Atari confessions. Confess your sins

[Tangentg]

Most younger people do this. I thought the games were outdated in an unplayable way. Wasn't until 6 years ago I gave Atari a shot.

Funny, I consider myself young (being born in late 1995) and practically grew up with 2600 games (cause the first games I played were emulated Atari 2600 and NES games on 2600online.com and nintendo8/retronintendogames) and I never thought there was any problem with them.

 

I thought of the 2600 and NES as more or less equals in terms of which I liked more, but now I know I enjoy the 2600 a lot more than the NES cause the NES is filled with long platformer titles.

[FifthPlayer]

I also sold off an entire Atari 2600 collection, along with other classic systems, about 15 years ago. But it was all sitting in a box in the garage, not being used.

 

I can't really tell what flaws there are in the emulation on the Flashback units (I have the Flashback 4).

[+FujiSkunk]

I once traded a Wizard of Wor for an E.T..

[Jumpman1981]

I have an Atari 2600 Jr, and although I love the thing I would have taken a six switcher woodie had I the chance

[Jumpman1981]

And... I Actually Like Atari 2600 Pac-Man ("DUN DUN DUNNNN!")

[Jumpman1981]

I took apart a heavy sixer when I was a kid to see how it worked, and couldn't put it back together, so I threw it out.

I used to keep all my boxes until a friend made fun of me for it and I threw them all out.

I should have asked the girl at Kay Bee Toys out who used to sell me Atari Games, but I was too dumb to realize she was flirting with me.

 

I actually did the same with an Atari joystick and got the same results (I lost the button spring)

[Flojomojo]

Now that there are a zillion hot new alternatives, I'm not certain I love the Atari VCS anymore. It's possible it was a case of "love the one you're with" all along.

[Jinks]

I bought a coleco. The coleco homebrew scene is the best in the retro world. With new games being made almost weekly it seems.

Seems to be less and less interest in Atari every year. I think atari will be the first to die off for good unless a new wave of younger people don't come in to take over.

[sinhhilo]

I'm not so old and did not live the atari time, but I do retro and although I have a Ouya with all roms, bought a light sixer atari and I have 14 original games. I love the ET and Beamrider. ah, every time I play, I look at the graph of the cartridge to get in tune. I love to imagine through the label. greetings from Argentina, I used a translator so forgive English!

[+sramirez2008]

Congratulations on your light sixer! Please add it to the Light Sixer Serial Number List: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/142404-the-light-sixer-list/

[Rom Collector]

2 confessions:

 

I had Crazy Climber, and sold it for cheap. (I was a kid)

 

I used to glitch (fry) my games, get unlimited lives, and get the Activision patches.

[Two-in-the-Belfry]

I love playing my 2600 games, but I'm terrible at most of them.

[Tangentg]

I love playing my 2600 games, but I'm terrible at most of them.

I think that's the point really... They're fast-paced arcade games not meant to last for an hour.

 

Which brings me to another sin:

I think that many times people who are "good" rely on exploiting the games in ways which they weren't meant to be played, such as setting the trap in Centipede and leaving 1 rock on the screen in Asteroids forever.

 

I know this doesn't apply to all games but there were many arcade games where expertise is based on exploiting the games.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Tangentg

[PlayDoh003]

I bequeathed My entire Atari and Sega (SMS/Genesis) collections to my brother back in 1994 when I was moving out. Everything was boxed and in pristine condition. What a mistake that was! Within a few years, he had either sold or tossed out practically everything I had given him. The only thing that survived was my copies of Outrun for SMS, and John Madden Football, along with Madden '92.

 

Good thing I decided to keep my Atari 800XL and 1050 drive, which I still have to this day in their boxes.

Edited December 15, 2016 by PlayDoh003

[Flojomojo]

I never got any Activision patches. I arrived on the scene too late. I regret that now, somewhat ...

[Syzygy1]

Haunted House scares the carp out of me. I have chiroptophobia (fear of bats) so I can't even get past the first screen. However, watching videos of it on YouTube is fine because I know when the bat shows up.

