Best VCS games you owned in your opinion?

[oky2000]

On 1/21/2023 at 3:33 AM, cvga said:

Beamrider - it blew me away BITD and it's still my favorite today.

 

I also really liked Enduro, Pitfall, HERO, Space Battle, Phoenix, Dig Dug, Demon Attack and Dragonfire

 

One game I didn't enjoy that much as a kid but absolutely love now is Kaboom!

Played Enduro for the first time in 2019, awesome game and played it for about an hour when I was supposed to spend 5 minutes each on some loose carts for my channel. Actually that 1 hour sitting turned into a 6 hour marathon. Driving games are probably my fav' genre so I would have loved that back then.

[oky2000]

On 1/6/2023 at 2:30 PM, turbo graphics 220 said:

When i do a 2600 session I'll start off with Yars revenge, once it gets to the maximum difficulty I consider that I've beaten the game.

I like Pitfall 2, its like a metroid style of game that works well with a lot of stuff to see and nice smooth scrolling when moving up and down between screens.

Usually after that its onto arcade games so I'll try seaquest, millipede, missile command and cosmic arc. Frogger gets a bit of a play too.

Dragster is fun for a few of tries to get into the 5 second range and pole position is fun for a few laps.

One day I was at the market and was very happy to see pitfall 2, I thought it has an extra chip in it so its a must have. When I got home it had pressure cooker inside it but I was still happy with it. Its the most fun game on the system to me.

After this I'll try out homebrews.

Seen Yar's Revenge mentioned a few times, it's one of those games I did want but never had enough pocket money to buy remotely all the games I wanted. 

 

Usually I go to the shelf and just randomly pick loads of games and sit down and play through them, some I'd never played and some I had. 

[oky2000]

On 1/21/2023 at 1:30 AM, Keatah said:

Most of my favs have been mentioned already. And since I'm in my sentimental mood at the moment I will say everything from the early Atari, Imagic, and Activision catalogs.

I joined the Atari club, very much looked forward to the newsletters in the post

[Keatah]

1 minute ago, oky2000 said:

I joined the Atari club,

I still have my membership card. I think it was the first thing I ever joined as a kid. Made me feel like a billion bucks! I also had a card with the Apple logo on it. Not sure if it was a warranty thing or business card or whatever.

[Keatah]

14 minutes ago, oky2000 said:

The only negative point I ever had about my VCS was the price of the games, so I missed out on a lot of games back then and if you play them now today 4 decades later without nostalgia it's not quite the same.

I would successfully argue that for most VCS games, to have enjoyment with them, nostalgia/sentimentality is a requirement. There are some exceptions, but in all fairness and clarity of thought, you had to have first played these when they were new and considered state-of-the-art.

 

That is borne out when you look at the marketing behind things "retro". It's all about the good times of the past.

[Zonie]

Defender, Space Invaders, Adventure, Raiders.

[oky2000]

5 hours ago, Keatah said:

I would successfully argue that for most VCS games, to have enjoyment with them, nostalgia/sentimentality is a requirement. There are some exceptions, but in all fairness and clarity of thought, you had to have first played these when they were new and considered state-of-the-art.

 

That is borne out when you look at the marketing behind things "retro". It's all about the good times of the past.

I have always noticed that too, sometimes it's easier for example with all the excellent gameplay variations of VCS Space Invaders vs a straight port/knock-off on other systems even if that was a game you missed out back then. Sometimes it's not so easy. You do need to know what it was like in the early eighties to appreciate the games. As a kid before my VCS I was bored A LOT  After getting a VCS in 1980 my only problem was the months it took to be able to afford a new game. 

 

It's a universal thing, I never got Bruce Lee for my computer back then and today there is no way I could like it as much as some of my friends who played it to death do because graphically there is not much going on compared to other games. People say PS1 games look crap too, and yet they don't remember 3D games before Ridge Racer and Tekken 1. You have to take it all in context I guess.

[+GoldLeader]

9 hours ago, Keatah said:

I would successfully argue that for most VCS games, to have enjoyment with them, nostalgia/sentimentality is a requirement. There are some exceptions, but in all fairness and clarity of thought, you had to have first played these when they were new and considered state-of-the-art.

