Atari 2600+ is AARP approved!

[TeddyBear89]

Move over Life Alert.......the Atari 2600+ gets plugged in AARP The Magazine

 

 

[+LS650]

Don't laugh - quite a few of us are well over 50 now.

[Brad_from_the_80s]

Lol.  I mean we could post about the reviews all day long, but one of the more unique ones I thought was Car and Driver got all excited because this thing "supports Pole Position"

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44940583/atari-2600-plus-pole-position-racing-video-game/

 

I love the 2600 original, but they seem to be talking about 7800 Pole Position II

[+LS650]

46 minutes ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44940583/atari-2600-plus-pole-position-racing-video-game/

 

Some of those comments at the bottom of the article... 

"Why would I buy this when I already have a PS5??"

Whoosh - right over his head.

[+fdr4prez]

1 hour ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

Lol.  I mean we could post about the reviews all day long, but one of the more unique ones I thought was Car and Driver got all excited because this thing "supports Pole Position"

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44940583/atari-2600-plus-pole-position-racing-video-game/

 

I love the 2600 original, but they seem to be talking about 7800 Pole Position II

but the main picture from the arcade game from Wikipedia and from not the 2600 console that they are touting, or even from the 7800 Pole Position II

[Warboss Gegguz]

Well, that's just wholesome.

[tradyblix]

3 hours ago, ls650 said:

Don't laugh - quite a few of us are well over 50 now.

Eh ? speak up sonny I can't quite hear you. Atari you say ? 

[tradyblix]

3 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

Lol.  I mean we could post about the reviews all day long, but one of the more unique ones I thought was Car and Driver got all excited because this thing "supports Pole Position"

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44940583/atari-2600-plus-pole-position-racing-video-game/

 

I love the 2600 original, but they seem to be talking about 7800 Pole Position II

They used an Arcade screenshot too lol. 

 

I actually like PP 2600. It's not as good as the 7800 graphically, but I have a soft spot for it. The colors on exploding car are better than that monocolor dust cloud on 7800 lol

 

Don't have it tho ! 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by tradyblix

[Brad_from_the_80s]

33 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

They used an Arcade screenshot too lol. 

 

I actually like PP 2600. It's not as good as the 7800 graphically, but I have a soft spot for it. The colors on exploding car are better than that monocolor dust cloud on 7800 lol

 

Don't have it tho ! 

 

 

It's a good one to have.  Only one track and not even any grass alongside, but the pure sense of speed and the swerving around the other yellow cars/blotches that deliberately pull in front of you as you try to pass.  Always fun once you get the hang of it, and plays better than some of the other visually "superior" ports of the era.

[tkarner]

7 hours ago, ls650 said:

Don't laugh - quite a few of us are well over 50 now.

Get off my lawn!

[scifidude79]

I played Pole Position on my 2600+ the other day. 😁

 

5 hours ago, ls650 said:

Some of those comments at the bottom of the article... 

"Why would I buy this when I already have a PS5??"

Whoosh - right over his head.

Don't forget the part where they can run "better" things on their phone. I've never played a phone game that was better than an Atari game.

 

Also, I have a PS5. I actually regret buying it because I don't really like it. It's not even hooked up, it's literally just collecting dust. My 2600+ is hooked up, though.

[Warboss Gegguz]

21 minutes ago, scifidude79 said:

Don't forget the part where they can run "better" things on their phone. I've never played a phone game that was better than an Atari game.

Honestly Atari games (and most Golden Age arcade games) are better pick-up-&-play/short burs" games than anything I've ever "played" on a smartphone. I've killed more time playing Tempest than I ever have playing android trash. And I use "playing" loosely, as most smartphone games are 90% waiting or in the case of idle games are entirely about waiting. Also, you aren't assaulted by freemium ads, gacha, or microtransactions every 20 seconds, but that just goes for phone games in general. One of the many reasons I still use my 3DS.

But idk I'm weird for a 25 year old, lol.

 

Not to be a hipster, there are plenty of trash 80s game, but I'd still rather play one of the  300 fixed shooters over the crap that's popular on the playstore.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Warboss Gegguz

[tradyblix]

3 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

 the pure sense of speed and the swerving around the other yellow cars/blotches 

😆😅😉

Edited December 5, 2023 by tradyblix

[tradyblix]

18 minutes ago, Warboss Gegguz said:

Honestly Atari games (and most Golden Age arcade games) are better pick-up-&-play/short burs" games than anything I've ever "played" on a smartphone. I've killed more time playing Tempest than I ever have playing android trash. And I use "playing" loosely, as most smartphone games are 90% waiting or in the case of idle games are entirely about waiting. Also, you aren't assaulted by freemium ads, gacha, or microtransactions every 20 seconds, but that just goes for phone games in general. One of the many reasons I still use my 3DS.

But idk I'm weird for a 25 year old, lol.

