Living Room Arcade Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 (edited) What are some games that you consider to be "hidden gems" tucked away in the Atari 2600 library? Some people also call them "most underrated" games. In another thread, Fast Food by Telesys and Turmoil by 20th Century Fox were given as being two examples. Please share your nominations, below! Edited March 18 by Living Room Arcade 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Beamrider - although it's from Activision, it was released fairly late, and is an incredible shooter. Fast paced with lot of enemies that it introduces as you delve deeper into the game. Rather than issue an extra live every so many points it gives you an opportunity to grab one each level (that they call sectors). Also has a boss that you can shoot down at the end of each sector. Plays a bit like Tempest without a super-zapper and has a ton of strategy. I grew up playing it on the Intellivision but was amazed at just how good it is on the Atari 2600. One of, if not my favorite game all time! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 *cracks knuckles* Street Racer Fantastic Voyage Spacemaster X-7 Donkey Kong (yup) Zaxxon Rescue Terra 1 Space Jockey Tanks But No Tanks Hunt & Score Cosmic Commuter Commando (is this underrated?) Warplock Rampage Radar Lock Pooyan Golf Encounter at L5 Subterranea (not sure it counts as "underrated," but I have to list it anyway) Solar Quest Star Ship Lost Luggage Tape Worm Commando Raid Burgertime (doesn't seem like anybody digs the Atari version) Canyon Bomber Ikari Warriors Xenophobe Dragonstomper Home Run Guardian Stellar Track Survival Island Pac-Man (has to be underrated, right?) Millipede (maybe not underrated but it seems like Centipede gets all the glory) Crash Dive GORF Fast Eddie Marauder Squeeze Box Frontline Cross Force Submarine Commander Tac-Scan Miniature Golf Air Raiders Mogul Maniac Private Eye Marine Wars Fast Food Sky Skipper Megaforce Threshold Tunnel Runner Video Olympics Survival Run Montezuma's Revenge (not sure if overrated, but doesn't seem like a game that usually springs to mind when people think of the Atari 2600) Name This Game Bermuda Triangle Cosmic Swarm Room of Doom Wizard of Wor Infiltrate Stargunner Towering Inferno Gangster Alley Spitfire Attack Thunderground Worm War 1 Demons To Diamonds 🙂 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Too many suggestions above are only obscure but reviews tend to be largely positive or are unanimously disliked for good reason. Two that come to mind as being both relatively obscure AND underrated are Challenge of Nexar and Space Cavern. The ratings based on reader votes on videogamecritic are only C+ and C respectively for these two and a lot of other reviews online tend to be middling or negative, so they fit the bill for being under appreciated. I think Nexar is a fast, furious and fun shooter and while Space Cavern is too easy on the lower settings, it provides a fun challenge on the higher ones. Two games that deserve an overall rating somewhere in the B range. Definitely not C. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 17 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said: Too many suggestions above are only obscure but reviews tend to be largely positive... Hence, "hidden gems." 🙂 17 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said: ...or are unanimously disliked for good reason. Hence, "most underrated." 🙂 I would suggest that any of these games that are "universally disliked" are worth re-evaluating. 🙃 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jeremiahjt Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 20 hours ago, BassGuitari said: Donkey Kong (yup) 20 hours ago, BassGuitari said: Pac-Man (has to be underrated, right?) Both of these are obviously not hidden gems, but I am not sure they count as underrated either. Plenty of people crap on both games, but plenty people also sing their praises. I kind of think Gorf would fall into the same boat as these two. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfriendly Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 20 hours ago, BassGuitari said: *cracks knuckles* Street Racer Fantastic Voyage Spacemaster X-7 Donkey Kong (yup) Zaxxon Rescue Terra 1 Space Jockey Tanks But No Tanks Hunt & Score Cosmic Commuter Commando (is this underrated?) Warplock Rampage Radar Lock Pooyan Golf Encounter at L5 Subterranea (not sure it counts as "underrated," but I have to list it anyway) Solar Quest Star Ship Lost Luggage Tape Worm Commando Raid Burgertime (doesn't seem like anybody digs the Atari version) Canyon Bomber Ikari Warriors Xenophobe Dragonstomper Home Run Guardian Stellar Track Survival Island Pac-Man (has to be underrated, right?) Millipede (maybe not underrated but it seems like Centipede gets all the glory) Crash Dive GORF Fast Eddie Marauder Squeeze Box Frontline Cross Force Submarine Commander Tac-Scan Miniature Golf Air Raiders Mogul Maniac Private Eye Marine Wars Fast Food Sky Skipper Megaforce Threshold Tunnel Runner Video Olympics Survival Run