Coolest Atari Game?

[Atari 5200 Guy]

My 13 year old nephew just asked me a question:  What is the coolest Atari game you have ever played?  When asked which Atari he said any of them.  Sadly, I can't think of one off the top of my head.  There's so many good ones.

[TrekMD]

There are tons to choose from.  One that comes to mind is Stargate/Defender II.  Not only does it look a lot like the arcade game, you have to use two joysticks to play to emulate the arcade controls. 

Pitfall II is another one that comes to mind.

[RickR]

I'm going to go all the way back and say 2600 Space Invaders.  It was so cool to realize you could finally have some real arcade games at home!  Revolution, baby! 

I really think those early Atari arcade ports were all cool for the same reason.  Asteroids, Missile Command, for example.  But not Pac-Man.  That one had the opposite effect.  Not cool!  Time to upgrade to a system with more power! 

 

 

[Justin]

Atari Inc. "Warner" era: TEMPEST

Atari Games era: ROADBLASTERS or S.T.U.N. RUNNER

Atari Corp. "Tramiel" era: TEMPEST 2000

[DegasElite]

The coolest Atari game. Hmm…

A good choice might be Primal Rage Arcade. Now, that game rocked. The Jaguar version could have been better, though. It was just too slow when loading. Marble Madness Arcade was another one. Great games.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I agree with all of your choices.  But I was asked just one.  After careful consideration I picked one.  My answer is...

Sorry I've got to change this.  Coolest Atari game I played was the 5200 port of Super Breakout when I got my first Atari on Christmas morning many years ago.  Tempest 2000 is still cool, too, though. 😉 

TEMPEST 2000 -- ATARI JAGUAR

I had to think long on this one.  I kept asking myself about which game made me just not want to walk away, put the controller down, was soo addictive that it pushed the purchase of the game.  I thought of the 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx...any Atari machine that remembered simply blowing my mind.  Then I remembered one trip to a Wal-Mart store in Missouri one day during a Christmas shopping trip where I had my first encounter with the Jaguar and my first taste of its blood.

I spent the whole time during our visit playing Tempest 2000 that was used to demonstrate the system.  I immediately feel in love with the system and the game.  They were a match made in heaven.  The graphics were WOW, the music was ROCKIN', and the whole concept just worked and blew my mind.  I didn't want to leave or at least not without taking one home.  Here I was a grown man but not wanting to leave without getting a Jaguar.  I would have bought one, too, if they would not have been out of Tempest 2000.

Edited July 23, 2020 by kamakazi20012

[DegasElite]

Don't forget AVP for the Jag. That game was ahead of its time. I showed it to a friend, and the graphics and sound knocked her off her feet. She loved it! That was a great game for the Jag, that and Doom.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

As good of a game as it was AVP didn't leave as big of an impression as Tempest 2000 did for me.  It was a good game but parts of it hurt my eyes.  Tempest 2000 on the other hand was eye candy to me and I loved the soundtrack.  It was the first game I seen get a soundtrack release.  I especially loved the vocals used.  Hardcore stuff.  If I had a Jaguar and Tempest 2000 was the only game I had I would not complain at all. That game left that kind of an impression on me.  I'm constantly trying to track it down in just a cart only form.  It isn't easy or cheap.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

16 hours ago, Justin said:

Atari Inc. "Warner" era: TEMPEST

Atari Games era: ROADBLASTERS or S.T.U.N. RUNNER

Atari Corp. "Tramiel" era: TEMPEST 2000

Atari Games:  Race Drivin'. But they could have made it a bit more forgiving lol.

Atari Inc.: Sinister (5200 Prototype).  Awesome game and talks!

[DegasElite]

15 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

I agree with all of your choices.  But I was asked just one.  After careful consideration I picked one.  My answer is...

TEMPEST 2000 -- ATARI JAGUAR

I had to think long on this one.  I kept asking myself about which game made me just not want to walk away, put the controller down, was soo addictive that it pushed the purchase of the game.  I thought of the 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx...any Atari machine that remembered simply blowing my mind.  Then I remembered one trip to a Wal-Mart store in Missouri one day during a Christmas shopping trip where I had my first encounter with the Jaguar and my first taste of its blood.

