Retro Video Gamer

That is pretty impressive!  Very fluid animation and the music is pretty cool also.

2600 asteroids.

Not long after I got my 2600 - I had just turned 16 - and a endowment policy had matured out of which my brilliant parents got me one (£100 was A LOT of money for us in 1982), an ad appeared in the paper that stated if you sent proof of purchase off to a given address you would get a copy of Asteroids sent to you for free.


Couldn't believe it when it actually arrived (with the returned proof of purchase)- it was such a good offer we really didn't believe it would come off.

It turns out that the game I got for free was damn close to being the one we played the most. I am not kidding here - my brother and I had an Asteroids session every day (game 39) for well over a year - every day.

Its looks a bit flickery now (though on older TVs it didn't flicker as much due to phosphor burn) and I wouldn't play it now (have the great 7800 version) but it evokes so many memories.

I got a clapped out black and white TV for my bedroom (it got so that you could only see the picture when the room was dark - the tube must have been knackered) and I can remember many happy hours on the 2600 with my brother and cousins undisturbed by parental TV viewing demands - and the wonders of the color/bw switch on the console.

Nothing will ever recreate the thrill of having video games at home after a lifetime of them not existing.

That 2600 was played for years - and it ignited my interest in IT - how I make my living now - and I can never thank my parents enough for letting me get that console back then. They really had their doubts and thought it might be £100 wasted on a fad. They gave me the benefit of the doubt and I like to think I proved to them it wasn't a fad. They still talk about it occasionally even now - 30years later.

I eventually sold it to a market trader with all my boxed games and I'm ashamed to say I probably spent the money on drink....to my eternal shame.

Got another one about 5 years ago on eBay and started to buy some CIB games until I discovered the Harmony cart that lets me play every game ever and homebrew. I will probably still collect some more games until I get my favourites CIB

I learned my lesson - and have never since offloaded a console with one exception. I gave my NES and games away to my sister when I got NESTER for DC (it is THAT good) - and now and again I get a pang from that even though its video output was crap and the cart slot was playing up.

What would everyone say is the best coin-op conversion on the 2600?

I have always found it pretty stunning the way they managed to cram a lot of these machines into the limitations of the VCS.

Anyway I would have to go with Defender 2/Stargate - stunning conversion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp6flUvuueY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp6flUvuueY)

I could be pedantic and say that Tank and Super Breakout are probably the best but I take it we really mean later arcade games.

Defender 2 probably is the best but Berzerk is a great effort.

Starpath version of Frogger, Joust, Warlords, Missile Command and Solar Fox are all great shouts too.

Stargate/Defender II is the best port of an arcade game on the 2600 but The Official Frogger is certainly up there.

Wow that version of Frogger is really good, I'd never seen it on the 2600 before I may have to see if I can get a copy somewhere.
Would it be illegal to mention Space Invaders as a good game on the VCS, we always spent hours playing that when we were kids. I know it's not arcade perfect but in some ways I like it more than the arcade version.

Space Invaders is a very nice port that, despite not being arcade-perfect, is well executed.  The game variations make it quite fun.  There are also a number of homebrews that bring a more arcade-like experience to the 2600.  Just for comparison, here are the original Space Invaders and two other 2600 versions:

The Frogger shown in the vid is the Starpath version.
This is what the standard version looks like. Not as nice looking but still plays well
and is still one of the best arcade conversions.

(http://www.atariage.com/2600/screenshots/s_Frogger_2.png)

Nice guys, some really interesting things there.

Never owned a 2600 so its nice to read up on it, must pick one up.

You never had a 2600, zap? 

Well, here is another game that I was quite impressed to see attempted on the 2600 by Atari and that actually did a great job at retaining the game play of the original arcade despite the graphical limitations of the system.  Here is Crystal Castles!


And here is the original arcade for reference:

Nope, not that i owned.. My sister let me have hers but wanted to pass down to her daughter and played with friends ones so never sought my own.. I have later Atari models just not this.. Will do soon though lol 

Quote from: "zapiy"Nope, not that i owned.. My sister let me have hers but wanted to pass down to her daughter and played with friends ones so never sought my own.. I have later Atari models just not this.. Will do soon though lol  ;)

My favourite game for the 2600 is still Solaris and I also think it's by far the most impressive commercial game for the machine. Star Raiders programmer Doug Neubauer did wonders with this game. I still remember the first time I showed the game to a Master System owning friend back in the day and he couldn't believe it was running on the 2600, he was utterly stunned by it. I also remember my dad coming in the room when I was playing it and saying what system is this on, it doesn't look like an Atari game!

Here is a great review of it from Classic Game Room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0)

Quote from: "The Laird"My favourite game for the 2600 is still Solaris and I also think it's by far the most impressive commercial game for the machine. Star Raiders programmer Doug Neubauer did wonders with this game. I still remember the first time I showed the game to a Master System owning friend back in the day and he couldn't believe it was running on the 2600, he was utterly stunned by it. I also remember my dad coming in the room when I was playing it and saying what system is this on, it doesn't look like an Atari game!

