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[pramod]

It's been almost 50 years...like half a century since the beloved Atari 2600 introduced us to a world of blocky graphics, simple bleeps and bloops, and that classic joystick controller.

And seems like people still can't get enough of it. Homebrews, compilations, reviews, etc...people seem still to be entranced by the 2600. I wonder why?

Speaking as an old dude who actually owned one as a kid, I have to admit nostalgia is a huge part of it. But is there something else?
Maybe there's something magical about the simplicity of the 2600's graphics? Like when something looks so basic, so crude, you no longer care about stuff like "realism", your imagination
takes over, and you feel like a kid again?

I wonder if anyone who didn't grow up playing the 2600, gets this feeling when playing 2600 games?

 

[fart town usa]

Nostalgia goes without saying but I think high scores are a big part of it too, some people are into that and Atari 2600 games allow for gitting gud with fast reflexes and all that old school goodness.

 

[SEGA_2012]

It has many great games.
Enduro.
River Raid.
Adventure.
Frogger.

 

[SumJester]

I'm someone that played the 2600 for the first time, like, only 10 years ago.
Most of it's titles are so rudimentary that they aged like bronze age milk

However there are some few titles that are surprisingly solid and are still enjoyable.
For me Aquaventure is one I played a couple of months ago and it was quite fun.

 

[kunonabi]

It was before my time but it still has some fun games. Not much more to it than that.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Accessible, fun historical, cheap, for the not cheap stuff the plug n plays and the compilations are the only ways to play, lasting appeal that makes the games harder to age other than graphically, and even then some look so clean and simple that isn't an issue sometimes either, a good start if you want to learn game development and want to start with simple games or examples and work your way up, many games required a lot of incredible coding or exploits to be used and just the spectacle of what some devs could pull of is enough, high scores can be competitive with groups or incentivize individuals, for games that can be completed they usually still have dozens of levels so it's a way to challenge yourself with well-made and/or addictive game mechanics, some people don't like dpads, some people prefer 80's game design, nostalgia, console itself in all it's variations is durable including the Sears one, intrigue in playing games designed around one button especially the complex ones, the beginnings of many favorite devs started on the system, you own your games, easy to play hard to master for some games, and more.

The realism thing is strange to me and is only something I've seen pushed toward the 2600 the most but the need to imagine is strong with all the 8-bit consoles and most of the 8-bit computers, and the 16-bit Intellivision.

Really not much in the way of something resembling realism in your context until the SNES Genesis and that still often left a gap for some games. There's a reason why 3D basically threw 2D in the trash (most of the time) on consoles. 3D even in the early computer and early console implementations were at least in the direction of a realistic object with multiple angles that resembled something real that you didn't have to imagine too hard with.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I grew up with the system, as it was the console to own as a kid.

But even for me, most of the games haven’t aged well at all. I could count on one hand the few games that I could still enjoy today.
Although I should mention arcade games from that same period aged like fine wine to me.

For some reason I just don’t feel nostalgic about it though. Not like other consoles.

 

[bender]

Moon Patrol

 

[ReBurn]

For me it's more than nostalgia. There were some genuinely good games on the system and if you can get past the primitive graphics you can still have some enjoyable experiences.

Take Adventure on the third difficulty setting where there's a full kingdom and items are placed randomly. It's a genuinely challenging game and the difficulty can be high because of the speedy dragons that look like seahorses and that asshole bat that leaves your sword just out of reach. Also, Warlords with friends was a ton of fun and it still can be. Capturing the ball and trying to swivel around fast in a fake to get a shot into the bunker across from you was an awesome time. The gameplay just holds up really well given the hardware.

There was a lot of bad shovelware crap, but there were also legitimately good games on a system built for two blocks and one missle.

 

[Bluecondor]

That's interesting, as I absolutely loved the Atari 2600 as a kid (Combat, Adventure, Indiana Jones, Pac-Man, Pitfall), but I haven't played an Atari game in decades. I loved Pitfall as a kid and played it for hours on end, but I have 0 desire to play it again.

