Your Personal Top Ten: Atari 2600

[digitalpress]

Let's end Atari 2600 Week with a bang.

I want everyone who has ever played the system to list their personal top ten. It doesn't have to be in order, just tell me the games you'd consider "top ten" for the system and, optionally, why.

Mine is as follows.

Adventure - This is the game that first showed me what videogames COULD be: completely open-ended, with the possibility of exploration and even some hidden surprises.

Towering Inferno - I don't know what it is, but to this day, this game gets my heart pumping. The crazy movement of the fire (something that truly seems random and unpredictable) make the game a challenge every time.

Warlords - Four players. Paddles. 'Nuff said.

Robot Tank - Say what you will about Pitfall, but I always found Robot Tank to be the most technologically impressive game on the 2600 (at least until Solaris came out). This is basically Star Raiders in a tank, monitoring more variables in your environment than a 2600 should be able to.

Jr. Pac-Man - My favorite maze game on a system with lots of maze games. by the time they got to Jr., they had it all figured out. In my opinion, this game is more fun than the arcade version.

Solaris - A masterpiece among space combat sims of its era, the game is remarkably complex but like most 2600 games, very easy to pick up and play.

Frankenstein's Monster - A "love it or hate it" game, more of a nostalgic addition to my list than any other. My best friend Kevin and I, both big horror movie buffs, went nuts for this game when it came out. It does a lot of things right and is one of the few quality platformers on the system.

Space Invaders - Better than the arcade? Oh yeah. The clincher is that you can play two players simultaneous with all of the brilliant options (moving bases, invisible invaders, etc) of the one player game.

Pooyan - Not nearly recognized enough. A great port of the pigs and wolf theme on the 2600.

Burgertime - One of the best coin-op conversions ever, considering the hardware limitiations. The game is really HARD but with practice you can get to all five screens. FIVE SCREENS!

[boatofcar]

Activision games dominate my list.

River Raid
Freeway
Defender
Dragster
Kaboom!
Stampede (I been herdin' cattle most of my natural life )
Frogger
Warlords
Adventure
Pitfall!

[Sniderman]

My 2600 collection is always in "flux," but here are the 10 games I will never part with - ever.

1. Adventure - Loved the "exploration" aspect. Plus, no scoring and was open ended. Was "Zelda" before "Zelda."
2. Pitfall II - Knocked my freaking socks off when I first played it. The only 2600 game with a rockin' soundtrack.
3. Entombed - The only 2600 game my dad played with me as a kid. Also, since it's one of the few head-to-head games, it makes for some frantic party games.
4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points.
5. Pac-Man Arcade - Yeah, I know it's a "hack," but this alteration showed what the 2600 version *should've* been like. Spot-on perfect.
6. Berzerk: Voice Enhanced - See above. Atari Berzerk *with* robot taunting. Fantastic.
7. Dragonstomper - A Supercharger adventure and the closest thing to an RPG the 2600 has yet seen.
8. Crypts of Chaos - Picked this up as a kid when I was heavily into D&D. Was the first "first-person" game I ever played and holds a special place in my heart.
9. Turmoil - Frantic, fast-paced shooter that I can lose myself in for hours. Even better, I won my copy from a contest held by 20th Century Fox back in the day. Never would've bought it on my own.
10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.

[dcescott]

My choices are based on what I play the most. The top ten should be a top 20. There are too many great titles too play.

pitfall 2
pitfall
jr. pac man
missle command
kaboom
keystone kapers
stargate
berzerk
mr. do
millipede

[PhoeniX]

I am admitedly not a huge 2600 fan but I do have some favorites, so here goes...

01 Berzerk- by far my favorite!
02 Phoenix- ok, it's not my favorite but I like the name
03 Pitfall
04 Kaboom!- this game gets funner the drunker you are
05 River Raid- the best shooter on the console
06 Adventure- this game rocks!
07 Burgertime
08 Space Invaders
09 Defender
10 Battlezone- I played a version of this at CGE with 2 joysticks, it was even better!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.

BTW: Any chances of "Ravenous Dead" eventually getting done?

[farfel]

Space Invaders
Asteroids
Missile Command
Chopper Command
Jr. Pac-Man

Cosmic Ark
Berzerk
Defender
Demon Attack
Kaboom

Thought about adding Pitfall 2 here but after you beat it's not much fun to play again.

[Sniderman]

10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.

BTW: Any chances of "Ravenous Dead" eventually getting done?

