Atari 2600 chronogaming video project: Atari Archive

[krambigmac]

Keep it up, you do a great job. I hope you're able to up the frequency out so we're not all old and gray by the time you're out of the text labels but I know these take a lot of time to produce.

[ubersaurus]

It's time to finish out 1978! Hunt & Score is arguably the least of all the keypad controller games, but it's a perfectly okay take on memory match. I also included a brief rundown of where Atari and the home console market was at the end of 1978, and how this would lead to Nolan Bushnell's ouster and Atari moving to a year-round publishing schedule for cartridges.

[sprazzi]

I find these videos very informative and entertaining

Thanks for doing these.

[atarifan88]

Getting ready for the more exciting games! Bowling is just the start of better things to come! I have to hand it to you though, it's not easy making those lackluster games like Basic Math interesting, I think that speaks volumes about how good your episode format is. Keep up the good work!

[ubersaurus]

Getting ready for the more exciting games! Bowling is just the start of better things to come! I have to hand it to you though, it's not easy making those lackluster games like Basic Math interesting, I think that speaks volumes about how good your episode format is. Keep up the good work!

 

Man, I am really looking forward to 1979. There are a few neat games in '78, but otherwise it's all pretty mediocre. 1979, for the most part if the games aren't good they're at least weird enough to still be pretty entertaining!

 

Hunt & Score and Basic Math were both struggles, though. I've definitely aged well past the audience for those ones.

[knievel1]

Count me in for 1979.

These are great and really appreciate your effort!

Looking forward to the Adventure / Space Invader years.

[ubersaurus]

Kicking off 1979 with Bowling! As I think this video showcases, it's a leap in game design over what had come before, and I found it readily comparable to the arcade bowling video games that were available at the time.

 

https://youtu.be/TrvEDIcMZnI

Edited June 23, 2019 by ubersaurus

[Special Teams]

Subscribed - really enjoying your channel.  Excellent job!

[5x7]

It wonderful you were able to contact Larry Kaplan about bowling!

[ubersaurus]

New video! Looking at Canyon Bomber and its history this time around: 

 

 

[ubersaurus]

New video! It's a history of artillery games and how this led to Human Cannonball.

 

 

[ubersaurus]

Just in time for football season, it's Atari's VCS Football! I'm not really a football fan but this one is actually a lot of fun. And as weird as it is, it holds up pretty well to the football games that were out at the same time on competing platforms.

 

 

[atarifan88]

Another great job covering Atari 2600 games! I love how you show the comparison to other similar games and talk about those for a sec. It really makes your videos more informational and historic. I appreciate that in a video game podcast. it keeps me coming back for more! Keep up the good work!

[atarifan88]

On a side note about the game, my only regret is that it's two player only, which is why I never play it. Thankfully Real Sports Football meets this need.

[ubersaurus]

On 9/2/2019 at 11:51 AM, atarifan88 said:

Another great job covering Atari 2600 games! I love how you show the comparison to other similar games and talk about those for a sec. It really makes your videos more informational and historic. I appreciate that in a video game podcast. it keeps me coming back for more! Keep up the good work!

Thanks! My goal with this is to try and put these games in context, in terms of what the world of gaming looked like at the time they came out and through their commercial life. Part of that is digging up what coverage exists and what preceded them, but I also think it important to see what their contemporaries were doing. Football in isolation seems like a bizarre game, but line it up with what other football games looked like at the time and it not only seems in-line with what they were doing, but it makes more sense that it features the design choices that it does. I'm not sure how many games from the 1970s hold up today without that "placement" in time. 

 

I'll keep doing my best to keep that theme up! Really I just wish I had the time to do this kind of work for all of those early game consoles.

[ubersaurus]

Reached one of my all-time favorite 2600 games: Sky Diver! I really do consider this one of the timeless classics on the platform, and while there's not a huge amount to talk about with its history, it certainly deserves this moment in the sun.

 

 

[+sramirez2008]

Another good one!  Used to play Sky Diver regularly with my cousins, and yes, sometimes we would purposefully crash, just to get a laugh. 

[ubersaurus]

This video is probably the most anyone has ever - or will ever - talk about Casino. Seems like a fine enough gambling game, but boy it sure made me wish I knew the first thing about Poker!

 

 

[+save2600]

VCS Casino... yeah, can't say I'm ever willing to whip out the paddles for this one. Favorite vintage card game for me will forever be Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack for the Intellivision. 

 

BTW: Sylvania is pronounced like Castlevania.  

[ubersaurus]

The newest video is up, and all about the history of Miniature Golf - an unpopular conversion of an unreleased Atari arcade game. I don't dislike this game, but it is certainly a flawed one.

 

 

[keithbk]

Thanks for another great episode.

 

I love Miniature Golf and I absolutely HATE the Atari 2600 take on it. This cartridge is maddeningly UNPLAYABLE in any way that resembles anything like the real game.

 

Here is a challenge to you homebrewers out there; make a good Putt-Putt game for the Atari 2600, because this cartridge STINKS!

 

Keep up the good work on the videos; I love them and look forward to each!

[atarifan88]

13 hours ago, keithbk said:

Thanks for another great episode.

 

I love Miniature Golf and I absolutely HATE the Atari 2600 take on it. This cartridge is maddeningly UNPLAYABLE in any way that resembles anything like the real game.

 

Here is a challenge to you homebrewers out there; make a good Putt-Putt game for the Atari 2600, because this cartridge STINKS!

 

Keep up the good work on the videos; I love them and look forward to each!

I agree 100% with you on this.  I know somebody made a new golf homebrew game.  Now if we could have a fun putt-putt game for multiple players, golf would be represented well on the 2600!

[keithbk]

2 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

I agree 100% with you on this.  I know somebody made a new golf homebrew game.  Now if we could have a fun putt-putt game for multiple players, golf would be represented well on the 2600!

Yes, it would be nice if there was a "putter" (rectangle) that rotated around the ball and a power bar that was controlled by the fire button to control the power of the tap, that would be a good start.

 

After that, it's all design of the course.

[BassGuitari]

I really like Miniature Golf. ?‍♂️

[ubersaurus]

13 hours ago, BassGuitari said:

I really like Miniature Golf. ?‍♂️

I do think there's a good game in there! I just wish the controls weren't so poorly suited to the actual game. I tried talking to Reuterdahl to pick his brain about the game but he seems pretty down on his time at Atari and didn't want to go into it. I suspect making this was not a good experience for him.