In contrast, Nintendo games from the 90s like Tecmo Bowl still have some appeal to me. In fact, I played Retro Bowl on my Switch last year for nearly 50 hours, and Retro Bowl is a slightly upgraded version of 90s era Super Tecmo Bowl.

 

[AJUMP23]

Just fun. Straightforward good games.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Love me some kaboom

 

[6502]

I played it in the 80s but bought the 2600 jr in mid 90s (main console at the time was a snes). it was like 30 quid for the console and 5 or 10 quid a game from Argos.

Graphically poor aside from solaris and a few others (midnight pinball was nice), the games did not rely on anything but the gameplay. There was a lot of dross but a lot of easy to understand quick games and some suprisingly complicated / more modern feeling stuff too. Thumping sounds made everything feel impactful.

An afternoon smashing through 2600 games is like playing 70/80s warioware.

 

[nush]

I think everyone that considers themselves a game should have the chance to play on a 2600, real hardware on a CRT and all it's imperfections. Gaming at it's purest before all the rules were worked out. With the wood-grain and aluminum switches it's still one of the best looking consoles. Almost every game pushed the system beyond a simple Pong machine it was designed as.

 

[AndrewRyan]

At the time games were a place called arcade that you went to with quarters. This was some kind of voodoo magic you hooked up to the TV. Yeah the games weren't as good but you were gaming at home for FREE!

 

[ClanOfNone]

I was an Intellivision guy myself. Had slightly better hardware and a magnificently awful controller, but the keypad and numerous buttons allowed for much deeper games.
AD&D Treasures of Tarmin was WAY better than Adventure.

 

[Rayderism]

River Raid, Kaboom and Megamania were among my favorite 2600 games. Unfortunately, none of those are in any of the recent compilations. It's mostly the arcade offerings that I get the compilations for, not Atari's own 2600 stuff. I mean, some of those old games were fun back then, but are hard for me to tolerate now. Activision and Imagic made most of the better games.

 

[nush]

This was some kind of voodoo magic you hooked up to the TV

Home video was in the same time-frame but was way more expensive, $200 was a steal.

 

[Agent X]

You could say that many of the 2600's best games remain popular despite their simplicity. However, another way of looking at it is that those games endured the test of time because of that simplicity.

At that time, technological resources were limited. Designers had to shoehorn the graphics, sounds, and the rules of play within just a few kilobytes of ROM. Since the graphics and sounds were so simplistic, the games had to rely heavily on engaging gameplay, as 6502 said above. The games needed to hook the player immediately, without the luxury of elaborate backstories and cinematic sequences. A player should be able to grab the controller and quickly understand what he is supposed to do in the game.

It also helps that many 2600 games were meant to be played in short sessions of a few minutes, often with one or more other human players. Several games have a direct head-to-head aspect that keeps these games appealing to new generations--you and a friend can dive into games like Combat, Outlaw, or Warlords and have instant fun without needing to study the manual.

A few of the later games like Joust and Mario Bros. were able to deliver head-to-head fun, where you and a friend could choose to play either cooperatively or competitively. Even a highly cooperative game could quickly transform into a heated competition at a moment's notice.

 

[jufonuk]

The look plays a part. The wooden panelling. Also the fact it kick started this industry. People just can feel the importance emanating from the the 2600

 

[Havoc2049]

I was a 2600 kid and it turned me into a hard core gamer. Got mine in 1982 with the pack-in game Combat. I also got the amazing Pitfall the same day as well. I mainly loved the Atari Silver Label, Activision, Parker Brothers, Imagic and Xonox double ender games. 20th Century Fox, US Games and Data Age had a few good games as well.

Atari was the cool high tech Silicon Valley company at the time. In 1981, they were the #1 console manufacturer, #1 arcade manufacturer and something like the 5th or 6th largest home computer manufacturer in the world.