Here is a great review of it from Classic Game Room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0)

Despite this game coming up in 'conversation' over the years, i've (until now) never seen anything on it.Was'nt expecting that nuch to be honest, but jaw dropped once video started.

That looks fantastic (for an early 8 Bit era game), must have required some mind-boggling coding tricks to get that from aging hardware like the 2600.

That game demonstrates how "little" things changed for the 2600 from the time it launched to the time it ended its commercial life. 

I still have no idea how he did that game without extra hardware. I love that review but the video used in it doesn't show the best bits of the game well enough like the tunnel sequence with the laser gates, the 3D Defender like planet missions and 3D Galaxians style shoot outs. I believe it is one of the very few 32k 2600 games released but there are no extra chips or on cart RAM or anything.

Quote from: "The Laird"I still have no idea how he did that game without extra hardware. I love that review but the video used in it doesn't show the best bits of the game well enough like the tunnel sequence with the laser gates, the 3D Defender like planet missions and 3D Galaxians style shoot outs. I believe it is one of the very few 32k 2600 games released but there are no extra chips or on cart RAM or anything.

The speed alone blew me away and all that in 32K...strewth, you look at todays coders, wahhhh need more Ram, more storage space etc.

:-)

Atari 2600 Halo anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvV6AESP_Sk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvV6AESP_Sk)

Anyone seen this?

(http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/atari-2600-portable-with-wooden-case-by-retro_mood.jpg)

A real wood Atari 2600 handheld! 

More images and the story about it HERE! (//http)

Awesome!!!!!

I'd never seen that particular one but I've seen others.  These are all so cool!

Quote from: "Rogue Trooper"

Quote from: "The Laird"My favourite game for the 2600 is still Solaris and I also think it's by far the most impressive commercial game for the machine. Star Raiders programmer Doug Neubauer did wonders with this game. I still remember the first time I showed the game to a Master System owning friend back in the day and he couldn't believe it was running on the 2600, he was utterly stunned by it. I also remember my dad coming in the room when I was playing it and saying what system is this on, it doesn't look like an Atari game!

Here is a great review of it from Classic Game Room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2LrUjSpN0)

Despite this game coming up in 'conversation' over the years, i've (until now) never seen anything on it. Wasn't expecting that nuch to be honest, but jaw dropped once video started.

That looks fantastic (for an early 8 Bit era game), must have required some mind-boggling coding tricks to get that from aging hardware like the 2600.

Doug actually did a couple more games after this using the same engine, Super Football and Radar Lock. Both of them are very impressive too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxCXWt0GnhM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxCXWt0GnhM)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4RguF-vcg4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4RguF-vcg4)

Super Football is definitely a remarkable game on the 2600.  Very impressive work and quite different from other football games on the 2600.  Radar Lock is another excellent 2600 game.

It's amazing what they did with some of the later Atari 2600 game. Road Runner is another great achievement as it actually features multiple levels of parallax scrolling in the background!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ipBZGrxiY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ipBZGrxiY)

That game also has a very nice title screen!

New Atari 2600 reviews from UK magazine The Games Machine:

(http://i.imgur.com/YC2sWTr.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/ZqaE2ZR.jpg)

And ditto here.great to see Laird digging through the mag scans from TGM DVD disc i sent and putting the good stuff up for everyone.

Another big parcel en route tommorrow for you Laird, expect to see scans from the goodies up on here for everyone to have a look at in due course.

Quote from: "Rogue Trooper"And ditto here.great to see Laird digging through the mag scans from TGM DVD disc i sent and putting the good stuff up for everyone.

Another big parcel en route tommorrow for you Laird, expect to see scans from the goodies up on here for everyone to have a look at in due course.

I don't have a TGM DVD, just a few odd pages.

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "Rogue Trooper"And ditto here.great to see Laird digging through the mag scans from TGM DVD disc i sent and putting the good stuff up for everyone.

Another big parcel en route tommorrow for you Laird, expect to see scans from the goodies up on here for everyone to have a look at in due course.

I don't have a TGM DVD, just a few odd pages.

Could have sworn i'd sent you TGM DVD in 1 of the many parcels gone your way, lol or did i just take pages from it and put on memory card i wonder?.hmnnn might have done as postage is a killer these days.

Do you want the DVD? if so, will have to be in future parcel, just sealed yours up, lol.


So far you've had following mag scan DVD's off me, right? (plus small rain forest worth of pages from various magazines)

ACE
Amiga format.
The One
C.U
Page 6
Computer Gamer
TV Gamer
Computer zone
Mean Machines:Sega
Sega saturn Magazine
C+VG
Mean Machines
Atari User
Raze
YS
Zzap 64
CU:Amiga

That'd just leave Zero and TGM for future

Thanks for sharing!!!! River Raid 2 often gets little mention. 

Quote from: "onthinice"
Thanks for sharing!!!! River Raid 2 often gets little mention.  <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/113.gif" alt=":113:" title="113" />

It's a great game, it takes a while to get the hang of if you are used to the first game but once you do it's a far more rewarding game in my opinion.

That video really shows the game well. It has a lot of depth.

Check out this brilliant Atari 2600 inspired music video:

Oh, that is one awesome video from start to finish!  Great find!

