A discussion: What's the most remarkable thing about the 2600?

[Keatah]

What do you believe are the most remarkable or positive things about the 2600?

Three things come to mind straight away.

 

1- It's fast "booting", you get into the game instantly. No loading, no artificial delays, no bios.

2- The variety and genres of games early on. Several would've qualified for AAA status if the term existed back then.

3- That a tank & pong system could be so versatile and long lived.

 

There's more no doubt, but I leave that 4ya'll to uncover.

[Wizzard]

I like that unique graphics, Activision colors of the dawn/dusk and all those simple and nice atmospherical effects, you know.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Some additional positives for me:

 

1. Simple Controls - especially when compared to the intellivision

2. Tons of variations packed into the early games

3. Loved the variety of controllers also, they better matched what was available in the arcade

[Cynicaster]

It's all about the immediacy for me.  The games are definitely sparse compared to what came later, but this lends them to quick play sessions that are a great fit for a busy life.  Would I love the system now if I didn't grow up with it?  I don't know, but there have been enough "new to me" games that I enjoy so yes, I think so.  

 

 

[zzip]

How far developers were able to push a console that was designed to only play Pong in color.

[Rom Hunter]

Its lifespan in videogame history.



 

[NigeHenry]

I'd agree with all of what was said above. For me, plugging in and playing quickly for a relatively short time is important. Modern games require a huge investment of time to get anywhere in them, and that's time I don't have! Plugging in and being able to enjoy a game of Phoenix or Ms Pac Man for just a couple of games is what makes this system great, and it gives me the retro hit that I need before I have to get back to reality.

[Bomberman94]

The design/style of the console and controller. The games are plug and play - and despite its age the games are really fun to play. The community and that genius people are doing magic things with it. 

[AtariSphinx]

I really love that the games fully focus on gameplay.    Sound and graphics are secondary to making the game enjoyable.   Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay!

[+GoldLeader]

A couple of things I associate with Atari 2600:  From back in the day (BITD for internet acronym lovers, who abbreviate too much if you ask me),  I thought of the Atari as an extension of the arcades.  It was the home version of having fun at the arcade the way seeing a movie on TV was like an extension of the movie theater. I loved the early 80s Arcade Ports.  I also liked hanging out with my friends who were into it at the time, 2 of whom lived a block away on the same street.  We'd happily show off our latest acquisition,  and I'd see their new game and decide if I was gonna buy that one,  and vice versa.

 

These days I like to revisit the classics, and I Love Homebrews and demos;  from the AA Store or played off my Harmony cart.

 

 

Also I fully agree with @Keatah, @Wizzard, @Atari_Warlord, @Cynicaster, @zzip, @Rom Hunter, @NigeHenry, @Bomberman94, and @AtariSphinx 

[+atari2600land]

The fact that it has 128 available colors to choose from. This enables its developers to make sprites and backgrounds more detailed. I wonder why and how they decided on so many colors, and why other consoles at the time (Odyssey², Intellivision, Channel F) didn't.

[Raiu]

11 hours ago, zzip said:

How far developers were able to push a console that was designed to only play Pong in color.

This is pretty much what I was going to say.  Most of the games released for it should not have been possible based on its raw specs.  It could only have five sprites on the screen at the time, and three of them had to be rectangles!  How can you make even Space Invaders with such a limited set of sprites?  They did.

[Cebus Capucinis]

That it didn't manage to be called Big Sexy, as EVERYONE, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, called the 5200 that.

 

(I third/fourth the immediacy and pick up and play. Still something that's never really been captured effectively since.)

[+x=usr(1536)]

I'll second its longevity: 45 years later and here we (still) are.

 

The one thing that amazes me to this day: given the overall hardware design and how many modern conveniences the 2600 simply doesn't have, how many programmers and publishers were (and still are) attracted to it as well as the sheer size of the software library for it.

 

Years ago (mid-2000s), the 2600 came up in break room conversation at work one day.  A couple of people on the development side were deriding it for being 'stupid' and 'primitive'.  I asked them what they could do with a machine featuring 128 bytes of RAM, no framebuffer(s), and the absolute necessity to calculate machine cycles in order to trigger your code at the precise moment it was needed or everything could fall apart.  Blank stares and gaping maws ensued.

[+x=usr(1536)]

19 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

That it didn't manage to be called Big Sexy, as EVERYONE, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, called the 5200 that.

Wait, you mean everyone doesn't call them Heavy Sexy, Light Sexy, Darth Sexy, and Prison-Sentence-If-You-Touch-It Sexy?

