LANC3L0T

Oh, the memories looking thru those 283 games. 😀 Thanks for your time and effort keeping the list updated!! Seeing the entire list and knowing where the games rank is wonderful for a "numbers nerd" like me. From memory, Sneak n' Peek and Golf were the only games that I owned in the 80's that didn't make the list... and I can understand why. 🤣 Well, I guess I did purchase Basic Programming from a clearance bin, but it is not a game and the programming was VERY limited. I am surprised that Grand Prix is so far down the list. I remember working out a pattern that allowed me to get thru one of the races without ever hitting the brakes. I did have to let up on the gas in a few spots though. The sound and experience of zooming past the other cars was great!! All of my Activision games were really fun to play. Pitfall was absolutely groundbreaking and deserves the top spot... fun and very challenging (I never did get all 32 treasures). Pitfall II was more impressive, but it wasn't quite as challenging. Plus, after I won, I never played it again... kind of like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Many thanks to the ZeroPage Homebrew team for all their efforts in pulling off a splendid awards ceremony. There were so many amazing games!!! I enjoyed watching and hearing from many of the winning developers. Looking forward to voting on my favorite games next year (I don't think my account was mature enough to be eligible for voting).

Keir, you just hit 1000 posts!! Congrats. Gonna be a long time before I hit that mark. LOL

Congrats on Elevator Agent winning the Atari 2600 Best WIP port!! You definitely deserved it with this game. I was stunned by what you did with Galaga, and your version of Elevator Action is even more impressive. Heck, it looks better than a lot of the old 5200 and 7800 games. I am looking forward to buying the game and playing it on my 2600 Jr. 🙂

I (and my friends) never owned super breakout, so I missed out on that game during my childhood. But, you are right on with Warlords!! That is one of the few games that allows 4 players to compete, and boy was it a blast!! Whenever we were able to get 4 people together, we normally paired up into 2 teams and that made it even crazier... trying to not damage your teammate while working together to keep the ball from the other team. 😄

Ha ha!! As a small kid, it took me a long time to finally beat the computer at level 1. I never made it to level 6 or 7. It is actually the game I spent the most time playing.... but including my idle time looking at the screen and figuring out my next move didn't seem fair to the games above it on the list. It is really amazing that they were able to cram a decent chess engine into 4K!!!!

Rather than list my favorites, I am going to try to rank my top 10 Atari 2600 games based on hours played. I loved a lot of the arcade type games, but I did not play them for hours on end. 1 - Adventure 2 - Haunted House 3 - Pitfall II 4 - E.T. (not even close to the worst video game ever!!!) 5 - Activision Decathlon (destroyed many joysticks playing this game) 6 - Pitfall 7 - Video Chess (this game taught me how to play chess) 8 - Superman 9 - Maze Craze (awesome multi-player game) 10 - Human Cannonball (I loved guessing the physics/gravity results) As for the "arcade" style games, Yars Revenge is my absolute favorite.

I am fairly new to the Atari 5200, and the more I read about it, the more I feel that Atari really dropped the ball on this system. It had a lot in common with the 8-bit computers, so I would think there were many games that could have been easily ported to the 5200 (like Lucasarts did with Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus). Plus, it had the same pokey chip that many arcade games used. Which gave most of the 5200 arcade ports amazing music and sound effects. They should have worked on porting more arcade games. Oh, I just picked up Blueprint and RealSports Baseball for my 5200, and they are both really good. Blueprint was one of those odd duck arcade games that I liked as a kid, and this version is really faithful to the arcade. RealSports Baseball makes use of every button on the 5200 controller. It has good graphics, but I was shocked at the amazing speech they added!!! Plus, the game play is spot on. I had a blast playing through my first 2 games!! Both Blueprint and RealSports Baseball will be in my top 10 (with Baseball also making my top 3).

Champ Games is able to make stunning 2600 games!!! It is hard to believe my ancient heavy sixer can play games that look dang near as good as the arcade versions. Galagon is probably the best port of Galaga that I have ever seen, and they even upped the ante and allowed 2 player co-op play!!! Qyx, Gorf Arcade, RobotWar:2684, Wizard of Wor Arcade, Mappy, and all their other games are equally stellar ports for the 2600!! Elevator Agent looks like it will deliver the same amazing quality. I can't wait to buy this on cartridge!! Qix, Galaga, Elevator Action and Lady Bug were 4 of my absolute favorites to play in the arcade, so they definitely know how to pick timeless classics. Thanks to Champ games for blessing the 2600 community with their outstanding ports!!! Make sure to go vote for their games in the 5th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards!!!

