Atari 2600

[Retrogamer_ST]

I have a friend who owned an Atari 2600 while i was an Intellivision owner. He always brag about the fun games like Missile Command for exemple.

It took me 36 years to REALLY try Atari 2600 out. The last months i have been playing lots of Atari 2600 games and read alot about the console on the net, everything from the games to the hardware.

It's have been a fascinating and pleasant experience as an old Atari 8bit user.

I like Ataris legendary games console that made Atari famous and probably rich too because Atari 2600 sold over 30 million units worldvide. Still today people think that Atari 2600 was a good and importand games console and IGN put Atari 2600 in second place after Nintendo NES as the second best games console ever.

For your information, Playstation II ended up in third place after NES and Atari.

What's your opinion about Atari 2600?

[Retrogamer_ST]

Clever use of rasters in this prototype game to Atari 2600 from Jay Miners company, Amiga.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAfrAxTV1ZM

Not much of a game and it was never released, but quite impressive graphics for being a Atari 2600 game.

[exxos]

The 2600 was the first "computer" I ever got. Only had like 4 games, but used to spend endless hours on it. Not so much these days, I have moved on, on to 16 colours now mostly

[Retrogamer_ST]

I never bought an Atari 2600. My first console was Fairchild Channel F, then i bought Philips Videopac G-7000. Then it was Vic-20 and Mattel Intellivision. 1985 i got my first Atari computer, Atari 800 XL. I had several friends who bought Atari 2600 and finally i got an virtual Atari 2600 console myself to using the Stella emulator.

Right now i have kind of Atari 2600 mania and incredible fun trying out all the great games for this console after many years of Atari 800 Xl and Atari ST gaming.

[exxos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG8krR374kM

I used to love playing that game, back in the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2jLrNYzyr8

Problem is when you play it enough you get to know the car patterns in coming on the track and where they go... then it isn't what score you can get, its how many times you can lap the score counter back to zero lol

[exxos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... RqCbifUaD0

Rasters at 3:40 ish !!! lol

[Retrogamer_ST]

I even bought Pole Position Race Designer for Atari 800 were you could design you own tracks for this great game.

Phoenix? (a classic game)

I have always been a Galaxian nut, the 2600 version of this game is real good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmYP_raHJxU

Even if i was an Atari 800 XL owner and often got the "luxury" versions of the games, i have been pleasant surprised of how good Atari 2600 really was for being a game console released 1977. In fact some games is even better on 2600 then on the Atari 8bit computers.

While i was playing videogames on Intellivision i had a friend who always brag about how much more fun the games were on Atari 2600, he was a real Missile Command, Defender and Asteroids freak.

When i play Atari 2600 today using the Stella emulator, i feel kind of "the fun is back" and Atari 2600 is now a classic sitting side by side next to Atari 800 XL and Atari ST in my heart.

[Dude111]

What's your opinion about Atari 2600?

My favourite console of the 80s!!

That and Coleco

[Retrogamer_ST]

Imagine this...

Atari creates the 2600 console, the most long lived game console of all times. Atari 2600 was a huge success and created several standards.

Then...

Atari released the 5200 console...big as a house and didn't even used the Atari standard for joystick ports.

No wonder that 5200 was a huge disapointment for most gamers.

Then they released 7800...why?

Atari 2600 is still a legendary games console and Ataris biggest success ever.

[kiwilove007]

I can say that I have never played the Atari 2600 console - even back in the day - as it never? turned up over here??? (ie. New Zealand)
But of course I knew of it - since I read the computer magazines back in the early 80s'.

I have used Stella of late - not really to play the 2600 games but just to check on some of the graphics - usually not games as such.

Anyway - I am open to the idea of designing the graphics for a possible 2600 game - which may or may not happen...
I do understand the limited nature of it's graphics - and so, it will certainly be a challenge to do anything good with it.
The benchmark is probably Battlezone - which I'll rate as the coolest looking 2600 game of them all? River Raid probably rates highly, as too Pitfall II? Thrust appearing for it - is probably a milestone for it - same for Boulderdash? Games you'd expect not to.

I think it's too hard for Mario or Sonic to make for a proper appearance - although there's been tries to...

The only nicety for me to work on something for it - is just to claim to have done so, then it'll be the 7800 next? Probably not - because I regard that system as something as a dud - and not a forerunner/pioneer/etc -- that it represents a step backward, rather than forward - or sideways?

But I am always dependent on who can I work with - on it? As I am no programmer, no technical wiz - but I can design the graphics - when given good enough tool(s) to work with... and always appreciate being able to work on any videogames project - that does produce something rather interesting upon completion, or near completion thereof.

Harvey