I spent the whole time during our visit playing Tempest 2000 that was used to demonstrate the system.  I immediately feel in love with the system and the game.  They were a match made in heaven.  The graphics were WOW, the music was ROCKIN', and the whole concept just worked and blew my mind.  I didn't want to leave or at least not without taking one home.  Here I was a grown man but not wanting to leave without getting a Jaguar.  I would have bought one, too, if they would not have been out of Tempest 2000.

Tempest 2000 is a gem. CD-quality music and advanced graphics took it over the top. Jeff Minter outdid himself that time. :O)

[Video 61]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:19 AM, RickR said:

I'm going to go all the way back and say 2600 Space Invaders.  It was so cool to realize you could finally have some real arcade games at home!  Revolution, baby! 

I really think those early Atari arcade ports were all cool for the same reason.  Asteroids, Missile Command, for example.  But not Pac-Man.  That one had the opposite effect.  Not cool!  Time to upgrade to a system with more power! 

 

 

hi, rickr,

that is the one that changed my perception of gaming. after space invaders, i had a hard time playing the early games, they seemed to easy and lacked the visuals and the experience of space invaders, which opened up my mind to use my imagination, asteroids really did that trick for me also, then pitfall, crystal castles were all ground breaking for me.

getaway on the 8-bit was a real imagination creator, food fight on the 7800 was like a 3 stooges movie to me. of course the pacmans on all atari systems. mouse trap on the 2600 is a killer. video pinball on the 2600 for its time, was a killer.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I have to admit that the 2600 Space Invaders introduced me to Atari.  It was cool and did make me want to try to get an Atari in my home.  Now that you guys have pulled out all of my memories I'm going to really shock everyone...

That moment when I woke up to an Atari sitting in my living room.  Super Breakout was totally cool in my eyes.  Not because it did anything fancy but because here was an Atari console with a game sitting in my living room and it was all mine.  While that might sound greedy there was a red gift bow on the top left corner of the console with "TO: Mike" and "FROM: SANTA" written on a card.  So, I had an Atari in my home and Super Breakout couldn't have been any more cooler.  Then I opened Space Invaders, Galaxian, and Missile Command.  Yea.  Super Breakout would be my first Atari game that was cool.  And that would have been on my 5200.  Man I love that machine.

[StormSurge]

Space Shuttle

 

 

[HDN]

Tunnel runner or Pitfall II. 

[Justin]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:20 AM, StormSurge said:

Space Shuttle

An under appreciated gem. I first received Space Shuttle for Christmas one year to play on my Atari 7800. Turns out its one of the few games that won't work on the 7800. It sat unplayed in my collection for years before I could get around to truly enjoying it. So much imagination went into that.

[Sabertooth]

For me, I'm going to follow Justin's lead and go with Atari by era and limit myself to Atari IP. This excludes licensed titles like Star Wars Arcade and Roadblasters. 

Atari Inc.: Missile Command 

Atari Games: Gauntlet

Atari Corp: Tempest 2000 

Atari Interactive (Hasbro): Centipede

 

[nosweargamer]

2 hours ago, Justin said:

An under appreciated gem. I first received Space Shuttle for Christmas one year to play on my Atari 7800. Turns out its one of the few games that won't work on the 7800. It sat unplayed in my collection for years before I could get around to truly enjoying it. So much imagination went into that.

Bummer! Your model must have been one of the weird ones. I recall playing it in mine 😞

Coolest 2600 game you say?

 

But seriously

[HDN]

@nosweargamer Adventure sure is cool! I'd even go as far as to say that it's better than both of the NES Zelda games! I should really pick the cart of this up someday. I've played loads of it on Wii 2600 and the Jakks Pacific Atari Plug & Play(though that's programmed for  NES essentially)

[socrates63]

I played Adventure (on easy mode) a few months ago for the first time. I was pretty blown away. The game play and design are superb. I finally understood why there are so many fans and why it has been highly regarded by most. I had dismissed it for decades based on the screen shots of the game that showed a seahorse for a dragon and the fact that your character was a 🟨. But as soon as I started playing it, all snark about the chunky graphics vanished from my mind, and I was totally engaged and immersed in the game play.

[HDN]

19 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

seahorse for a dragon

YES!!! Finally! I've always thought they looked more like seahorses than ducks or dragons as well!