 

Not to be a hipster, there are plenty of trash 80s game, but I'd still rather play one of the  300 fixed shooters over the crap that's popular on the playstore.

now we need a Tempest for the 7800. I would love if Jeff did it. But someone should make a version for it... 

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

Also, I have a PS5. I actually regret buying it because I don't really like it. It's not even hooked up, it's literally just collecting dust. My 2600+ is hooked up, though.

Well, you are missing out. Go play Baldur's Gate 3 and sink some time into it, you won't regret it. Or Cyberpunk 2077 if that's more your thing. 

 

the last 10 years have been a golden age for AAA gaming. 

 

Retrogames aren't even the same thing. The whole style of play of Atari is quick short bursts and switch carts, not like..... watching an interactive movie, which is what modern games are like. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by tradyblix

[scifidude79]

6 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Well, you are missing out. Go play Baldur's Gate 3 and sink some time into it, you won't regret it. Or Cyberpunk 2077 if that's more your thing. 

 

the last 10 years have been a golden age for AAA gaming. 

 

Retrogames aren't even the same thing. The whole style of play of Atari is quick short bursts and switch carts, not like..... watching an interactive movie, which is what modern games are like. 

I should have been specific. I regret buying the PS5 not because of playing retro games, but because I do most of my playing of newer games on PC or XBOX. I have Cyberpunk 2077, it's a great game.

 

I agree about retro gaming, especially the Atari heyday era. Most of those arcade style games are fun, for short sessions where you don't want to spend hours in one game. I played a quick game of Asteroids on my 2600+ before I went to work this morning. But, I'll spend hours on my XBOX or PC playing more involved games.

[tradyblix]

16 minutes ago, scifidude79 said:

I should have been specific. I regret buying the PS5 not because of playing retro games, but because I do most of my playing of newer games on PC or XBOX. I have Cyberpunk 2077, it's a great game.

 

I agree about retro gaming, especially the Atari heyday era. Most of those arcade style games are fun, for short sessions where you don't want to spend hours in one game. I played a quick game of Asteroids on my 2600+ before I went to work this morning. But, I'll spend hours on my XBOX or PC playing more involved games.

Yeah. I'm still looking for an Asteroids 7800 cart myself. I actually like the Asteroids Deluxe "Vector" style homebrew better, but it doesn't work yet from what I understand on the 2600+.

[scifidude79]

6 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Yeah. I'm still looking for an Asteroids 7800 cart myself. I actually like the Asteroids Deluxe "Vector" style homebrew better, but it doesn't work yet from what I understand on the 2600+.

I actually first played Asteroids on the 7800, so I have a great love for that version of the game. I played it earlier on my VCS with the classic joystick, but nothing beats an original cartridge. So, it's on my shopping list too.

[jerseystyle]

1 minute ago, scifidude79 said:

I actually first played Asteroids on the 7800, so I have a great love for that version of the game. I played it earlier on my VCS with the classic joystick, but nothing beats an original cartridge. So, it's on my shopping list too.

I LOVE the 7800 version. When I was a kid those spinning rocks blew my mind- cool 3d effect!

[scifidude79]

1 minute ago, jerseystyle said:

I LOVE the 7800 version. When I was a kid those spinning rocks blew my mind- cool 3d effect!

I like the colors too, not to mention the different difficulty settings. It really feels like a natural successor to the 2600 version. Really, the 7800 has a lot of great versions of earlier Atari hits. Centipede for the 7800 is awesome too. It's a shame the console wasn't more popular.

[+LS650]

23 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Yeah. I'm still looking for an Asteroids 7800 cart myself.

I've been looking on ebay and other sites for 7800 Asteroids - and prices seem really high.  If Asteroids Deluxe or Space Duel eventually run on the Plus, it would be cheaper to buy one of those new!

Last night I spent about 45 minutes playing the 7800 versions of Ms Pacman and Dig Dug that I picked up for reasonable prices.  They're both really good.

[tradyblix]

I did buy one new last month and maybe i'll get it in a few months lol. 

 

hopefully by the time I get it the 2600+ will support it. And yeah for the famous carts anyway, the prices are absurd. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by tradyblix

[scifidude79]

7 hours ago, tradyblix said:

And yeah for the famous carts anyway, the prices are absurd. 

Yeah, I think it was just due to the 7800 being a post crash "Tramiel era" system. The Tramiels didn't seem to know how to market systems. They released some really good ones. The 7800 was on par or maybe a bit better than the NES, but poor marketing and a lack of 3rd party support killed it. They only released, what 50-something games for it? The Lynx should have been a GameBoy killer, but the same issues kept it from being a hit. Of course, launching at $90 higher than the GameBoy didn't help the Lynx either, but it was so technically superior. And, lastly, the Jaguar should have had more of a market presence but, again, poor marketing and lack of 3rd party support. It's a shame these systems never really stood a chance due to who was running Atari at the time. Due to all of this, collecting for these systems can be expensive, especially with the retro craze that's gone on for the past few years. People selling carts for more "rare" systems like the 7800 think everyone who wants them is a diehard collector, so they can charge more for them. Some of us just want to play games we remember from our past, without breaking the bank.