[Chris+++]

 

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the VCS / 2600, or at least the most highly significant, is that so much of its capability and flexibility lie in the software, rather than the console itself.

That's how programmers were able to go from, say, Outlaw to Pitfall II on the exact same platform -- and later to so many incredible homemade games.

It's precisely what the system's longevity hinges upon. The games aren't subservient to a BIOS like the Intellivision's Exec, or in fact any proprietary gatekeeper at all. Bank-switching obviously bolstered this.

(The definition of "software" grays a bit when there's actual hardware inside each cartridge, i.e. a ROM chip or four.)

 

Another great thing about the majority of 2600 games is that the movement and graphical interaction tend to be very smooth and solid-feeling, provided that the coders minimally know what they're doing. Even compared with eight-bit computers, Atari's first programmable wins in the fluidity department.

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Chris+++

[chuckwalla]

The simplicity of gameplay; 

The controllers. I still love the CX-40 joystick and paddle controllers;

Nice graphics on many games (Activision, Imagic for starters);

Variety of genres - shooting, racing, strategy, sports, adventure, etc.;

Solid hardware.

[4ever2600]

It's incredible ability given its limited specs and what is what originally created for... A pong style game machine.

 

Longevity 

 

 

[+adamchevy]

On 8/30/2022 at 7:02 AM, Cynicaster said:

It's all about the immediacy for me.  The games are definitely sparse compared to what came later, but this lends them to quick play sessions that are a great fit for a busy life.  Would I love the system now if I didn't grow up with it?  I don't know, but there have been enough "new to me" games that I enjoy so yes, I think so.  

 

 

It's my favorite system of all time and I never had one growing up.  I purchased my first 2600 in 2013.  That point about immediacy is exactly the reason I love it mainly.  It also has a fascinatingly deep history, and the community around it is the best the world has to offer.  The idea that much of its design genius is attributed to luck is amazing and I would say the 2600 is the product of what happens when true synergy happens.   The conception of the 2600 still hasn't been matched.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

The most remarkable thing about the Atari 2600 for me is the stunning number of games being developed and released each year for it! It's already up to 124 this year alone, wow!

 

Plus the amazing Atari 2600 community that comes along with all these games. It's possibly the most friendly community I've ever been a part of!

 

- James

[keithbk]

The hardware of the ATARI 2600 is both reliable and ergonomic.

 

How many people have trouble with the Nintendo Entertainment System flashing screens, unable to read a cartridge? How many people hate the thumb discs of the Intellivision? Or both the Intellivsion and ColecoVision's short cables for the controllers? Or the unreliability of the ColecoVision hardware after a few years? Even the newer Wii's don't last very long before their drives go defunct.

 

Of the HUNDREDS of cartridges I own, only 1 or 2 don't work properly. That's a better ratio than just about any other game system.

[Rodney Hester]

Probably going to date myself a bit, but the magic for me was the realization that it transformed a typically output-only, passive-consumption device (the television) to an active interaction entertainment system.  To put it more simply, the OMIGOD YOU CAN MAKE SOMETHING MOVE ON THE SCREEN UNDER YOUR CONTROL effect was _huge_ if you happened to be of age at just the right period.  The sheer wonder of it all was never lost - despite all the advances in technology, I can still *very clearly* remember seeing Combat appear on the screen for the first time, trying to get something useful to happen, finally hitting Reset and pushing the joystick and HOLY SMOKE LOOK AT THAT!!! and phone calls 'round to all the neighborhood kids for them to immediately rush over to see this wunderbox for themselves.

 

We didn't play for hours.  We played for *DAYS*.  Food was consumed from plates sat upon the living room carpet (whereupon drinks were also knocked over and spilled) and sleep was viewed as punishment, not relief.  It was a life-changing moment that has never been duplicated since...I will never, ever be as passionate about the PS5 as I was about the 2600 because it was such a revolutionary seminal defining moment in my (and so many others') life.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Rodney Hester

[keithbk]

If you had an Atari and another kid had an Atari, you would BEG your parents for sleepovers so you could play each other's games. 

 

The games were pretty expensive. Early on, we never loaned them. But we did get together and play each other's games. I think a few years into the Atari, we started loaning games, but these things were like bricks of gold.

 

When you got a new game, you wanted your friends to stay overnight. It became a ritual. 

[Pob]

The number of colours is a standout for me.  Other than with Atari's own 8-bit lineup, it wasn't until the 16 bit era that consoles and computers had such a range of colours to choose from.

[TheCheeseLover]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:20 PM, Wizzard said:

I like that unique graphics, Activision colors of the dawn/dusk and all those simple and nice atmospherical effects, you know.

Couldn't agree more.