Witness the Atari Age! The golden age of crap.
Written: Dec 04 '01 (Updated Aug 27 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Loads of cool and easy to play arcade classics to pick from.
Cons: Very out of date and many games are just too simple or too boring.
The Bottom Line: It's a fun system but only for a few minutes or hours. Buy one only if you are a serious video game collector!
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| StarSoldier1's Full Review: Atari 2600 |
ATARI 2600 VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM (September 1977-1984)
I have written reviews of almost every gaming system out there but I never reviewed the Atari 2600 on Epinions yet because of it's huge history. Now here it is and hopefully I can help you out before you invest on this old school machine.
It started with me right here with this wood grain machine, the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. The Atari 2600 VCS is actually a 8-bit machine and not a 4-bit system like some people would assume but the system's power is still very limited to other 8-bit machines like the Nintendo Entertainment System or Sega Master System thanks to the weak cartridge Ram space, and poor sprite detail.
As you may know, you can't find a Atari 2600 system in about 95% of game stores here. You are better off going to a garage sale or any store that's sell really, old stuff (but not too old of course) to find your own Atari system. Be sure to get everything with it like the AC adapter, old RF hook up, and the TV and Game switch. The Atari 2600 can only work on older TV with the twin screws in the back unless you buy a new RF switch from a electronic store like Radio Stack.
Or you can buy a Atari 7800 (the more powerful 8-bit system that can play almost any 2600 game out there) and forget the 2600 altogether. There is another old Atari system called the Atari 5200, but it never really caught on and it won't play your 2600 games unless you buy an special RF switch, and finding one of those can be pretty difficult too.
But enough of the upgrades, let's get back to the 2600 itself. Atari sold well over 10 million 2600's in the early 80's, and it was just cool to have one back then because of recent arcade hits like Space Invaders, Missile Command, and Asteroids now available at home for the first time ever, so there's tons of 2600's still out there if you look hard enough. The 2600 was the Playstation of its time. The Atari 2600 also has a lot of options on the system itself to alter your games like Type A or B switches, game select, and even a option for Black and White or Colour. Nothing could stop Atari back then, not the Intellivision, Colecovision, or Vertrex, so how did Atari fail in the first place? Their games for one!
The Great Video Game Market Crash of 1983-1984!
It's Video Game history's darkest time! The time when the all powerful Atari fell from grace and virtually ended Video Games as we know it. It all started in 1981 with the Atari 2600 version of PAC MAN. Pac Man, of course, was a huge mega hit in the arcades and Atari was lucky enough to score the license from Namco to do the arcade game on home release. Atari was hoping to sell over 20 million copies of Atari Pac Man thus making the Atari 2600 VCS even more popular than it already is. Unfortunately, Atari Pac Man (considered to be a awful translation to most critics) only sold 7 Million copies, a sure fire hit by today's standards but a disappointment to Atari's expected sell figures.
Atari needed another hit to recover from the loss of Atari Pac Man, so Atari got the rights to create a game based on the movie E.T. (sounds like a good idea on paper, eh?) This time the E.T. game needed to sell 25 million copies to make up for the cost of buying the rights to the license. "People HATED it!" The E.T. game only sold a mere million and Atari had tons of unsold games on the store shelfs. With two huge multi-million dollar disasters from the leader of video game sales, most stores discoutinued all video games sales and discounted all they had left (mostly for a dollar). That meant ALL video games too; ColecoVision, Intellivision and everyone else were ruined. By 1984 the whole video game market crashed. Atari was ruined and they never really recovered despite there best efforts.
Top Ten
(These games are really old but they play pretty good. Nothing as beaten Moon Patrol, yet)
#1. MOON PATROL (Atari, 1983)
Here is a impressive action game, even today. Still very challenging with a lot of jumping and shooting. Plus it one of the few Atari games that features 3D backgrounds and game theme music too. Guide your moon buggy across 5levels of deadly pits, landmines, and evil aliens.
2. FROSTBITE (Activision, 1983)
This is a intense and original jumping adventure in Antarctica. Collect enough ice to your own igloo while avoiding the many Polar bears, crabs, birds and especially the ice cold water. This is one game I could easily play for hours!
3. FROGGER (Parker Brothers/Konami, 1982)
It's just not a Playstation game after all. Frogger is a perfect game for the Atari 2600 system because its so simplistic and challenging. In it you help a frog cross the road and the swamp to get back home. Fill all 5holes to complete the levels. This is a great classic.
4. MIDNIGHT MAGIC (Atari, 1988)
Here is a fun pinball game that's more realistic than the earlier Atari game, Video Pinball. It's even possible to change the colour of the board if you are good enough.
5. MS. PAC MAN (Atari/Namco, 1983)
Unlike Atari Pac Man, this Atari translation of the arcade classic is actually pretty good. The game still looks blocky and there are tons of flickers on screen but you still get four different mazes and different difficulty settings too, plus it's a lot better than that awful Atari PacMan from 1982.
6. MEGA MANIA
7. DIG DUG
8. KEYSTONE KAPERS
9. MISSILE COMMAND
10. PRESSURE COOKER
Most Disappointing:
SWORD QUEST: Earth World (Atari, 1983)
The Adventure sequel that was too big for one game, so Atari planned 4 Sword Quest games in a new series. Earth World is one of the first in this hard to play Sword Quest series. Unfortunately, the original Adventure was way better that this or any other Sword Quest game because of the poorly made map and bad use of the item system. Best to avoid them all expect maybe Sword Quest Water World, which is kind of rare.
PAC MAN
E.T.
DONKEY KONG JR.
SWORDQUEST: EarthWorld
The Worst:
FINAL APPROACH
A space shuttle simulator on the Atari 2600................... there are so many things wrong with this concept. Virtually unplayable.
STAR MASTER
SWORDQUEST: EarthWorld
SWORDQUEST: FireWorld
Most Underrated:
MOON PATROL
FLASH GORDON
JR. PAC MAN
MEGA MANIA
FROSTBITE
COOL 2600 TOYS
The 2600 Controller
The Controller is just a simple black analog stick if one red button to the left side, very basic but it works great. You could easily play for hours with the Atari 2600 joystick. The two controllers Atari gave you only had one button so the games are really simple to play but this created a problem for some games like Mouse Trap where a extra button would have'd help with the gameplay (opening doors and the switching into Dog mode gets very confusing). Some controllers like the Sega Master System controllers are even backward compatible with the Atari 2600 to add more choices to the player.
The 2600 Paddles
These twin roller controllers were specially designed for games like Super Break Out, WarLords, Circus Atari and many others. They are kinda like mini trackballs found in old arcade titles but they only go left or right.
Bottomline:
The Atari 2600 VCS is really old and I can not recommend a game system that nearly killed off the entire Video Game industry! The Atari 2600 is great for reliving the past and you can't overlook all those classic arcade games either that helped to redefine a generation but with all the recent updates by Namco and Midway and their legendary classics being re-released for other gaming system like the Playstation and Sega Dreamcast, the Atari 2600 just can not compare with the memory cards, extra buttons, or better graphics of today. Also remember that the Atari 7800 will play almost every 2600 cartridge out there but the Atari 7800 controllers are very uncomfortable and many prefer the 2600 joysticks to the 7800 ones. Be careful, the Atari 2600 game system really sucks compared to today's standards like the PS3 and GameBoy Advance. Sometimes its best not to look back.
StarSoldier
http//:www.videogames101.com
Recommended:
No
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StarSoldier1
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