love this kind of content.
I will play kaboom and warlords for hours. Gotta be quick with the paddle. Adventure might be my favorite, and pitfall II will give you the sweats or make you want to pull your hair out
Man, I was so happy to see Enduro, even if it wasn't officially on the list. I've always loved the day night cycle and weather changes
1:59 - I too had an Atari 2600 AND 7800 in the house due to my Dad's fondness for video games at this point in time. I also played it up until and beyond the release of the NES. I distinctly remember playing Kaboom! at daycare when I was in 2nd grade ('88/'89) and their neighbor owning The Legend Of Zelda at this time. Only reason I remember the latter is cuz I had learned some great tactics about TLOZ from a friend and the neighbor letting me (and only me) in his house to help him with an enemy. He was having trouble defeating a boss (either Dodongo or Manhandla) I think. This neighbor was prolly around 15 or 16 and I was 7 or 8. Since I was the only one allowed in the house, I recall the neighborhood kids gathered around a window at that house to watch the gameplay. Once I was done helping out Jason (the teen), he invited me to leave his house. Anyway, that's my recollection of my own experience with the Atari/NES overlap... which prolly didn't last much longer after that point.
I loved spider fighter, bump n jump, combat, demon attack, turmoil, mega mania, circus and my all time favorite Raiders of the lost ark.
Awesome recommendations! River Raid is also one of my favs. Gonna try them out soon. Here are mine:
Yar's Revenge
Warlords
H.E.R.O.
Cosmic Ark
Wall Defender
Criminal Persuit
Jungle Hunt
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi: Death Star
GREAT video! I’ll seek out your Top 10 list + honorable mentions + Atari book! P.S. I looooved the Pac-Man Trapper Keeper spreadsheet idea! 🕹️
your old camera simply could not "enduro"
Pretty cool being the first system I had when I was seven years old and Games I remember most being Combat, then River Raid 🏆
If you're looking for unique, off-the-wall Atari games, give Tunnel Runner a shot. It's a first-person(!) maze game; you have to avoid monsters, find the key, find the exit.
Original carts can be rare and expensive, but there are alternatives.
Megamania was my very first game back in the 80s. Brought a smile to my face that it made it on this list.
Mines are Yars Revenge, Defender, Combat, Air sea Batlles, Mrs Pac-Man, Pole Position, Qbert, Missile Command, Adventures, Galaxian, Démons to Démons, Star Wars.
Great video my friend. I'm not familiar with a lot of them. So, I'll look for them on eBay and the local video game store and see if I can find them.
I played so much Megamania when I was a kid just watching and listening to it just bow triggered something in me.
I need to play this soon. Always been in my top 3 with Yar’s Revenge and Adventure. Order keeps changing.
My top 3 are Kaboom (a unique and frenzied experience you can only get on a 2600 with paddles), River Raid, and Enduro. I also love Megamania. I enjoy the unique gameplay of Reactor and Stampede as well. Watching an Atari 2600 video which has Shenmue music, wild.
These look like some great games, you've got good taste. Never played the Atari but my favorite games that had old versions are: Space Invaders Extreme, Frogger Hyper, Burger Time, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Boulder Dash, Asteroids, Lode Runner, Pac-Man 256 & Galaga
Great vid - if I were to start listing fantastic 2600 titles, I'd be at it all day!
Beamrider 2600, Dig-Dug 2600, Star Rrek Strategic Operations Simulator and Solaris are my top 2600 titles. I still play these ones to this day.
As an eight year old I remember loving the box graphics. Bought many games that were crappy but they had great box art. Every little mom & pop store had one to three game cabinets & I aggravated mom & dad for quarters endlessly. Don’t doubt my mom got an Atari 2600 just to stop hearing the work quarter.
Megamania and the arcade game "Astro Blaster" are very similar. Also, Keystone Capers is my favorite game.
I love your videos brother. Very unique taste. keep it up!!
First console I ever played, like most people I imagine. Some of my favorites were:
River Raid
Pitfall
Phoenix (demon attack clone?)
Megamania
Mountain King
Frogs and Flies
Berzerk
Seaquest
Chopper Command
RealSports Volleyball.
Actually Phoenix was an arcade port. Demon Attack is a clone and had a boss, but due to an Atari lawsuit it was removed. However, the Intellivision Demon Attack has the boss.
@@asimian8500 Interesting, didn’t know that!
Dude I used to love Demon Attack! I must have played this 1000's of times. I always thought it was better than Space Invaders. Thanks for the trip down 2600 lane!
my mom is a legend at megamania. she's hit 1,000,000 points several times. I have no idea how.