That's pretty amazing sound from the 2600!

I just found this site with several mock ups of games for the 2600.  Some of them are remakes of existing games.  Take a look:  Retrofan's Atari VCS 2600 homebrew and hack design page (//http).

Just one sample...

This...
(http://www.haddewig.de/vcs/pictures/MrDo_VCS_mockup_L2d.gif)

vs this...
(http://www.haddewig.de/vcs/pictures/mrdo_cbs.gif)

Now someone needs to turn that mock up into a reality!

Someone posted these blogs about the 2600 on Google+ and I thought I'd share them:
Story of an Atari 2600: Part 1 (//http)
Story of an Atari 2600: Part 2 (//http)

Just saw this posted over in Google+...When Old Meets New!  What do you think?  Interesting or sacrilegious?  the food sucks blog (//http).

[align=center:195re6kq](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y7CouOoPKKI/Up5lJzS6dlI/AAAAAAAAAjg/792Zt3Du4lU/w640-h400-no/24HdcLpl.jpg)[/align:195re6kq]

I saw this myself last week and I actually think it looks quite nice 

Quote from: &quot;The Laird&quot;I saw this myself last week and I actually think it looks quite nice  :)

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;

Quote from: &quot;The Laird&quot;I saw this myself last week and I actually think it looks quite nice  :)

I hate Sony though! 

:21:

So, how about a whole video dedicated to the 2600's version of Pac-Man?  Check it out...

Thanks for posting that, TrekMD. I thought it would be some tips and tricks or trivia behind the making of the game, but it really was a promo for a high score competition instead.

Has anyone else experienced the embedded video clips on RVG freezing at about the halfway mark? I have to pull the progress slider at the bottom of the clips a little to the right to get them to finish playing, but this causes me to miss a few seconds in the middle.

Yes, it is a high score competition with some tidbits about the game.  That's why it is a challenge.   Â  I've not had that problem with the videos, sloan.

Great video! It is good to see someone look at Pac-Man with a fair attitude.

I wonder how many parents bought the Sears version of Pac-Man thinking it might be better then the Atari one?

Not me.  I had the original deal when this came out. 

I did! The Gemini was in fact the first console I ever owned. It was actually a Christmas present for both my sister and me, but she quickly got bored with it. Sadly it died many years ago now, but it was hands down one of my most memorable Christmas presents ever 

the gemini is "the" atari 2600 game machine as it has superior display quality. I'll miss within the video the TV connection and some game samples..... 

That was an excellent review!  He really does a superb job with these! 

ATARI VCS 2600 Demo by XAYAX. 1st place at Revision 2014 easter party (oldschool demo competition).

Code: SvOlli
Music: Skyrunner
Graphics: Deft, Titus, Veto, SvOlli

A 32/30k ROM using F8SC bankswitching (PAL)

To say that that was awesome just falls short!  It is just incredible to see this from the 2600!

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;To say that that was awesome just falls short!  It is just incredible to see this from the 2600!

Agreed, this demo is simply incredible.

mind blowing stuff ..this ranks up there is the PC demos and wouldn't look out of sorts in a high end dance club blasted on a 100" screen..simply stunning stuff, the guy's a genius!

I have always loved Beamrider, definitely one of the most under rated Activision games!

Agreed.  I think it is an excellent game as well. 

Only played this for the first time this week. Excellent game. Too early to say but could be among my favourite shooters on the Atari.

Glad you're enjoying it!  How come you hadn't played it before?

Don't know. Just never really fancied it. Was downloading some PAL60 ROMS from atariage onto my Harmony cartridge and gave it a try and played it for an hour straight...Have been playing it on and off all week.

Amazing achievement on the 2600 - doesn't look like a typical Activision 2600 game either which is interesting.

Well, good that you discovered it! 

[align=center:3cpdv7d1]Retro Asylum have been doing some Atari 2600 reviews recently:

Andy does a Unboxing video (//http)

Jungle Hunt - Atari 2600 (//http)

Keystone Kapers - Atari 2600 (//http)[/align:3cpdv7d1]

Metal Jesus has just done a video on what is probably my most favorite Atari 2600 add-on, the Starpath Supercharger...

Cool video! I have still never played any of the SuperCharger games 

Quote from: &quot;The Laird&quot;Cool video! I have still never played any of the SuperCharger games 

No?  You never got a SuperCharger?  They are getting harder to find and it seems the best way to get the games now is with the Stella Has a New Brain CD.  You can play them using the Stella emulator to get a taste.

The Harmony cartridge supports Supercharger games too.

I've successfully converted my Stranglehand game to run on the Starpath Supercharger.  I use my PSP to play back the audio file.  Good times!

Quote from: &quot;theloon&quot;I've successfully converted my Stranglehand game to run on the Starpath Supercharger.  I use my PSP to play back the audio file.  Good times!

I'm working on converting all the files from the tapes into MP3 files to store them in a small player I got just for this. 

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;

Quote from: &quot;theloon&quot;I've successfully converted my Stranglehand game to run on the Starpath Supercharger.  I use my PSP to play back the audio file.  Good times!