 

[baphomet]

What?

Outside of a few small niche internet groups no gives a shit about the 2600.

 

[Futaleufu]

Never bothered with the 2600 because the Atari 8 bit computer ports have better graphics and sound

 

[Days like these...]

I have vivid memories of Pitfall and E.T.

 

[CamHostage]

At the time games were a place called arcade that you went to with quarters. This was some kind of voodoo magic you hooked up to the TV. Yeah the games weren't as good but you were gaming at home for FREE!

I don't know, I was the opposite, when stuck between the choice between this home video game system and no home video game system, I was fine with none...

Granted, I was just a few months old when Atari 2600 came out, so that skews things; by the time I could get an Atari, there was stuff like Commodore 64 or maybe Colecovision (though I only ever saw that machine for real last year.) Kids from 1977/1978/1979 might remember it as transformative in their lives. We had one of those Radio Shack home Pong machines, and that game surely burned into the family TV from use, so I was certainly there for the time when playing videogames at home was novel and exciting. Still, Atari 2600 was the thing everybody owned and played for a decade after the machine was released, long into its rudimentary hardware's shelf life, and I just remember every second with that rubber joystick feeling like, "Man, this is jank."

I do remember befriending an annoying neighbor just because he had River Raid, that one was awesome, so maybe part of the problem was that my neighbor otherwise had bad taste? Or maybe when the family brought in a Commodore in 1983/4 or somewhere around there, the Atari looked positively primitive even though I was playing like Tooth Invaders and Kickman. Whatever the case, the Atari 2600 just never cast its magic on me. I could get on a bike and find a 7-11, or beg my parents to go to an arcade in the mall. (And I never had much money, so mostly I went there to watch once my allowance was gone, which was still sometimes worth it.)

Looking back on it now, though, I did miss a few gems, and the tech challenge of "racing the beam" to make full-scale games on what was built to be simple single-screen gaming hardware was commendable and is worth researching... but I still have a hard time actually staying awake to play most of the games.

 

[nush]

What?

Outside of a few small niche internet groups no gives a shit about the 2600.

Released last month,

I wish "Nobody gives a shit" this much about the Dreamcast.

 

[calistan]

Released last month,

I wish "Nobody gives a shit" this much about the Dreamcast.

Being in the UK, I never owned an Atari 2600 or even knew of anyone who did, but that compilation is hands down the best retro collection ever. It's a proper history lesson. I liked the final interview, where Nolan Bushnell talks about the idiots who've ruined the Atari brand since the glory days, and the present head of "Atari" starts to look really uncomfortable.

 

[crackajack]

Stupidly simple games can be fun. Minesweeper or a lot card games, Solitaire, Spider, Freecell etc. will never be not great fun to me.

Qbert which I barely touched on my T610 might be from that era. Other than that I am not aware I ever played any Atari (or Commodore) game.

 

[nush]

Being in the UK, I never owned an Atari 2600 or even knew of anyone who did

I'm going to say that you're not old enough or lived in buttfuck nowhere. It was the cheap alternative that was pushed if you could not afford a speccy or C64 and a lot of parents fell for it.

 

[Gaelyon]

As an old gamer myself the 2600 was my first console. While i have fond memories of H.E.RO., Pitfall or Starmaster (complete with some ram extension), it's really too old now beside nostalgia. Amiga games however

 

[martinzxr]

Was my first console in 1987 or 88.
HERO, pitfall, enduro all great games.

 

[calistan]

I'm going to say that you're not old enough or lived in buttfuck nowhere. It was the cheap alternative that was pushed if you could not afford a speccy or C64 and a lot of parents fell for it.

Pardon me, young whippersnapper, but I'm old enough to remember when it was exotic and expensive, and the cheaper alternatives were things like Grandstand LED games. Get out of here with your newfangled next-gen Speccy and C64, those things hadn't been invented.

