socrates63

Thanks, @Justin! Yes, the past year has been an adventurous one. My Atari re-connecting got its start three years ago at PRGE 2017. I attended PRGE for the first time because it was the 40th Atari anniversary celebration, and when I found out that David Crane and Garry Kitchen were hosting a panel, I had to go. I was already pumped to meet my childhood heroes but when I saw a massive booth filled with Atari 8-bit and 2600 setups, I was an emotional mess. I hadn't seen a fully working Atari 800 setup since my own in the 80s. With trembling fingers and butterflies in my stomach, I approach an 800 and -gasp- touched it. When I returned home from that trip, I told my wife that I'd wish I could have the 800 again. I really didn't think that two years later, I'd have one in my possession. Seeing the white block cursor on the blue screen when I fired up the 800XL brought back a lot of memories.

I haven’t played enough 2600 games yet to build a top 10. Here’s a list of games I’ve enjoyed so far (not including homebrews) in no particular order: [*] Beamrider [*] Stampede [*] Room of Doom [*] Freeway [*] Cosmic Ark [*] Chopper Command [*] Demon Attack [*] Defender

@nosweargamer is your list of game rankings published somewhere? Fan of your channel and your no swear approach.

I saved up my allowance for three months to buy the 2600 Pac-Man when it first came out. I think I was in fifth grade. I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting to see something that resembled the arcade version and this was nothing like it at all. It was going to be another three months before I could save enough money to buy my next game, so like it or not, I played it everyday for three months. I guess I enjoyed playing it as a kid, but that did not erase the day 1 disappointment. I appreciate 2600 Pac-Man now. It’s only disappointing when I think of it as a port of the arcade game. Clearly it’s not a port given how different it is to the arcade version. Thinking of it as an original game, the game is pretty good and fun.

Thanks @HDN. Welcome to us newcomers. If nothing else, at least the forum structure here isn’t as daunting as AA.

Hello, everyone. I've come here via @nosweargamer's August give-away video. It's great to learn of another vibrant Atari community! I live in the suburb of Seattle with my two sons and wife. I've worked my entire career in the tech industry (Microsoft --> Amazon --> HBO / WarnerMedia) as a program manager. The 4-switch VCS (as it was known then) was my first console back in the early 80s. I think I was in 4th or 5th grade when I got it. At the time, my weekly allowance was $3 and the price of the VCS at Toys R Us was $120. I made a proposal to my dad that if he bought me the console, I would forego a year's worth of allowance. "You'd save $36," said I to my dad. A few days later, we went to Toys R Us and bought the VCS, but he kept giving me my weekly allowance 🙂 Thank goodness that he did. Otherwise, I'd have been playing Combat by myself for a year, and that's not much fun for a kid with no brothers or sisters. In middle school, I fell in love with computers. I hung around the computer lab for a year as a sixth grader since programming class and access to computers (Commodore PET) were only open to seventh and eighth graders. I got an Atari 800 with the cassette drive in seventh grade and for several years until I got the 520ST, the Atari 8-bit was my BFF. I can't remember what happened to my VCS. Fast forward almost 40 years to 2020, and I've been re-united with the 2600. Last year, out of nostalgia, I bought a Retron77, but I never opened the box. I discovered AtariAge earlier this year and got a 7800 four months ago. I recently found out that it has compatibility issues with some homebrews and that prompted me to get a light 6-switch 2600 last month. Two weeks after that, I jumped on a nice deal for a fixed up and upgraded 5200. The past month and a half has been a blast reconnecting with the Atari consoles from my childhood and discovering for the first time so many console games that I passed up because I was busy with my Atari 800. I even picked up a CRT TV recently to complete the full retro setup. In case you're wondering, last year I picked up an Atari 800 and 800XL. I also got the devices to load programs from SD card but I haven't set them up yet. After storing them in boxes for many years, I threw away all my Atari computers, peripherals, and software when we moved nearly 20 years ago. Let's not talk about it. This is my Atari story. I don't know much, but I'm a gamer at heart (although I suck at most games) and a life long Atari fanboy. I'm glad to be here and look forward to get to know the community better. Thanks for reading.

Last 2600 physical cartridge played --> Demon Attack