I'm working on converting all the files from the tapes into MP3 files to store them in a small player I got just for this. 

I hope that experiment works.  Please report back when you get results.  I left the audio .WAV myself.

Quote from: &quot;theloon&quot;

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;

Quote from: &quot;theloon&quot;I've successfully converted my Stranglehand game to run on the Starpath Supercharger.  I use my PSP to play back the audio file.  Good times!

I'm working on converting all the files from the tapes into MP3 files to store them in a small player I got just for this. 

I hope that experiment works.  Please report back when you get results.  I left the audio .WAV myself.

Yeah I would love to know if that works. I think I gave up on finding a working tape cassette player a while ago, although I don't really have anything for the Supercharger worth playing at the moment. I have played DragonStomper, which is a lot of fun though.

I've downloaded a program that converts binaries to wav files and then I'll use my audio conversion software to change to MP3.  I'm hoping it works. 

A new web site dedicated to the 2600 has been started:  http://www.atariboxed.com/ (//http)  From the page's intro:
This project is focused on Atari 2600 games and the difficulty of collecting them these days. Therefore we are trying to create the most accurate list of all games and their rarity values. At this time you will primarily find PAL games in our database, although we are working on integrating NTSC games into it too.

Looks like a good resource. Loads of scans to bring back memories :21:

Quote from: &quot;Spector&quot;Just unfortunate from an English speaker's point of view that one of the members of the team is called 'Schitti'   

Well, I had a patient who's first name was Semen.  Your choice as to what is worse! 

Reminds me of this famous German footballer who played in Euro '96:

(http://imgur.com/TJJvM.jpg)

Quote from: "The Laird"Reminds me of this famous German footballer who played in Euro '96:

(http://imgur.com/TJJvM.jpg)

These keep getting better and better.

Getting back on topic...

The folks from AtariProtos.com have added a new article for another unreleased Atari 2600 game: Survival Run (http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/survivalrun/survivalrun.htm). Here is a screen capture of the game...

While looking online for pictures of the Atari 2700, I found a picture of yet another 2600 prototype, the Kee Games Programmable Game System. I must say that this is quite the brightly colored console. I don't remember ever hearing about Kee Games before, so I decided to check out some info about them. The Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_Games) entry appears below. Interesting that this company was an offshoot of Atari. Cool bit of gaming history.


Kee Games was an arcade game manufacturer that released games from 1973 to 1978. Kee was headed by Joe Keenan, a long-time friend of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Keenan managed to hire several defectors from Atari, and began advertising itself as a competitor. In reality, Kee Games was a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari, created in response to the pinball and arcade distributors of the time who demanded exclusivity deals. Kee Games released several "clones" of Atari games, allowing Atari to "exclusively" sell games to two distributors at once.

In December 1974, the relationship to Atari was discovered by the public. However, Kee's Tank game had been so successful that the distributors wanted to buy the game even without an exclusivity agreement. At the same time, Atari was having financial and management problems, while Joe Keenan had been very successful managing Kee Games. The two companies merged, with Keenan promoted to president of Atari running the business side of things, and Bushnell focusing on engineering. Atari continued to use the "Kee Games" label to release some of their games until 1978, but from the merger on, the games were clearly labelled "a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari, Inc."

Kids would have destroyed that in days. Probably a good thing Atari stuck to the simple brown wood grain. I do like the colors.

Well, there would be no missing that console at anyone's house!

Yeah. I know how I was as a kid. Those stickers would have been peeled off and on my bike.

Some of you guys should read this. apparently the world could have done without the 2600 and the gaming industry would have been no different.

https://forum.retrogamer.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49473

We know the score with internet forums now though, and one of the people on there was hinting he'd do the same for a music thread in trashing The Beatles, so that tells you where he's coming from.

The number of misinformed comments in that thread is baffling.

Revisionist history, they have.

If ever a console was made at the right time and place it was the 2600. Space Invaders was big and the 2600 brought it home.

Would Intellivision and Colecovision been released if the 2600 would have not? Maybe but we probably would not have had the comparison commercials.

Would the Atari 7800 or Jaguar have turned out to be the same machines? Just my belief but I feel both machines would have been vastly different.

I think people forget that there has to be a progression of technology and competition drives that.  Without Pong machines, there would not have been machines with carts. Simplistic graphics give way to more advanced graphics as competition drives the creation of something better.  And it just continues.  It's almost like saying that I wish there had never been those big, bulky cellular phones first.  They were crap, why bother?  LOL

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;I think people forget that there has to be a progression of technology and competition drives that.  Without Pong machines, there would not have been machines with carts. Simplistic graphics give way to more advanced graphics as competition drives the creation of something better.  And it just continues.  It's almost like saying that I wish there had never been those big, bulky cellular phones first.  They were crap, why bother?  LOL

  That is perfect! If I could thought of it first I would have said it, just not as well.

Glad you liked it. 

I did.

But a part of me wishes the Atari 2600 was not invented. I might be playing the Odyssey 12. 

Quote from: &quot;onthinice&quot;I did.

But a part of me wishes the Atari 2600 was not invented. I might be playing the Odyssey 12.  :21:

I do joke but reading your latest batch of 2600 reviews makes me even more grateful for the 2600 release.