I grew up with an Atari 2600 as did several of my friends, so I had access to so many games!!! Adventure is number one without a doubt. I spent so many hours playing that game. How many people thought it was fun getting swallowed by a dragon, then having the bat pick up that dragon and give you a speedy tour of the adventure world?? 😄 The rest, in no particular order: Superman - This is a very fun and fast moving game once you learn the map. E.T. - No way this is the worst video game ever!!! I loved this game and the depth it offered. One of the few that gave me a sense of accomplishment when I won. Maze Craze - One of the best multi-player games. So many different variations. I liked the option that let you place a block to confuse your opponent. Yar's Revenge - What a unique and extremely fun game. One of the true gems for the 2600. Chess - I actually learned how to play chess because of this game... I rarely won though. Phoenix - The 2600 has many great shooters, but this one offered so much variety. Pitfall - The enormous world this game provides was mind boggling. Drives me nuts when people always run to the right... run to the left, that way if you die, you at least get a free trip to the other side. Moon Patrol & Joust - My friend had these two games and I played them whenever I had the chance. Wonderful arcade ports for the 2600. Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back - This is another gem for the 2600. Great concept and super fun! Activision's Decathlon - We destroyed so many joysticks playing this game... and actually worked up a sweat sometimes. There are so many other great games, but the ones above accounted for a majority of my time. Thanks to everybody that shares their favorites. I love reading other people's stories about this iconic system.

I do have Defender, and you are right, the graphics and sound are extremely close to the arcade. It would have made my favorites list, but I struggled controlling the ship and rapid firing with my 5200 joystick. Once I get my Atari 5200 Keypad/DB9 Adapter from RetroGameBoyz, I will be able to try some of my 9 pin joysticks. That will most likely move Defender way up my list.

In my youth, my family only had the Atari 2600 and I moved on to the C64. I just recently bought my first 5200 system and started playing some of the original games. Last year I picked up my first 7800 system and some games. I immediately noticed that games sound SOOO much better on the 5200. Good ol' Pokey chip! First, I have to mention that the very rare 5200 port of M.U.L.E. is awesome!! But that is not one of the originals and I don't own it. So, here are the favorites games from an Atari 5200 newbie (I only own 10 games so far): BallBlazer Gyruss Popeye Qix The next two I want to buy are Joust and Moon Patrol.

I actually used that information too, but watching your video helped a lot!! I am a novice at solder work, but this process is quite easy with some solder wick and my cheap solder gun. The most difficult step for me was drilling out a hold in the back of the 5200 for the plug. The plastic is quite strong and my largest drill bit was too small, so I had to use sandpaper to make the hole large enough. I need to get a dremel!! Here is a link to the $20 solder gun kit that I bought from Amazon. You get a lot of nice stuff for a VERY cheap price. And unlike a more expensive solder gun that I bought, these tips do not deteriorate within the first few uses. https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Kit-Temperature-Desoldering-Electronics/dp/B07GTGGLXN?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1 Also, I know a lot of people gripe about how awful RF video looks, but the RF video on both my 5200 units is very close to composite video. I wonder how many people don't know that modern TV's can still tune in the signal from these old systems. You just need one of these cheap adapters: https://console5.com/store/rca-to-f-type-converter.html Console5 should include or suggest one of these along with the 4 port power mod kit.

Thanks for adding the video -^CrossBow^-, it really does help. I recently picked up two Atari 5200 systems from eBay, and successfully modded both of them using the Console5 kits. Neither system came with the RF box or power supply, so this mod was a cheap and easy way to test out both systems with the generic 5200 power supply that I also picked up from Console5. I am amazed at how robust all of Atari's systems are. Over the last 2 years, I probably bought around 15 systems off ebay (between the 2600, 5200 and 7800). And only one system did not work (I had to replace one of the chips to get that 2600 working). All but 1 of the 150+ game cartridges I bought work just fine (some obviously needed the pins cleaned). The low failure rate and support from the AtariAge community makes collecting the systems and games a blast for me. FYI: I will admit that the 5200 joysticks need a lot of TLC, but I was able to get them both working after cleaning the contacts and carbon dots. 🙂