[tradyblix]

5 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

Yeah, I think it was just due to the 7800 being a post crash "Tramiel era" system. The Tramiels didn't seem to know how to market systems. They released some really good ones. The 7800 was on par or maybe a bit better than the NES, but poor marketing and a lack of 3rd party support killed it. They only released, what 50-something games for it? The Lynx should have been a GameBoy killer, but the same issues kept it from being a hit. Of course, launching at $90 higher than the GameBoy didn't help the Lynx either, but it was so technically superior. And, lastly, the Jaguar should have had more of a market presence but, again, poor marketing and lack of 3rd party support. It's a shame these systems never really stood a chance due to who was running Atari at the time. Due to all of this, collecting for these systems can be expensive, especially with the retro craze that's gone on for the past few years. People selling carts for more "rare" systems like the 7800 think everyone who wants them is a diehard collector, so they can charge more for them. Some of us just want to play games we remember from our past, without breaking the bank.

I love the 7800, but it was honestly a source of deep shame for me and inadequacy growing up. I wanted an NES bad, but my parents weren't successful and they used the 7800 as an excuse why I couldn't have another video game system. Looking back on it, I got an NES by 1988, but that was a lifetime as a kid, like, the pressure started in 1986. Now, as an adult, 9 years doesn't seem like much difference, but between 1977 and 1986 so much had changed when it came to gaming and computers in general. 

 

As far as it being competitive with the NES, well it's sound chip wasn't, the games were mostly ports of early 80s era games while kids were playing stuff like Jackal and Metroid - the NES was on a whole other level in terms of what the games could do. 

 

I don't doubt some of those games could be done on the 7800 given time and the sound could have been better, but whenever people say this, it rings a bit false to me. The 7800 ended up being a slightly enhanced 2600 in all respects. It had some real stinkers too, like Karateka. Of course now I love collecting for it, but even Ballblazer couldn't impress my friends back then when they were getting down on incredible games like excitebike, gradius and super mario brothers, none of which had an analog on the 7800. 

 

And that gap only got worse heading into 1987. I remember going to a friends house and seeing contra that year and I was just flabbergasted. The writing was on the wall. There was absolutely a generational difference -hardware better or not. 

 

Of course now, I can play all those games and still do, but now I want to play centipede and xevious. lol. 

 

But yes, as a casual player of nostalgic Atari, it's beyond annoying that I can pick up the superior NES cart of Kung fu which is a far better game gameplay wise for like, 5 bucks and I have to pay 150 for Kung-fu master on the 7800 for a significantly worse (but still one I want) game. Eh. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by tradyblix

[Sean_1970]

5 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

Yeah, I think it was just due to the 7800 being a post crash "Tramiel era" system. The Tramiels didn't seem to know how to market systems. They released some really good ones. The 7800 was on par or maybe a bit better than the NES, but poor marketing and a lack of 3rd party support killed it. They only released, what 50-something games for it? The Lynx should have been a GameBoy killer, but the same issues kept it from being a hit. Of course, launching at $90 higher than the GameBoy didn't help the Lynx either, but it was so technically superior. And, lastly, the Jaguar should have had more of a market presence but, again, poor marketing and lack of 3rd party support. It's a shame these systems never really stood a chance due to who was running Atari at the time. Due to all of this, collecting for these systems can be expensive, especially with the retro craze that's gone on for the past few years. People selling carts for more "rare" systems like the 7800 think everyone who wants them is a diehard collector, so they can charge more for them. Some of us just want to play games we remember from our past, without breaking the bank.

As apparently one of few Jag owners back in the day (and very few Jag CD owners) I remember a major issue with third party support was the lack of programming tools from Atari. Minter is a genius, but most people weren’t going to learn assembler for a system that might not sell a lot of games. Consequently they did ports of stuff than ran on the Motorola 68k that the Jag included as a controller, which is why you see a lot of 16-bit ports despite having 32-bit graphics capabilities.

 

As to the 7800, I remember being confused that even existed since as you say the marketing was non-existent and the controllers with the buttons on the sides when all other systems had joypads (yes, I know they had those as well for the 7800), was just a reminder of the awful 5200 controllers. Man I wanted a 5200 so bad when they came out, but that desire was cured when I got hands-on with that joystick 😂!

 

Of course Sony arrogantly did something similar to the Jag with the PS3 Cell architecture and figured devs would just learn their new processor, but they were able to course-correct after it became obvious they were going to get subpar ports or skipped. Now consoles are all just PCs, so not an issue.

 

On-topic it was a nice article, though given Boomers now cover most of the sixties I don’t feel like I need a retirement rag catering to my interests just yet - come back to me in fifteen years 😜