Some great gems that sometimes get overlooked and need to be played.

Quote from: &quot;onthinice&quot;I do joke but reading your latest batch of 2600 reviews makes me even more grateful for the 2600 release.

Some great gems that sometimes get overlooked and need to be played.

Yes, it sure has some great gems in its library and some amazing ones considering the limitations of the console. 

Guys, head over to AtariProtos.com (http://atariprotos.com/) to check out three new protos that have been posted: Xevious (almost complete) (http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/xevious/xevious.htm), Elf Adventure (http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/elfadventure/elfadventure.htm), and Morse Code Tutor (http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/morse/morse.htm).

Where was Morse Code Tutor when I was a kid? Back in 1980 a game like that would have sold many copies.

Agree!  It would have gotten me more interested in learning it too!

The other two games look interesting! Glad these programmers are not afraid to keep trying different ideas.

Some of the stuff being done at the end of life for the 2600 was just incredible.  Stuff like Xevious and Tempest, to see them attempted on the system, is nothing short of amazing. 

Looks like the AVGN has done a review of ET for the Atari 2600: 


His conclusion is the same one many of us have.

They should make a new E.T. game for modern consoles. Picture a store clerk fighting off people that try to return the game but the catch is the store has a no return policy. This infuriates the people turning them into a zombie like state of mind and they can only be stopped by throwing 2600 Pac-Man carts at them. Which they pick-up and go home and play. Which leads to them trying to return that game in the new Pac-Man game for modern consoles.

Quote from: &quot;onthinice&quot;They should make a new E.T. game for modern consoles. Picture a store clerk fighting off people that try to return the game but the catch is the store has a no return policy. This infuriates the people turning them into a zombie like state of mind and they can only be stopped by throwing 2600 Pac-Man carts at them. Which they pick-up and go home and play. Which leads to them trying to return that game in the new Pac-Man game for modern consoles.

Quote from: &quot;onthinice&quot;
This infuriates the people turning them into a zombie like state of mind and they can only be stopped by throwing 2600 Pac-Man carts at them.

That's funny, because whenever I hear people call ET the worst game ever or the cause for the gaming crash, I want to throw copies of Tax Avoiders at them. 

Many people just keep no repeating what they hear without ever having tried or touched something.  So, ET is the "worst game ever" has become the accepted phrase to say about it even though there are games that are far worse. 

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;Many people just keep no repeating what they hear without ever having tried or touched something.  So, ET is the "worst game ever" has become the accepted phrase to say about it even though there are games that are far worse.

Not to mention those who tried the game and hated it just because they didn't understand how to really play it.
I actually appreciate what Howard Scott Warshaw was trying to do. Actually, all of his games take a little bit of attention.

I've always liked ET.  Yes, you have to read the instructions but that doesn't make the game bad. Is it difficult?  Sure! 

Anyone like homebrew 2600 titles?  At the last Midwest Gaming Classic I picked up Explosive Diarrhea    Halo 2600 and Marble Craze are a couple more favorites.

I have Halo 2600 and many other homebrews.  I've reviewed Halo (here) (//http) as well as other homebrew titles.  Homebrews on the 2600 are quite impressive these days. 

Love the Atari 2600 such a great console. Where the games lack in graphics they always have addictive fun gameplay. One of my faves has to be Demon Attack

Agreed, that's the one thing about the 2600  Despite its limiations, it does capture gameplay quite well.

That's the 2600's big advantage.  The games HAD to be fun, unlike modern games you can't just do great 3d art and call it a good game

Quote from: &quot;prok&quot;That's the 2600's big advantage.  The games HAD to be fun, unlike modern games you can't just do great 3d art and call it a good game :21:

Was playing Super Breakout and Berzerk before. Love it when you shoot an enemy in Bezerk they explode into the shape of evil otto

Quote from: &quot;llayboy&quot;Was playing Super Breakout and Berzerk before. Love it when you shoot an enemy in Bezerk they explode into the shape of evil otto

Have you played the Berzerk Aracade VE version? 

I've played the standard arcade version and as everyone will probably say I love the sounds in the arcade one. Especially the dialogue like "get the humanoid!"

That 2600 version has the voice quotes. 

Been keeping an eye out for a nice bundle of cheap games on eBay today. There's a lot of rubbish out there!

Good luck!

There's a 2600 woody, collection only, just near me starting at a tenner. Frankly it'd be rude not to bid so I'll see what happens nearer deadline

Nice one fella, keep us informed on this.

Quote from: &quot;WiggyDiggyPoo&quot;There's a 2600 woody, collection only, just near me starting at a tenner. Frankly it'd be rude not to bid so I'll see what happens nearer deadline

When does it end?

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;

Quote from: &quot;WiggyDiggyPoo&quot;There's a 2600 woody, collection only, just near me starting at a tenner. Frankly it'd be rude not to bid so I'll see what happens nearer deadline

When does it end?

Tomorrow morning when I'm on my way to work.... I'll put a bid in a see what happens, not desperate for it.

Good luck!

