This console isn't for me

[RetroX]

That's what i thought about Atari 2600 in the early 80's

A friend of mine bought Atari 2600 while most of my friends bought either Intellivision, Colecovision, Vic 20 or ZX Spectrum. He always bragged about how fun the games were on his Atari while we fended off Atari 2600 as a too simple console. Atari 2600 is in the same legaue as Magnavox Odyssey II or Fairchild Channel F (i thought).

Then in the middle of the 80's i got myself an Atari 800 XL and later Atari ST/STE. Still i hadn't any higher thoughts about Atari 2600.

Then a couple of years ago i learned more about this classic console and got very impressed. Jay Miner was the man behind the graphics and Atari 2600 could display colours like no other console in the 80's. I was very impressed of Atari's 8bit computers and Atari 2600 was actually as good in certain areas.

I learned about "chasing the beam" and the special way that Atari 2600 used to display graphics, and when i watched a couple of demos i got even more impressed of this console from 1977.

IGN voted Atari 2600 as the second most importand games console ever (after NES)
http://www.ign.com/top-25-consoles/2.html

And things like this makes at least me go WOW.

Pump up the volume and fast forward to 3.45...

Well, i'm glad to say that even if i missed Atari 2600 in the 70's and 80's i'm a big fan of the console today.

[Rowsdower70]

Welcome!  I owned an Intellivision before I got an Atari.  

 

They're still pretty nice to me 'round here in spite of that.

[VectorGamer]

I got an Atari 2600 in 1980. Looking back I would say that the 2600 has an equal share of good games and crappy games. There were some good black label games like Space Invaders, Missile Command and Asteroids but I think the best games are the silver and red label games. I think Activision was the best third party developer but even they released some crummy games (Oink! comes to mind).

 

Most of the home brews being developed for the 2600 are high quality.

 

My favorite console is the ColecoVision because the games are higher quality overall and there are plenty of home brews in development for the console.

 

The Atari 7800 is my second favorite console mostly because of Bob Decrescenzo for releasing so many great arcade accurate translations for this system.

[Clint Thompson]

Love that cTrix video, it's insane what can be done with tech with creative minds. Bet I've played that thing at least a dozen times a while back and it's still just as good =)

[RetroX]

Atari 2600 was a mixed bag of awesome and crap games because some companies tried to make a fast buck. I have a hard time to belive that games like General Custer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween was made for anything else then a quick cash in.

In same ways Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre is even more scary on 2600 then it was at the cinema because of the stinking bad quality that will give any sensible gamer nightmares.

Atari 2600 is also the most long lived console ever, released Sep 11 1977 and supported to Jan 1 1992. When looking at the many good home brewed games Atari 2600 is still going strong. The lastest home brewed version of Pac Man 2600 8k was really awesome, perhaps the best home version of Pac Man i have played so far on any home system.

I don't think that games like Centipede, Pac Man, Galaxian, Defender ever gets old, they are simple and fun pick up and play games unlike many of todays games. Atari 2600 has been a pleasant surprise for me as a long time Atari 8bit and ST user.

[louisg]

I remember thinking the 2600 was too simple as well. We eventually got a C64 and had Space Shuttle and a friend brought over Pitfall 2. We thought, "Wow, the 2600 could NEVER do these games". Little did we know they were one to one ports of 2600 games back then. Hah!