[Jumpman1981]

I bent a capactitor in a Colecovision (CBS version) thinking it would "fix" it

[Torr]

My original 2600 Jr. died by my hand I believe.

 

It stopped working one day and my cousin (if you know my posts, yes, THAT cousin again) told me it was probably the adapter burned out cause he had gone through like 2 or 3 himself. He said leaving it plugged in and getting hot "burns" it out. (Is this true by the way?) and I did have a habit of not unplugging it.

However, I believe the deathblow came when in my haste to play games I recalled seeing an adapter in my sister's room with a bunch of different plugs on the end... ONE of them must fit!

Lo and behold they ALL fit, however, try as I might, one at a time, repeatedly, none would power the system.

And it never powered up again, even when I did get a new Atari adapter.

 

I NOW know I probably toasted the poor thing, gang-banging it, as I did, with that multi-headed hydra-dapter.

 

 

And well, this is more pathetic than a sin...

I also had these "3-D" glasses that were for watching a fire-works display, but I would wear them while playing Defender claiming it was making it 3-D (even though it wasn't) and when my friends said it didn't work I'd just say they must have had crappy eyes or something it worked great for me!

Why Defender you might ask? I remembered reading in the manual somewhere that Defender was a 3-D game, so I assumed you'd need 3-D glasses, and ANY 3-D glasses would do the job obviously! To this day I have no idea WHERE I read that Defender is a '3-D' game. At all. Not even in a passing reference... but, at the time, in MY mind, I had read it somewhere, and by god, in MY mind, I was gonna MAKE Defender 3-D!!!

Edited May 28, 2017 by Torr

[DickNixonArisen]

Meh. I gave my whole Atari setup away once, maybe a decade or so ago, deck, some misc accessories and only about 100 games. I think I have all of them again by now tho.

[+Spriggy]

I have an Atari 2600 Jr, and although I love the thing I would have taken a six switcher woodie had I the chance

 

Hah.. I had to re-read that first off. My nightshifted brain initially read it as ....

 

"......I love the thing I would have taken a six inched woodie had I the chance"

 

Oops .... nothing to see here, move along!

[GeekDragon]

I like 2600 Pac Man. There, I said it.

[RaccoonyDave]

Smith... (edit: This is supposed to read SLOTH. Effin' autocorrect!)

 

I live in a small flat, a 1 big room+ bathroom kind of deal.

 

I have a big CRT with a Vader plugged in but I have to pick up the console, plug it into the wall and then put it down next to the couch to play.

 

I keep a 4 switch woody plugged into a tiny CRT next to my laptop.

 

I have two working 2600 and two TV's in a 5 meter radius because one of them is "too much work" to use.

 

(In my defense I got both Ataris in an eBay bundle and got the second TV so I could do retrogaming parties.)

Edited May 29, 2017 by RaccoonyDave

[iesposta]

It's a sin that I hate almost everything about Atari's Pac-Man.

 

•Every sound is bad, from the start tune, to the twang eating, the pop-wop of the power pellet, to the death of your player.

•The colors!? Couldn't get a static blue maze on black right. Ghost monsters have color, but they all appear to be the same color.

•The sprites. Pac-Man is double line square blocky, and does not face up or down. Hard to see ghost monsters on a blue colored background. (Berzerk is double line, and the robots and player have DOZENS of animation images. Pac gets 3? Right closed, open, open more... mirror bit for left)

•Since Pac is not round with a triangle "mouth", add an ?EYEBALL? that the arcade game left out. That'll make the graphics spectacular.

•Gameplay. Barely any, and it isn't smooth and easy, but frustrating, too slow, and clunky.

•No fruit / item levels, or indication of mazes cleared.

 

What Atari got right: Pac is yellow. There's an escape tunnel from one side to the other. Four ghost enemies (kinda wish it was 3 so they would show up better). It adds up a score.

[+H454]

That I think if A VCS has:

1. Heavy bottom case.

2. Six switches.

Than its its a heavy sixer!

 

I don't care what font it has or how thick the metal inside case is!

[Laner]

I let Swampfox "repair" one of my heavy sixers, which is now more dead than it was when I sent it to him.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Laner