Just saw this Head to Head video comparing Pole Position and Enduro on the 2600.  Cool to see these games compared this way...

Had anyone seen this before?  I just learned that there was a 2600 version of Crack'Ed that was developed but never released.  Here is a video of this version.  Unlike the 7800 version, this has only three areas...

This is a cool video looking at the artwork on the Atari 2600 game boxes.  Check it out...

Quote from: &quot;TrekMD&quot;
This is a cool video looking at the artwork on the Atari 2600 game boxes.  Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRM-b4U9km4

That was a great video! Made me see the box art in a completely new light.
I remember as a youngster drooling over the boxes and what kind of awesomeness the game inside could hold, (but in some cases the box was better than the game lol) then tearing into it as soon as I got home. Pitfall II Lost Caverns and Joust being my favorites. Nice to see someone going to all this JUST for the appreciation of! (could've gone the rest of my life without seeing him dance at the end though :P

Yes, Atari really did some great artwork for the games and let us use our imaginations. 

Here's a review for the Atari 2600 Jr from Classic Game Room...

It's been a really long time since anything got posted on this thread.  So here is a new video review of one of the most impressive games for the Atari 2600, Solaris.  Has anyone played this game?  What do you think about it?  Check out the video below...

I'm so amazed today how developers can still knock it out of the park with the Atari VCS , truly fantastic stuff after 40 years in existence. A great video thanks for sharing, I'd of never known. Just to mention the video has been disabled for some reason by its owner?

 It really is amazing stuff. It's what makes gaming history so fascinating.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad you liked it.  Solaris was one of the last games released for the 2600 and it is amazing to see the difference between the early games for the system and was released an the end of the system's commercial life.  It does appear the video has to be watched on YouTube, though.  I guess it's the preference of the owner of the video. 

ImplantGames has posted another one of their "5 Good Games..." videos, this time for the Atari 2600.  There is one choice on this video that will raise eyebrows, I'm sure.  LOL  Have a look...

I just watched this video.  I thought it was funny and nicely done.  Have a look...

Just saw this and wanted to share it...

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Atari 2600 and here is a video of a 2600 cake to celebrate! 


And here is a video talking about the console and its 40th...

Here is a video looking at Retro Shovel's top 30 games for the Atari 2600.  I thought this was an interesting list as it has games I was not expecting to see in a top 30 list...

That's a strong list. I might have posted this here before, but here are my favourites:-

Obviously it really depends on your attitude to old game graphics as to how much enjoyment you get from a 2600. Its all about multi-player too - quite like the Wii in that respect.

Even the very early games can be fun.

Combat : tank and plane vs game. 2 player only!

Breakout and Super Breakout : pretty good versions. Breakout 1 supports 4 players but has a 2 wall limit. Super Breakout has the cavity, double and progressive modes as well as classic mode with no wall limit. 1-2 players only except for progressive which is 1 player only.

Surround - basic vs mode snake game. Very basic but again good as it is 2 player only except for 1 variation and in which the CPU is unsurprisingly very poor!

Sky Diver is quite good - jump from a plane and land on a target (sometimes moving) taking wind into account. The longer you leave the chute closed the more points you get. Really good fun in a minigame kind of way. It supports 1 and 2 players - again far better in 2 player head to head.

Circus Atari - breakout type game - bounce 2 clowns off a see-saw to burst balloons (square balloons!). Really nice game with good "physics" on the clowns. 2 player alternate turns. This was an old arcade game I'm old enough to remember.

Video Olympics - every pong version imaginable - up to 4 players at once.

Maze Craze - basic maze game but with lots of variations. Excellent 2 player fun.

The 2600 got lots of arcade translations. Most suffered from the limitations of the hardware but these ones are a good job - somehow squeezed into the old console without suffering from flickering etc. (at least not too much!)

Berzerk - move through maze avoiding robots 1-2 players

Ms. Pacman - great version. technically impressive as is the sequel Pacman Jr. (avoid the first Pacman which was a rush job)

Space Invaders - still excellent version with loads of options including some good 2 player simultaneous modes.

Defender II aka Stargate - again a pretty good version. Avoid the original Defender - not accurate and flickery as hell.

Phoenix - excellent attempt at this great old shmup. Has all the waves - even the mothership level - albeit scaled down. One player only.

Missile Command - decent effort given the lack of a trak-ball controller.

Warlords - legendary 4 player game. Defend your castle from fireballs. This got an even better homebrew remake called Medieval Mayhem.

Activision and Imagic were companies formed by disgruntled Atari devs who left. They must have been the cream of the crop based on the technical excellence of their titles which all have great graphics for the day.

Pitfall and Pitfall II - early flick screen platformers

Atlantis - good old "defend the city" shooter with a 2 player coop mode

Chopper Command - excellent defender clone with military theme - some prefer this to the Atari official version

Demon Attack - great traditional shmup. Some novel 2 player modes where control changes every few seconds! Shoot "Phoenix" style creatures - atari tried to sue over this one becuase of its similarity.

Fishing Derby - very odd game. 2 player race mode to who lands fish up to 99pts!

Freeway - simplified frogger (back and forth only - no sideways). Again best with 2 players as you race across at the same time.

