Reminiscing: the Atari video game thread

[bosk1]

I was just thinking back to the early days of video games. We're going wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy back here people--to the Atari 2600. Remember those? (to go back much further, we'd be talking about Pong, and that's no fun) Remember those classics such as:
Adventure
Space Invaders
Night Driver
Super Breakout

Video games today are much, much cooler. But, you know, we had lots of fun with those early games. I remember me and my friend Richard staying up all night playing Pitfall and Demon Attack. Man, those were the days... Discuss.

[Charger]

I loved Breakout, I wish there was a decent version for the PC

[ian]

...because of Atari , I know I can get addicted to video games. I played Asteroids for 17 hours and got a score of something like 1.2 million.

after I stopped I could see blobs in my sleep and it freaked me out.

Ian

No question, Atari started it all.
I remember a glitch in the Space Invaders game.
----------
Turn the game off with the Space Invaders game in the slot.
Hold down the "reset" button, then turn the game on.
When the game came on, everytime you pressed "fire", you shot TWO shots.

Very cool!
LOVED that Atari!

RiverRaid was another good one.
I've got the Atari Anthology for Xbox.
The games are exactly like the old games.
You're right, games these days are 1,000 times cooler, but it's still enjoyable to pull the old games out every now and then.

[Rycher]

My dad worked for Atari in the early 80's... we got everything ... but I couldn't handle video game death. I always wanted to throw the joystick at the screen.

[mmandy]

I LIVED for my Atari 2600.


My favorite game was "Adventure" -

My kids can't believe the graphics on that game - "See that square ? That's YOU. That big blob over there moving toward you is a Dragon !"


"You've got to find the gold key & open up the Gold Castle with it"



"Dad, this game is LAME !!!"




Kids..............sheeesh.

[Venomboy]

My faves:

Pitball
Kaboom
Adventure (remember the invisible pixel???)
Haunted House
Frogger
Demon Attack
Defender
Chopper Command
Missle Command
Vanguard

Activision made the coolest games. Imagic had good graphics. I was always upset that the screenshots in the catalogs looked WAY better than the actual screens. PacMan's graphics were disappointing. Everything flickered!

Remember Atari Age magazine? Remember those Quest games like Water Quest, Fire Quest, etc? You could win a jewel encrusted sword if you entered an Atari contest.

I bought a 2600 off ebay a few years back with like 40 cartridges.

I always wanted ColecoVision. My friend had Intellivision with the Advanced D&D game. Spoiled brat!

[bosk1]

Originally Posted by Venomboy

Adventure (remember the invisible pixel???)

Yes! And the secret room you could only get to with the invisible pixel (aka "the magic dot")! And that stupid, stupid bat! Oh, how that thing used to frustrate me before I figured out how to get him stuck in the maze.

[FordWheeler]

I still have mine and it still works.. Most of my games got lost over the years. I had a lot of the off-brand type games. Jawbreaker - Similar to Pac-man. My faves were Pitfall, Joust, and Adventure.

[Venomboy]

The bats and the dragons (or ducks) drove me up the wall. That bat, the way it flied...man, it needed to be killed!!! I used to trap the bat or the dragons in the castles with the key. HA! Take that foul lizard!