Atari 2600 Must Have Games

Started by dot.fyre, February 29, 2012, 14:32:30 PM

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dot.fyre

Can't believe there wasn't a post for this already!  >:(

I'll start it off...........

River Raid
Pitfall
Pitfall II
H.E.R.O.
Indy 500
Warlords
Phoenix
Berzerk
Kaboom!
Frogger
Centipede


And a whole lot more!   ;)

TL

Quote from: "stvd"Can't believe there wasn't a post for this already!  >:(

I just hadn't had the chance yet  :P

My top 2600 would be:

Solaris
Defender 2
Pengo
Galaxian
Phoenix
Atlantis
Missile Command
Space Invaders
Enduro
Chopper Command
Dig Dug
Joust
Double Dragon
Rampage
Commando
Solar Fox
Frogger
H.E.R.O
Warlords
Off The Wall
Millipede
River Raid 1&2
California Games
Winter Games
Summer games
Radar Lock


There are probably more but thats all I can think of right now!

Carlos

only Two for Me

Pitfall!

Dragster.

dot.fyre

Quote from: "Carl"only Two for Me

Pitfall!

Dragster.

Forgot about Dragster, the quickest video game ever. Probably!

Havantgottaclue

The legendary ... Frostbite. I love it. A few years ago a friend and I worked on a PC remake, but never finished it. We got it through to a playable stage, but we never managed to iron out all the bugs. We even set up a website:

http://tuxbite.sourceforge.net

And the screenshots on that page are shots from the game in action.

Unfortunately I don't know whether either of us has any of the code or graphics any more (I still have the music files stored away on my hard drive).

dot.fyre

In terms of the Atari at least, Activision must be one of the best software companies ever.
Virtually all of the company's output for the Atari was top drawer (not too keen on Stampede!).
No other company was that prolific.

Ultimate PTG came close with their Spectrum output but a lot of their C64 games were tripe.

TL

Quote from: "stvd"In terms of the Atari at least, Activision must be one of the best software companies ever.
Virtually all of the company's output for the Atari was top drawer (not too keen on Stampede!).
No other company was that prolific.

Ultimate PTG came close with their Spectrum output but a lot of their C64 games were tripe.

Without doubt. Its sad what they have become although I suppose its pretty cool that they are still around.

onthinice

Atlantis
Fast Food
Frogger
Frontline
Jr. Pac-Man
Jungle Hunt
Ms. Pac-Man
Pitfall II
Shootin' Gallery
Super Challenge Football
Title Match Pro Wrestling

TrekMD

Quote from: "onthinice"Atlantis
Fast Food
Frogger
Frontline
Jr. Pac-Man
Jungle Hunt
Ms. Pac-Man
Pitfall II
Shootin' Gallery
Super Challenge Football
Title Match Pro Wrestling

Good list but I'd be even more specific about Frogger.  You really want the SuperCharger version, the Official Frogger.  ;)  That is the ultimate version for the 2600.

Going to the final frontier, gaming...


dougtitchmarsh

Circus Atari
Outlaw
Maze Craze

Activision did make a bad game, Laserblast
My retro and computing blog posts
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davyk

#10
I posted about this on the RG forums a while back - thought I'd repost it here..The 2600 has a special place in my heart - it kindled my interest in IT which is how I earn my corn now, and it was the first (ignoring pong machines) and the fact that there is still great interest and affection for it means I'm not alone. Despite emulation being incredible I wouldn't be without one.

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 - some of these being translations of very early arcade games.

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 big-name 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 and provides a workable alternative to the 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.

TrekMD

Very nice list.  Defender II/Stargate has to be the best arcade port on the 2600 that I've ever seen.  It is leaps and bounds better than the original Defender port. 

Going to the final frontier, gaming...


TL

Quote from: "TrekMD"Very nice list.  Defender II/Stargate has to be the best arcade port on the 2600 that I've ever seen.  It is leaps and bounds better than the original Defender port.

Agreed 100%, after the amazing Solaris it's my favourite 2600 game!

Fin

Quick vote for Smurfs & Keystone Kapers, although that might just be me being all nostalgic

TrekMD

Alright, I'm going to add one game to this list:  Princess Rescue.  It is definitely a great game and quite an impressive bit of work on the 2600.  The binaries have been released (attached) for both PAL and NTSC systems.  You can play through emulator or Harmony or you can still purchase a copy from the Atari Age Store.

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Going to the final frontier, gaming...