H.E.R.O. - late title and it shows. technically brilliant. Explore caves and rescue people. Excellent little action puzzle/maze game.

Kaboom! Legendary twitch game. Use paddle controllers to catch bombs in buckets - this really speeds up and is a real "in-the-zone" game.

Megamania - great old shmup. Excellent graphics and lots of different waves. Reminds me of the old Sega arcade shooter "Astro Blaster".

Pressure Cooker - build burgers to order and deliver them down correct shutes. Excellent game - a great mix of action and light puzzling with really nice graphics. A late 2600 game.

River Raid - solid classic shmup.

Space Shuttle - incredible achievement. This is a shuttle mission simulator. Launch the shuttle, dock with satellites, reenter the atmosphere and land - all without running out of fuel.

Solar Storm - odd 2D shmup as it uses the paddle controllers. Nice original ideas and looks and sounds great.

Others

Fantastic Voyage - nice shooter based on the sci-fi story/flick. Fly through a body to reach a blood clot in the brain shooting viruses etc. Nicely done.

Yars Revenge - brilliant original shooting game from Atari. Guide a mutant housefly in an attack against the Quotile behind its shield.

Thrust - superb latter day homebrew version of this classic game.

Scsicide - another brilliant homebrew - move the disc drive read head over tracks on the disc! Sounds odd but its very addictive.

Very nice list of games there!  Thanks for taking the time to post it!

I just saw this posted on FB by Andrea Rosa...

An Atari 2600 lies near the wreck of the Salem Express which sank in December 1991 in the Red Sea. Perhaps it was a gift, or perhaps the owner was on the ship. We will never know.

If you dried it out it would probably still work.

:)

LOL  I wouldn't be surprised.  Those things were built like tanks! 

Just watched this nice video looking at 2600 games that pushed the console...

I just ordered a Harmony Encore cartridge. I will now pray to Jesus that it makes its way safely to the United Kingdom from America over the next few weeks...

Oh, that's a great buy!  Enjoy it!

Review?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll review it if you like :)  Might take a while for it to get here though, as I've heard there's a slow turnover of processing orders. Will be worth it in the end though I'm sure 8)

Another cool video on the Atari 2600.  This one looks at games with endings...

This video looks at some cool hacks of 2600 games by Scott Dayton.  I have several of these!

Here's another video that looks at PAL exclusives on the 2600...

New Games for your Atari 2600 Part 10...

Did anyone get these?

Wired-Up Retro released this interesting video that looks at details of Atari 2600 controllers that have remained hidden from many an Atari fan.  You are about to find out what very few people know... and it's all for the sake of fun :)

Here's a summary of some of the secrets that will be revealed in the video...

1) the Atari CX-22 Trak-Ball has a desirable feature that the later-released black CX-80 Trakball doesn't have. In fact, there are other 2600-compatible trackballs that have this feature as well... 

2) The combo paddle/joystick 2600 controllers made by Sears and Coleco are not as effective to play paddle games  on a light sixer or heavy sixer unless you have a particular item to use with the controller. There are some people here who may have never known about this.

3) Omega Race is a two-button game requiring a special "Booster Grip" to properly play it. Some may not have that Booster Grip, but there is another way to play the game... and a controller from another gaming console is the key.

4) There's a particular mouse that can be used to play 2600 games, but there's a trick that you have to know in order to make it "active".

Enjoy!

Just for fun...

That's really cool!

It sure is and it works!

Star Trek on the 2600...  (https://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/Banners/VulcanSalute_zps9ab5f775.gif) (https://s1303.photobucket.com/user/TrekMD/media/Banners/VulcanSalute_zps9ab5f775.gif.html)

Some impressive videos here. I miss having my atari, they used to be the best times.

Quote from: JoyFreak on June 09, 2020, 11:40:31 AM
Some impressive videos here. I miss having my atari, they used to be the best times.

Glad you enjoyed them.  You can always enjoy the 2600 games via emulation.  Stella is an awesome emulator.

Stella is extremely impressive. Get some USB Atari controllers and it becomes hard to justify owning the console. I still have original hardware but for trying out games and sampling homebrew - Stella is where it's at.  It has a superb debug mode too that lets you look under the bonnet. I used it to create 60Hz versions of some PAL games that I play on my woody with a Harmony cartridge. One of the more geeky things I've ever done. :)

It sure is!  We have a thread for it here:  Stella - Atari 2600 Emulator (https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1960.0)

Repurchased an old friend.  Complete with manual. I think it's the US version which means it will run at full speed on my US woody (have a PAL and a US one - the US one is modded for compsite).But this isn't for playing. I have a Harmony cart with every game ever made.

A special game to me this - especially the 2600 port. Has a pile of memories associated with it.

(https://i.imgur.com/5wVgPEt.jpg)

Sitting with my Asteroids tat. Badge collection and 2 mugs. The one beside the cartridge changes with heat and shows the box art. :)

(https://i.imgur.com/1qlhs2Z.jpg)

That's awesome!  By the way, I sense a theme on that shelf.  ;)  As a fan of Asteroids, you should check out Space Rocks (https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1031).