 

[nush]

Pardon me, young whippersnapper, but I'm old enough to remember when it was exotic and expensive, and the cheaper alternatives were things like Grandstand LED games. Get out of here with your newfangled next-gen Speccy and C64, those things hadn't been invented.

Buttfuck nowhere it must be then, I'm older than Star Wars. Atari's were everywhere, even the poor kid is school had one.

 

[smbu2000]

The games are fun.
It was already past its prime when I first played one in like 1987 I think. I still enjoyed the games even though we already had the NES.

I don’t mind still going back to play them. I had an Activision collection app on my phone for the longest time with their 2600 games and I enjoyed playing them. Although kaboom was much harder without the wheel controller.

 

[calistan]

Buttfuck nowhere it must be then, I'm older than Star Wars. Atari's were everywhere, even the poor kid is school had one.

The poor kid? I can't find the UK launch price anywhere, but in the US it was $189, which is the equivalent of over $900 today, and the games (in the UK) were £20-£30, so about £100-£150 now. Obviously they were around for a long time and got drastically cheaper, but I still never knew anyone who owned one. Atari always seemed like more of an American thing, at least until the ST.

edit: seems the 2600 launched at £199 in the UK, which would be over £1,000 in 2022.

 

[Dr.D00p]

2600 launched at £199 in the UK, which would be over £1,000 in 2022.

Crazy, when you think it was already over 2yrs old when it launched in the UK and already well on its way to obsolescence.

 

[Kilau]

Same reason vinyl is popular now, hipsters.

 

[nial]

Please, can anyone tell me what was the point in releasing the Atari 5200?

 

[nush]

Please, can anyone tell me what was the point in releasing the Atari 5200?

Atari: We're gonna fuck up so hard as a warning to history. Sadly history didn't always get the memo.

 

[SirTerry-T]

Being in the UK, I never owned an Atari 2600 or even knew of anyone who did, but that compilation is hands down the best retro collection ever. It's a proper history lesson. I liked the final interview, where Nolan Bushnell talks about the idiots who've ruined the Atari brand since the glory days, and the present head of "Atari" starts to look really uncomfortable.

Eh?
There were loads of Atari users in the UK at the time. Every other video store had cartridges to rent too.
The VCS and Intellivision were all over the UK High Streets.




Waaaheeyyy.

 

[wipeout364]

100 % Nostalgia. It was my first game system and I loved it. My kids think the games are terrible. They tolerate some of the arcade ones but the 2600 ones they think are horrible.

I think I buy almost all the Atari collections and play them for a few minutes then go back to modern games.

 

[tygertrip]

Pardon me, young whippersnapper, but I'm old enough to remember when it was exotic and expensive, and the cheaper alternatives were things like Grandstand LED games. Get out of here with your newfangled next-gen Speccy and C64, those things hadn't been invented.

Old thread, but I can’t resist…. man I FEEL you! USA here, but the 2600 was a MASSIVE upgrade over my prior system. It was a black and white Pong clone, it also had a light gun. No cartridges, it had a switch for a handful of modes. Regarding the light gun, there were no colorful ducks and a smart-ass dog… it was a white dot I shot at. I can vividly remember the excitement unwrapping it, opening it, plugging it up, and playing Combat with my parents that Christmas morning oh so long ago. Whippersnapper needs an ass-whooping! .

 

[ReBurn]

Old thread, but I can’t resist…. man I FEEL you! USA here, but the 2600 was a MASSIVE upgrade over my prior system. It was a black and white Pong clone, it also had a light gun. No cartridges, it had a switch for a handful of modes. Regarding the light gun, there were no colorful ducks and a smart-ass dog… it was a white dot I shot at. I can vividly remember the excitement unwrapping it, opening it, plugging it up, and playing Combat with my parents that Christmas morning oh so long ago. Whippersnapper needs an ass-whooping! .