Yup. But not for the 2600. See your PM.

[chadtower]

4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points.

Now I have a new gaming goal.

[ARCZero]

The 2600 was my first video game console growing up, but there's only about 20 games I'd go back and play. I find most 2600 games too simple and repetitive even thought I'm a huge classic arcade game fan. Here's my top 10:

1. Adventure
2. Superman
3. Demon Attack
4. Indiana Jones
5. Mountain King
6. Venture
7. Pitfall
8. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
9. Warlords
10. Sorcerer (admittedly a bad game, but the first game I bought with my own money)

[Oobgarm]

1. Demon Attack - I recently became interested in this one again. Played it a lot growing up.

2. Megamania - It started my love for the shooter genre. Still have a hell of a time with the falling tires.

3. Midnight Magic - This one got a lot of play at my house, mainly due to my Dad's love for pinball. I was sucked in and I love it.

4. Berzerk - It's missing the voice, but it's still a great port.

5. Maze Craze - Simple and fun. Even better with 2 players.

6. Warlords - Joe said it best.

7. Yar's Revenge - I loved the sound effects in Yar. It's the first thing I think of when I think of the game.

8. Laser Blast - So incredibly simple. So incredibly addictive.

9. Dodge 'Em - One of very first introductions to videogames. The 'nack nack' sound is classic.

10. Robot Tank - Rediscovered on the Activision Anthology. Fun and difficult at the same time.

[Sniderman]

4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points.

Now I have a new gaming goal.

Good luck on that. It took me 4 hours of playing *one game* to hit that mark. And I plan on shattering my old record this Oct. 31st.

[Kim Possible]

In NO particular order:

1. Adventure: What Snider-man said.
2. Solaris: This is a 2600 game? No way. Incredible. Blew millions of hours on this as a kid, and never left the first map!
3. Dragonstomper. An RPG for the VCS? And a damn good one too.
4. HERO: The best Activision game, perhaps VCS game of them all. 20 hard hard levels and all of them fun. Very colorful, action packed.
5. Pitfall II: The game that captured my whole family's attention the Christmas we got it. Another VCS milestone.
6. Marble Craze. Perhaps the most innovative game ever created for the VCS and a wicked hard challenge for ANY gamer.
7. Tapper: Fast paced Beer slingin' and a mix'em up game with that nutty Mt. Dew sign in the background, anytime you need a reflex test, apply here.
8. Ms. Pac-man: Best Pac-man for the VCS, despite how good Jr. is.
9. Crystal Castles: A seemingly never ending variety of levels and an awesome looking game as well.
10. Star Wars Arcade: And for the VCS its pretty darn close too. Nothing beats blasting Vader's TIE spinning off into space!

There are about 10 more tha rival these as well. The VCS just has to many great titles!

Oh, and Snider-man, I happen to have it on good authority that while you have the TG record for Halloween, you cannot beat the TG record holder for Entombed in head-to-head combat. So HA! :P :P :P

[Mayhem]

Yeesh, tricky. Based not only on what I played more than 20 years ago, but coming back to the system in the last few years and seeing a lot of new stuff made.

Pitfall
Adventure
Combat
Starmaster
Sky Diver
Marble Craze
Quadrun
River Raid
HERO
Berzerk

[Sylentwulf]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/view...ht=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it

[Flack]

This was a lot harder than I thought -- 15 would have been a lot easier!

River Raid
Laser Blast
Asteroids
Warlords
Yar's Revenge
Keystone Kapers
Basketball
Centipede
Indy 500
Moon Patrol

[digitalpress]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/view...ht=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it

Heh, pretty funny but you do realize that's entirely different. That list is the forum consolidated top 25. This particular list doesn't have to conform to anything - every choice can be strictly nostalgic. Hence, it is not the "recognized best games" but rather "my favorites".

Hope that helps. Try to get into the spirit of the week, we can split hairs next week if you'd like.

[kainemaxwell]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/view...ht=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it

Request denied. :P

Anyhow, here's my list (of what I played as a kid and what I played now getting into this great hobby):
River Raid
Yar's Revenge
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
HERO
Combat
Enduro
Chopper Command
Demon Attack
Cosmic Ark

[Sniderman]

Oh, and Snider-man, I happen to have it on good authority that while you have the TG record for Halloween, you cannot beat the TG record holder for Entombed in head-to-head combat. So HA! :P :P :P

Stan rather soundly handed me my ass years ago. Yup.