Cool list! There are definitely some on this list I still need to check out in greater detail. For me, I will always love Yars' Revenge!
solid list I agree with almost all of them. You are so right about centifpede it may not have the graphics but holy crap the game play is so fantastic.
My top 10 favorites: Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Joust, chess, Millipede, Sky Jinks, Starmaster, Asteroids, Stargate, Galaxian and Enduro (bonus)
Very nicely done top 10 list on the 2600!
If you haven't tried Mountain King I highly recommend it. The other two in my top three would be turmoil and enduro.
I couldn't beat _Mountain King._ I found the manual online and how to get the treasure, but wasn't able to jump to the top exit before time ran out.
@@sandal_thong8631 even more captivating than the challenge of game is the hidden "heaven" level.
One game that I liked was the one that came packaged with it, Combat but they should have included a single player mode. It's not all that exciting to shoot down enemy planes or tanks when they are just sitting ducks.
The Atari logbook challenge says to play game 15 on difficulty B.
Pro (Blue Angel): shoot 17 (I did 19 in 1982)
Master (Flying Phantom): shoot 26 (I did it in 2006)
Wizard (Scourge of the Skies): shoot 34 (I did 35 in 2020)
I felt it made the Atari look bad by 1981. I got _Armor Ambush_ in 1982, but that didn't have a 1-player mode either. _Time Pilot_ looks like the flying part of _Combat._ Maybe for variety you could have another player use paddles to avoid being hit in the jet fighters. If you press both buttons simultaneously, it thinks you're moving the joystick left and right at the same time, which causes a weird effect.
Top 10 (in no particular order):
1- Pitfall
2- Enduro
3- Missile Command
4- Yars' Revenge
5- Kaboom!
6- Defender
7- Berserk
8- Moon Sweeper
9- Adventure
10- River Raid
My favs are Asteroids, Combat (for multiplayer), Jungle Hunt, Missile Command, Joust, and Frogs and Flies.
I begged my mother for Atari's Chess back in the early 80s. I specifically remember her saying it was an extra expensive game and it was $50 at the time. She ended up relenting and got it for me as a Christmas gift. I played the heck out of that game. I remember at the highest difficulty, it took the computer 24 hours per move. That cracked me up... I guess you would have to leave the Atari on for like a month straight to play a proper game at that level. I never did it, but I think I did let it think for most of a day, just as a goof... with the screen flickering non-stop while it computed its next move. lol
TURMOIL!!
A FLAT version of TEMPEST!? Absolutely perfect description!!!
Megamania reminds me very much of an arcade game I loved as a kid called Astro Blaster. I must have sunk a million quarters into that one!
We had one called Planet Patrol, probably around ‘83, and I really played the hell outta that one.
Vanguard looks interesting, I've never heard seen it before.
I think it came out in January 1983, (I got it) and they stopped doing catalogs, so anyone who bought an Atari cart in late 1982 or later, didn't get the "ads" for other "new" games.
Awesome video and list! I’m not sure if you did in the past, but I’d love to see your top 10 C64!
I would not even be able to do a top 2 for C64. Haven't played it enough.
Adventure, superman, hero, haunted house are the games i can still play at any time and they're fun.
I like River Raid, but I think the game would make more sense if you have a boat rather than a plane. The fact that the plane crashes into the river bank or bridge doesn't make sense because it should be able to fly over them.
It could be that they are flying low to avoid radar 🤣
@@GamingTheSystems1 LOL
@@GamingTheSystems1 Actually, you're right. It's flying below radar level which is why you have to shoot the bridge.
My shortlist: Mario Bros, H.E.R.O., River Raid, Robot Tank, Starmaster, Astroids, Keystone Kapers, Othello, Realsports Volleyball, Decathlon.
My top game for the 2600: _Adventures of TRON_ by M-Network. It's a platformer. Collect 7 "bits" per level then exit via the I/O tower. What makes it unique is that there are few places of safety, but the enemies always move in a predictable way, so a lot of the game is getting behind the enemies for a moment of safety. I also love the "solar sailer" which can carry you over the heads of enemies on one of the platform levels. IMHO it's a 10/10 game, and I still play it frequently (in emulation).
You've convinced me to try it out. I don't play my M-Network games enough.
I always wondered how they came up with Joust. Knights riding ostriches over a pit to hell that has hands that try to drag you in? Then I remember how much drug use was going on in the industry at the time and it all makes sense.