Asteroids is one of the few games I'd buy "tat" for. I'm a real sucker for that era of Atari but Asteroids especially so.

Aye - I've messed about with the ROM of Space Rocks but haven't put real gameplay time into it yet. An excellent job.

You should give Space Rocks a chance.  It really is excellent.

My favourite home version of Asteroids is still the 7800 port. Nothing comes close.

Oh, that is an awesome version!  I love the cooperative game on it too.

Played that 2600 cart I got last week. It's the US version so it runs faster than the PAL version and a lot smoother. Of course the colours are wrong on a PAL machine but with this game it doesn't really matter - multi-coloured Asteroids are "wrong" anyhow!! :)

I have my US 2600 as well with composite mod of course but that's boxed away at the minute - it needs some work to separate the audio and visual wires which need proper shielding as the picture - while very clear - gets interference when there is a sound made. The 2 wires are very thin and are wound together - so they need unsolderd and separated with some shielding (or maybe upgraded to thicker wire). I'll wait to my local electronics repair shop opens according to lockdown rules. I still need to teach myself some basic soldering.

The cart is back in its box though. I have the ROM and PAL60 version on my Harmony cart. But I like having the cart.

Very cool that you got the cart.  It's a fun game. 

Another one of those top 10 lists.  Pretty good choices on this one, though his comment about ET is

That's a classy list of games.

It's a pity he makes that uninformed comment about E.T. though. Makes me wonder if he has actually played it.

I doubt it.


Disagree re no.1 though. Pitfall 1 & 2 are technically impressive but I didn't like them that much. But I'm quibbling. Possibly the best top 10 list for 2600 I've seen.

Of course my list would be different but there would be a pretty big overlap with any list I'd compile.

I posted a comment about it and he replied.  He's essentially repeating what has been said about ET like a parrot.

I think we all have different 10 top games for the 2600.  The game library is huge.  The truth is, I can probably rank 10 games that I like but that would not be a true top 10 list.

There wasn't a game in that list I would say isn't worthy of mention. That's for sure. I remember really liking the ESB game back in the day. It's maybe the weakest in that list but it's still a good game and I can see why people would rate it highly.

More game hacks for the Atari 2600, by The New Retro Show.  Links to the games can be found on YouTube.

Latest acquisition. I'm putting together a small curated collection of my absolute 2600 favourites. Keeping to US-NTSC versions complete with box and manual. I don't expect this to reach double figures even.

I currently have Asteroids, Space Shuttle and this one.  I also have PAL Super Breakout but that will be replaced with the US version at some point.

Still to get:-

Circus Atari
Warlords
Yars' Revenge

(https://i.imgur.com/a4HwxCO.jpg)

Surround is a fun game!

Yep.

Was actually one of the console launch games. September 1977!!

I had it back in the day.  Played against my dad many times!  :)  I can imagine Surrouned hacked to make it a Tron cycles game.  More ROM and RAM could make it a nice version of that game!

Yeah...I'm surprised the homebrew community haven't made a beefed up version - this was a 2K game!!  This would fit into a QR code.  :)

I've seen people mention getting it hacked but nothing's happened yet. 

I've worked with the ROM myself. I've created a PAL version that runs at full speed (60Hz) and full screen. But that's for a limited audience - of PAL 2600 owners who also own a Harmony cartridge that lets then play ROMs on real hardware.

I know enough assembly coding to do that but not confident enough to change the game in any meaningful way but I'd like to get involved more in that scene.

Latest 2600 acquisition. Warlords. US-NTSC version but this came with the US and EU manuals for some reason...and a nice bonus... an old 1981 game catalogue. :)

(https://www.davykelly.com/warlords.jpg)

Still on the lookout for Yars' Revenge and Circus Atari but I've been spending too much games of late!!!

That looks pristine! 

I love the 2600 from A-tar-i. My favorites include Tunnel Runner, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Q*Bert, and many others.

I will have to post my current collection on here later.

Interesting look at the 2600.  Just ignore the comments about ET & Pac-Man...  ;)

Two thumbs up for a really good job explaining the Atari 2600. It is easy to look back and say what a good system which it was but this video took it even further by using modern comparisons.

I just learned about The Atari Manual Tome.  This is a project by TL Westgate who decided to compile the manuals for all the Atari 2600 games in one tome.  It's available as a free PDF here:  http://www.westg8.com/atari.html

Check it out if you own a 2600 and are missing  manuals or if you play the games through emulation! 

A cool video to share about Atari 2600 Lost Media by Classic Gamer74...

Quote from: TrekMD on April 23, 2021, 01:34:47 AM

(https://i.imgur.com/imi0FqU.jpg)

I just learned about The Atari Manual Tome.  This is a project by TL Westgate who decided to compile the manuals for all the Atari 2600 games in one tome.  It's available as a free PDF here:  http://www.westg8.com/atari.html

Check it out if you own a 2600 and are missing  manuals or if you play the games through emulation!

I'd never come across this before, but I've recently picked up a Harmony cart, so this could come in really handy!  Thanks for sharing!

Cool, glad it is helpful to you @DaveySloan