[ubersaurus]

1. Starmaster-I played this so much as a kid. I thought the graphics were crazy good considering the fact it was on the 2600.

2. Armor Ambush-combat with a landscape. WOO!

3. Vault Assault-this is one of those great games you can lose yourself in and get into the zone. I know I have-an hour later, I was wondering why my trigger thumb hurt so damn much.

4. Beamrider-I didn't discover this until after I got my cuttle cart, but it's a great game, obviously inspired by tempest. Although I prefer the coleco and intv versions, this one is still awesome.

5. Ms. Pac-Man-this has nostalgia for me, playing it at my grandparents house as a kid, trying to beat my cousin's score. Damn good port.

6. Keystone Kapers-you're a cop. Running around a mall. I was sold from the get go, but the game itself is just one of the sweetest run & jump games on the platform.

7. Thrust- I think everyone who's played it can agree this is one of the top 2600 games ever written. A great conversion, I managed to come in 3rd in a high score contest a few years back(though a few hardcore players managed to oust me as of late).

8. Cosmic Ark-I don't know what it was about this game, but I thought it was awesome. Maybe it's the fact you're taking animals to "save their species", and we all know what that entails.

9. Space Invaders-Duh.

10. Frogs n Flies-This is probably my favorite multiplayer game on the platform. I played it alot back in the day with my cousins, and I play it frequently nowadays with my friends. Gotta play it on mode A though.

[Sylentwulf]

Heh, pretty funny but you do realize that's entirely different. That list is the forum consolidated top 25. This particular list doesn't have to conform to anything - every choice can be strictly nostalgic. Hence, it is not the "recognized best games" but rather "my favorites".

Hope that helps. Try to get into the spirit of the week, we can split hairs next week if you'd like.

I know, just screwing with ya

If I picked 10 for what I would play right now if I hadn't played atari in 10 years, I would probly do:

Atlantis
Pitfall
Pacman
Combat
Oink
Kaboom
River Raid
Frogs N Flies
Riddle of the Sphinx
Freeway

Some weird picks, but that's what I had when I was a kid

[9c1lt1]

Centipede--It always ready to play on my Atari
Pac-Man
Breakout
Keystone Kapers
Space Invaders
Freeway
Frogger
Berzerk
Warlords
Kaboom

[Crush Crawfish]

Not a huge atari fan, but I do love it. Here's my favorites:

Demon Attack
Cosmic ark
Jungle Hunt
space invaders
Phoenix
Warlords
Frogger
Missle Command
Taz
kaboom

[TheRedEye]

I don't know if I'll hit ten, but:

1. H.E.R.O. - Videogame perfection.

2. Freeway - This was my favorite party game until Wario Ware on the GC came out.

3. That Imagic "abduct puppies in your spaceship" game whose title I always forget. I think it's the surreal aspect that appeals to me. Cosmic Ark, maybe?

4. Q*Bert - 2600 Q*Bert was the first videogame I ever played. I was born with it in the house.

5. Circus Atari - Still kicks my ass.

6. Megamania - A coworker and I used to emulate this on our work PCs when nobody was around.

7. Yars' Revenge - Yes, I too am a victim of "Why do I love this game so much? WHY??"

8. Berzerk - This is the robot/smiley face game, right? This was like, the epitome of what a 2600 game should be. Simple as hell, but seems oddly huge somehow.

9. Taz/Asterix - I got addicted to this after hanging out with Steve Woita for the first time.

10. Missle Command - I'm not into it anymore, but it's here for pure nostalgia reasons. I was playing this and Q*Bert when I was 2/3 years old.

[Dr. Morbis]

Adventure- I love game 3 where everything is random. It truly is endless adventure. If they could do this on the 2600, why couldn't they do it for Legend of Zelda?

Kaboom- I love how frantic this game is, and I love using the paddles.

Pitfall- I'm a huge platform fan. Too bad not many games on later systems are as well designed or as playable as the original Pitfall.

Pitfall II- not quite as good as Pitfall, but still excellent.

HERO- I cannot believe how fun this game is!

WARLORDS- It's a toss-up between this and Bomberman for the greatest multiplayer/party game design of all time.

Reactor- very unique and really fun.

Frogger- Not as good as the Colecovision port, but a very solid game.

Carnival- Purely for nostalgia reasons. The first video game that I distinctly remember playing in my life, and I still own that original cartridge.

Mr. Do's Castle- Mostly for the background music: it's excellent!