 

That is borne out when you look at the marketing behind things "retro". It's all about the good times of the past.

 

4 hours ago, oky2000 said:

I have always noticed that too, sometimes it's easier for example with all the excellent gameplay variations of VCS Space Invaders vs a straight port/knock-off on other systems even if that was a game you missed out back then. Sometimes it's not so easy. You do need to know what it was like in the early eighties to appreciate the games. As a kid before my VCS I was bored A LOT  After getting a VCS in 1980 my only problem was the months it took to be able to afford a new game. 

 

It's a universal thing, I never got Bruce Lee for my computer back then and today there is no way I could like it as much as some of my friends who played it to death do because graphically there is not much going on compared to other games. People say PS1 games look crap too, and yet they don't remember 3D games before Ridge Racer and Tekken 1. You have to take it all in context I guess.

 

Absolutely!  I'd say it's all about attaining that 80's mindset.  One thing perhaps worth mentioning,  is I have a lot of nostalgia for any game I PLAYED back then,  obviously it helps if the game is good, but I mean like games you borrowed from a friend, and maybe had in your possession for a few days,  or played at a friend's house or even a store..  For example I never owned Pitfall!  back in the day, but I borrowed it ...And Megamania I played when my cousin was in the hospital and they had an Atari and a bunch of games set up in a commons area for sick kids to play,  so I went up to cheer her up and we played some Megamania.  Adventure was one I played at a friend's house one time BITD, but we spent the whole afternoon on it.  This was Jr high school and I can't remember hanging out with that kid ever again except for that one day, (no idea why actually).   And another friend owned it, because we took the time and got the secret message.  I don't remember when (87-ish?), but I would later buy Adventure at a garage sale of all things, when Atari stuff was all but forgotten (pre-internet),  played it a bit, and then loaned it to my junior high school locker partner, who I'd randomly ran into and he was getting back into Atari.  Of course I never ran into him again until once, many years later (and he'd understandably forgotten all about ever borrowing Adventure).  Meanwhile I know I've had Adventure a few times (perhaps in random eBay lots), but I don't know for sure without digging if I have it now,  Found Adventure Plus though .  And Empire Strikes Back, played at a friend's house;  I would later buy a boxed copy on eBay.  Frogger?  A kid from the church fellowship group had it,...We all went over to his house to ride on innertubes being pulled across the frozen tundra by snowmobiles on the land behind his house,  and afterwards we chilled and played random Atari games,  Frogger was one I knew from the arcades but at that point in time, I hadn't seen the Atari version...And,  Exactly as you say,  games were expensive so you couldn't own them all,  (No matter if my friends and I had paper routes, so seemed like "Rich kids" to some of the other kids in school etc. haha)...

[zzip]

8 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

Adventure was one I played at a friend's house one time BITD, but we spent the whole afternoon on it.  This was Jr high school and I can't remember hanging out with that kid ever again except for that one day, (no idea why actually).   And another friend owned it, because we took the time and got the secret message.

My first memory of Adventure was seeing it on a store Atari Kiosk.  We'd go there often to play games, and there was one employee who hated the idea of kids hanging out playing games, so we'd get kicked out quite often...     Anyway I thought Adventure looked terrible and dated.   This might have been 82 and I already thought it looked old.

 

So given that, I don't recall how or why it ended up in my collection, let alone becoming one of my most played games on the system.   It had a lot of 'emergent gameplay' possibilities, more than most games of that era, so we'd spend a lot of time seeing what we could do with various objects, bat, etc.   Like discoved you could hold the magnet, make the bridge follow you and you could keep travelling downwards through walls.

 

So during one of these "messing around" sessions,  I accidentally discovered the Easter Egg.   I didn't even know there was an Easter Egg.   I didn't even know what a game Easter Egg was.   Just used the bridge and accidentally picked up the secret object. First reaction was "Wow, I found a dot! must show this to the bat!"   While looking for the bat noticed it made the barriers react in weird ways and soon found the secret room.

