Retro Video Gamer

I discovered this channel on You Tube by chance.  It covers Atari 2600 games in relatively short episodes.  In each video a brief history of the game being discussed is given.  I found these to be informative and fun to watch.  Here are three episodes of the Atari Archive which cover Combat, Air Sea Battle, and Video Olympics...

WOW these videos are great, now I will be watching these as long as The Atari Archive keeps putting them on Youtube. . . . . . .

Glad you liked them.  I didn't post more as there had not been any reaction.  Here is the latest one...

These videos are excellent.  8)

They sure are! 

Great info in that...but was something wrong with the 2600 footage capture ? The signposts aren't always visible in the footage in that port in this video.

Maybe he had an issue with whatever he was using to capture the video. I think this game has some flicker too that doesn't help.  I still say this game should be hacked and updated with improved car graphics.  :)

Ah!

The game must display the road and the objects on alternate frames. The persistence of vision we experience adds them together.

For footage sometimes emulating is easier. :)


It's a great port on the 2600. I never owned it in the day as I considered it too simplistic but I wish I had retrospectively. There are quite a few games like that! I may create a thread about it. :)

OK, this is an older episode but of a very important game to the 2600....

Next episode...

That gets a mention in my "games I wished I owned BITD" thread.

I remember the arcade game. The sound on it was turned way up and the sound of the clowns bouncing around could be heard half away around the arcade I used to visit. The version this arcade had a deeper bass sound for what is in this video - so it was some some of variant on the original I'm guessing -  and it became pretty much part of the atmosphere of the place :)

I don't think I've ever seen the arcade version of the game.  For me, Circus Atari was an "original" Atari game until many years later when I learned of the arcade version.

Next episode on Fishing Derby...

Here is the latest episode of Atari Archive.  This time the game covered is Activision's Dragster!

Here's episode 41...Activision's Boxing!

Here is Atari Archive Episode 42...

@TrekMD I love Atari Archive! It's one of the few YouTube channels that I actually have post notifications for.

This is pretty funny, actually. I think we discovered it on the same day! March 8th sounds about right. I think that's within a day or two (I'm pretty sure it's the day of).

We both struck gold about the same time.  That's cool.  :)

Here is the latest episode, on a game that I love and that I did not know was an arcade game originally until very recently. 

I remember seeing this game in a cabinet. There were quite a few different versions of it with different names.

The lady who developed this also did Warlords?  She had a pretty good hit rate! Two excellent games.

Yes, she made two really good games!  I finally saw a real arcade machine of the original game at the local arcade last year. 

Here's episode 44...

Here is episode 45...

I was never very good but enjoyed playing the game.

Here is episode 46...

This is classic. I remember Bridge being a big card game so it only seemed natural for Activision to release a cart version. I still do not understand the game but at least the option to play is available.  :D

I have very little clue with most card games, so I never really got any card games for my 2600.

Here is episode 47...

https://youtu.be/ACgmI-VMeZ8

Othello: Atari Archive Episode 48...

https://youtu.be/kUNx9ULi3Uk

Othello was one of the first board games that computers were able to play perfectly. The number of available moves is small and decreases with every turn. A computer with a modest amount of memory could perform an exhaustive search of all possible outcomes from every available move.  Perhaps the old 2600 version didn't do that but it would have been able to put up a very credible game.

I never owned Othello.  I actually didn't even know about this game growing up!

Didn't own the cart myself but I played it using emulation.

That's how I've played it also but, what I meant, was that I was not even aware of the table game this was based on! 

Ah OK. It could be a combo of your age plus the fact that board games fell out of fashion for a while.

They are a big thing again now - esp. in Europe. The Germans seem to still have a strong culture of family playing together and they are perfect for it. Most of the really great games come from Europe at the minute.

Othello is very well known here in the UK. I still have a copy of the actual board game.

I grew up on Puerto Rico.  My friends and cousins loved playing board games but, for some off reason, Othello was not one of the games we ever played. 

Steeplechase: Atari Archive 49

This is another game I was no familiar with until years later.  I didn't know it was a Sears exclusive game.  I've played it since and I do like it...

https://youtu.be/rTBvr2C1_LY

Steeplechase was on the dedicated paddle game unit produced by Jakks several years ago. It's an interesting game. I remember seeing a YT video of the arcade version that supported a large number of players. I think the arcade machine was button press only but the height of the jump was controlled by how long you held the jump button down instead of using the paddle to set the height.

A few arcades in the UK still have a physical horse race game where each player throws a ball at a target and the horse moves depending on which hole in the target the ball falls into. I presume this videogame was inspired by that. I think Carnival Games on Wii had a recreation of it too.

Back to Othello - the wikipedia entry for it is pretty interesting. It was an early Nintendo arcade game and there was even a home unit produced by them.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi


It was sold in the US - maybe it didn't make it to Central America which is why you wouldn't have seen it.

Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean, not Central America.  :)  We didn't have Toys'R'Us growing up.  We could only get toys from department stores that no longer exist:  Barkers, The New York Store, Woolworths...  I guess they didn't bring that game to use on the island.  :)

I didn't know that Steeplechase was based on an arcade game either.  That's cool.  That from the time Atari adapted arcade game gameplay with no licensing. 

Oops.  Apologies re my geography. I knew it was an island but thought it was part of the central American region.  Every day is a school day. :)

Arcade game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EG4MYsvKUw

That's cool.  :)

Stellar Track (Star Trek): Atari Archive Episode 50

This one was a surprise to me! I did not know this game was a port of a text Star Trek game!  The picture on the box even has a ship that is clearly inspired by Star Trek!  I may have to chase this down!

https://youtu.be/3wOzdSevfio

I played a version of the original Star Trek on our mainframe in work. Early 90s that would have been. :)

That's cool.  Funny thing is even the name is a play on words to say Star Trek in a different way.

Here is the next episode...
Laser Blast: Atari Archive Episode 51

https://youtu.be/ATO5ngL5aAw

Here is the latest episode.   I love these!
Tennis: Atari Archive Episode 52

https://youtu.be/NrT-Dt9Zn18

A favorite of mine:  Video Pinball (Arcade Pinball): Atari Archive Episode 53

https://youtu.be/Ycwy0iDjDLw

Missile Command - Atari Archive Episode 54

The Trak-Ball versions of this game on the 2600 (a hack that was made recently) and the 5200 version are the best I've played of this game.

https://youtu.be/24vQuyrwTQ0

Missile Command is a great port on 2600. I didn't play it in the day because I simply thought it wouldn't be any good. I played a fair bit of it in the arcade and I couldn't beleive the 2600 would get close. The screenshots were inaccurate too and made the game look worse than it was (which was quite often the case with 2600 games by Atari).

I couldn't believe how well it played when I first tried it. Would have been a firm favourite had I got it when it was contemporary.

As well as it plays with the joystick, the true Trak-Ball hack beats it.  It's fantastic!

I like the mushroom cloud graphic that the 2600 port has. Even the arcade version doesn't have that.

The next episode...

https://youtu.be/IDzQ8QhGJdY

This is one of the best and most consistent YT series around for classic Atari. I always learn something from these.

Warlords is an old favourite of mine - I have a copy boxed with manual. :)

Here's the latest episode, #57:  Kaboom!

https://youtu.be/U7O-FNY2tqg

Freeway: Atari Archive Episode 58

Asteroids: Atari Archive Episode 59

Super Breakout: Atari Archive Episode 60

Skeet Shoot: Atari Archive Episode 61