I know what you mean. My first experience with home video games was a Magnavox Odyssey that my uncle got when he bought a massive console TV in the 70's. When Atari VCS came around with swappable cartridges that were actually different games instead of those cards that just acted as jumpers to switch up the variations of practically the same thing I was amazed and when I actually got one for Christmas I was hooked.

I still prefer arcade-style games over these playable stories we get today. The best games were the games that had you beat someone else's score or didn't end until you rolled over some counter or overflowed some memory and got a kill screen. Pause buttons were for sissies.

 

[tygertrip]

I know what you mean. My first experience with home video games was a Magnavox Odyssey that my uncle got when he bought a massive console TV in the 70's. When Atari VCS came around with swappable cartridges that were actually different games instead of those cards that just acted as jumpers to switch up the variations of practically the same thing I was amazed and when I actually got one for Christmas I was hooked.

I still prefer arcade-style games over these playable stories we get today. The best games were the games that had you beat someone else's score or didn't end until you rolled over some counter or overflowed some memory and got a kill screen. Pause buttons were for sissies.

I hear you! I actually like all kinds of games myself. Yar’s Revenge, Red Dead Redemption 2 are two games I am sure I’ll never forget, and they couldn’t be more different. But I know exactly what you mean. Beating the high score or even crashing via flipping the register is something else. And can you imagine these whiners nowadays playing without a pause button? Only the Dark Souls fans would be left!!

BTW, the Atari 50 compilation has a version of Yar’s that plays exactly the same but with fancier graphics. There is also Yar’s Revenge Recharged (sold by itself) that adds co-op and complexity (in a good way) that is quite fun (my youngest son and I play it sometimes).

 

[ReBurn]

I hear you! I actually like all kinds of games myself. Yar’s Revenge, Red Dead Redemption 2 are two games I am sure I’ll never forget, and they couldn’t be more different. But I know exactly what you mean. Beating the high score or even crashing via flipping the register is something else. And can you imagine these whiners nowadays playing without a pause button? Only the Dark Souls fans would be left!!

BTW, the Atari 50 compilation has a version of Yar’s that plays exactly the same but with fancier graphics. There is also Yar’s Revenge Recharged (sold by itself) that adds co-op and complexity (in a good way) that is quite fun (my youngest son and I play it sometimes).

Atari 50 is the only game I've bought day 1 in the past year. I've had so much fun with the games and the history.

 

[HYDE]

The look plays a part. The wooden panelling. Also the fact it kick started this industry. People just can feel the importance emanating from the the 2600

Wrong! It almost ruined the industry…Arcades & NES & SEGA MS saved it all. Remember playing amazing games at the arcade then getting home and wondering what in the world I was looking at on my neighbor’s Atari 2600, plus it controlled like trash and sounded like sewage compared to a cabinet set up. So much so I’d go do chores and walk all the way across town to the store to get quarters then walk some more to play the Arcade versions.

Edit: It’s exclusives were the only games I enjoyed, and I am fully aware of their contributions.

 

[cartman414]

Please, can anyone tell me what was the point in releasing the Atari 5200?

They were feeling the heat from the Intellivision (and possibly the incoming Coleco).

 

[Frayed Ends of Sanity]

They're great simple games to play high. And with no music, you can put on any soundtrack that you like

 

[MastAndo]

 

[jufonuk]

Wrong! It almost ruined the industry…Arcades & NES & SEGA MS saved it all. Remember playing amazing games at the arcade then getting home and wondering what in the world I was looking at on my neighbor’s Atari 2600, plus it controlled like trash and sounded like sewage compared to a cabinet set up. So much so I’d go do chores and walk all the way across town to the store to get quarters then walk some more to play the Arcade versions.

Edit: It’s exclusives were the only games I enjoyed, and I am fully aware of their contributions.

Without Atari. There would be Nintendo entering the US games market the way they did.