 

8 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

Frogger was one I knew from the arcades but at that point in time, I hadn't seen the Atari version...And,  Exactly as you say,  games were expensive so you couldn't own them all,  (No matter if my friends and I had paper routes, so seemed like "Rich kids" to some of the other kids in school etc. haha)...

My friends and I certainly didn't come from money either, but yet we amassed fairly decent sized Atari collections.   My best friend seemed to get a new games fairly frequently, and we'd all trade/borrow games.    When the bargain bins showed up, we'd start getting a lot more games.    I remember one day buying Sneak N Peek from a bargain bin,  playing it and realizing it was basically "hide and seek"  I was at that age were I was too cool for kid's stuff.   I felt I couldn't be seen with that cartridge, my friends would make fun of me!!   So I returned it.   Then the kid in our friend group who was the most 'hip' said "you had Sneak N Peek and returned it??  Oh man I wanted to play that!!"  haha.    But there were a lot of fun times discovering those bargain games.

When the bargain bins showed up it was possible to really expand my collection.   

[oky2000]

On 1/23/2023 at 6:51 AM, GoldLeader said:

 

 

Absolutely!  I'd say it's all about attaining that 80's mindset.  One thing perhaps worth mentioning,  is I have a lot of nostalgia for any game I PLAYED back then,  obviously it helps if the game is good, but I mean like games you borrowed from a friend, and maybe had in your possession for a few days,  or played at a friend's house or even a store...

Totally agree, I love machines that I got a chance to check out regularly back then, not just what I owned. There was only 3 VCS games I borrowed, Asteroids, PAC-MAN and Haunted House. Most of my friends bought the same games as me, me and my best friend both got Defender for the same Xmas

[Arno1978]

The last time I had an Atari, my top 3 were:

 

Adventure hands down. I played it for hours. Curse that @#$& bat, but it was awesome.

 

The next 3 games are all 2nd favourite. They're not even competing for 2nd place, they are all simultaneously 2nd place.

 

Yar's Revenge

 

Missile Command

 

I've only played Centipede via emulator, but I aim to play it physically.

[LANC3L0T]

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.

 

[Astro Rabby]

You Cannot beat Adventure. It's one of my favorite games ever. It's just so magical.

 

 

[davyK]

 

Overall Super Breakout is probably the best game I've owned for 2600. Still have it boxed with manual. It's still the best way to play it. I actually consider it to be a perfect game (one of the very few) because it doesn't need anything added to it. Arkanoid is nice but it isn't a better game. Super Breakout's 4 modes cover the ball/paddle genre perfectly....here's my rant about it on a retro site. 

My Perfect Videogames #1 of 4 - Super Breakout (Atari 2600) - RVG (retrovideogamer.co.uk)

 

The other games I have rebought, boxed with manual are Warlords, Asteroids and Surround. Warlords and Surround in particular are pretty hard to beat when it comes to multi-player. I'd like to rebuy a nice example of Yars' Revenge , Combat and Kaboom! Then I'd be content. (Owned all of these first time around). 

[LANC3L0T]

On 2/10/2023 at 5:00 PM, davyK said:

 

Overall Super Breakout is probably the best game I've owned for 2600. Still have it boxed with manual. It's still the best way to play it. I actually consider it to be a perfect game (one of the very few) because it doesn't need anything added to it. Arkanoid is nice but it isn't a better game. Super Breakout's 4 modes cover the ball/paddle genre perfectly....here's my rant about it on a retro site. 

My Perfect Videogames #1 of 4 - Super Breakout (Atari 2600) - RVG (retrovideogamer.co.uk)

 

The other games I have rebought, boxed with manual are Warlords, Asteroids and Surround. Warlords and Surround in particular are pretty hard to beat when it comes to multi-player. I'd like to rebuy a nice example of Yars' Revenge , Combat and Kaboom! Then I'd be content. (Owned all of these first time around). 

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.  😄

[Goochman]

Bezerk

Adventure

Dodge Em

Super Breakout

Spiderman

Wizard of Wor

Chopper Command

 

I didnt own Missile Command but if I did that would be on the list - borrowed from a friend