Montezuma's Revenge (not sure if overrated, but doesn't seem like a game that usually springs to mind when people think of the Atari 2600) Name This Game Bermuda Triangle Cosmic Swarm Room of Doom Wizard of Wor Infiltrate Stargunner Towering Inferno Gangster Alley Spitfire Attack Thunderground Worm War 1 Demons To Diamonds 🙂 You're like the family member in front of me on Family Feud that keeps stealing my answers😉 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Spike's Peak - hard, but rewarding if you reach the mountaintop Tunnel Runner - first person maze game, gets crazy fast at higher levels Porky's - it was fun, and not like anything else Frogs And Flies 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChopperCommando Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Tax Avoiders. I remember hating it back in the day but that's only because I never had any instructions. Once the internet came along and I actually learned how to play, I think it's a pretty cool little game. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Nice job linking one of the old threads on this. In that thread, I linked other old threads . . . For underrated games here are some helpful threads: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/25483-overrated-and-underrated-atari-games/?view=findpost&p=3068434&hl=%2Bunderrated http://atariage.com/forums/topic/216548-most-underrated-game/?view=findpost&p=2963575&hl=%2Bunderrated Without reading what I posted in there again, I think my previous answers were in the M-Network family. Astroblast is a great verticle shooter that works with both joysticks and paddles. The M-Network sports games are pretty impressive, but hard to get into today (2 player only) as a result they don't get rated very highly. Fantastic Voyage was mentioned and that is a pretty great one. Spiderman is another one that falls into my top 20 that rarely gets a lot of attention. You'll find lots of games above #100 on this list that would fall into the "underrated" category: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/62626-top-100-2600-games-of-all-time/page-27. River Raid II and Secret Quest are simply too complicated for many players to get into (including me so far), but by all accounts they are great examples of what the 2600 can do. Oh and Donkey Kong sucks. I assumed once upon a time that people just looked at it and stopped playing, but I've tried to play that game for high score and it really is just below average. Limited stages is boring and the difficulty peaks out early leaving you to just memorize patterns and repeat. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 6 hours ago, BassGuitari said: Hence, "hidden gems." 🙂 Hence, "most underrated." 🙂 I would suggest that any of these games that are "universally disliked" are worth re-evaluating. 🙃 I know the question states "or" rather than "and" but I just wanted to suggest games that fitted BOTH criteria rather than just one. As for some of the "underrated" games suggested in this thread, I DID state "universally disliked for good reason", hence objectively bad and most definitely NOT underrated and NOT worthy of re-evaluating. Just want to protect some from disappointment who might purchase them based on what they read in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillDMatt Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Name This Game Laser Gates I don't know if s counts as hidden Jewel, I just rarely hear it talked about when discussing IMAGIC games. Pele's Soccer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I don't know if it's "Hidden" or not...Seems like in lists, it's always too low... My Favorite 2600 game is Dark Cavern. And the more I play it the more I like it! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliptitude Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 One I discovered recently was Master Builder. I haven't spent much time and it is pretty difficult. But it has nice graphics, very original concept and seems to function. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 On 3/19/2024 at 1:43 PM, GoldLeader said: My Favorite 2600 game is Dark Cavern. Dark Cavern is a great game - very challenging and with some real depth. Solar Fox is a game you don't hear much about, and is both fun and tough. Fishing Derby might be one of my favorite Activision games. Looks great and fun to play, especially two player. Boing! is hard to find and expensive. I own a reproduction and enjoy it - a better Q*bert than Q*bert! Snoopy and The Red Baron is another expensive cart to track down. Beautiful graphics and fun to play. Pengo is another game that people don't talk much about, but the 2600 port is really well done. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 (edited) On 3/18/2024 at 2:35 PM, BassGuitari said: *cracks knuckles* Street Racer Fantastic Voyage Spacemaster X-7 Donkey Kong (yup) Zaxxon Rescue Terra 1 Space Jockey Tanks But No Tanks Hunt & Score Cosmic Commuter Commando (is this underrated?) Warplock Rampage Radar Lock Pooyan Golf Encounter at L5 Subterranea (not sure it counts as "underrated," but I have to list it anyway) Solar Quest Star Ship Lost Luggage Tape Worm Commando Raid Burgertime (doesn't seem like anybody digs the Atari version) Canyon Bomber Ikari Warriors Xenophobe Dragonstomper Home Run Guardian Stellar Track Survival Island Pac-Man (has to be underrated, right?) Millipede (maybe not underrated but it seems like Centipede gets all the glory) Crash Dive GORF Fast Eddie Marauder Squeeze Box Frontline Cross Force Submarine Commander Tac-Scan Miniature Golf Air Raiders Mogul Maniac Private Eye Marine Wars Fast Food Sky Skipper Megaforce Threshold Tunnel Runner Video Olympics Survival Run Montezuma's Revenge (not sure if overrated, but doesn't seem like a game that usually springs to mind when people think of the Atari 2600) Name This Game Bermuda Triangle Cosmic Swarm Room of Doom Wizard of Wor Infiltrate Stargunner Towering Inferno Gangster Alley Spitfire Attack Thunderground Worm War 1 Demons To Diamonds 🙂 Nice list! I think I can see most of these being Hidden Gems/Underrated. Edited March 24 by Living Room Arcade 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 I seem to never get tired of blasting my way through the Fish Force Fields in VentureVision's Rescue Terra I. Nobody ever talks about playing it because it is so rare, but it is truly a great game. Programmed by the same guy who wrote Laser Gates for Imagic, and I really like that one too. -Ben 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+discotronic Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Shuttle Orbiter. I don't think it was brought out for anything but the 2600. Definitely have to read the manual. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razzie.P Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 On 3/19/2024 at 4:43 PM, GoldLeader said: I don't know if it's "Hidden" or not...Seems like in lists, it's always too low... My Favorite 2600 game is Dark Cavern. And the more I play it the more I like it! Yes, I second this one! Funny thing is - I always used to see that in my rom list and dismissed it because, for some dumb reason, I thought it was gonna be a "lesser" version of Dark Chambers. Ignorance, stupidity, I dunno... but I did. Then I saw you squawking about it a few times on here and figured I'd give it a shot and was blown away! It went from being something I thought was just cluttering up the "d" section in my game list to one of my all time favorites! It's great and definitely shouldn't be "hidden!" 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 2 hours ago, discotronic said: Shuttle Orbiter. I don't think it was brought out for anything but the 2600. Definitely have to read the manual. Another game that requires reading the manual but is excellent is Space Attack (MNetwork's version of Space Battle). The enemies are large and details and the pace can get fast and furious. However, if you don't know how to send out your squadrons and join in a fight, it's just confusing. I see lots of people who don't like it but I tend to think they probably just haven't invested the time required to understand it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 (edited) I love these discussions about Hidden Gems (Most Underrated Games). I want to try them all! I think that Dark Cavern and SpaceMaster X-7 will soon be working their way into my "play list." Edited March 26 by Living Room Arcade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Room Arcade Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 (edited) Here is our list so far. I just compiled everyone's suggestions together and removed the duplicates. Looks like we're up to 90 nominations! Spoiler List Compiled from This Thread 1. Air Raiders 2. Astroblast 3. Beamrider 4. Bermuda Triangle 5. Boing! 6. Burgertime 7. Canyon Bomber 8. Challenge of Nexar 9. Commando 10. Commando Raid 11. Cosmic Commuter 12. Cosmic Swarm 13. Crash Dive 14. Cross Force 15. Dark Cavern 16. Demons To Diamonds 17. Donkey Kong 18. Dragonstomper 19. Encounter at L5 20. Fantastic Voyage 21. Fast Eddie 22. Fast Food 23. Fishing Derby 24. Frogs And Flies 25. Frontline 26. Gangster Alley 27. Golf 28. GORF 29. Guardian 30. Home Run 31. Hunt & Score 32. Ikari Warriors 33. Infiltrate 34. Laser Gates 35. Lost Luggage 36. Marauder 37. Marine Wars 38. Master Builder 39. Megaforce 40. Millipede 41. Miniature Golf 42. Mogul Maniac 43. Montezuma's Revenge 44. Name This Game 45. Pac-Man 46. Pele's Soccer 47. Pengo 48. Pooyan 49. Porky's 50. Private Eye 51. Radar Lock 52. Rampage 53. Rescue Terra I 54. Room of Doom 55. Shuttle Orbiter 56. Sky Skipper 57. Snoopy and The Red Baron 58. Solar Fox 59. Solar Quest 60. Space Attack 61. Space Cavern 62. Space Jockey 63. Spacemaster X-7 64. Spiderman 65. Spike's Peak 66. Spitfire Attack 67. Squeeze Box 68. Star Ship 69. Stargunner 70. Stellar Track 71. Street Racer 72. Submarine Commander 73. Subterranea 74. Survival Island 75. Survival Run 76. Tac-Scan 77. Tanks But No Tanks 78. Tape Worm 79. Tax Avoiders 80. Threshold 81. Thunderground 82. Towering Inferno 83. Tunnel Runner 84. Turmoil 85. Video Olympics 86. Warplock 87. Wizard of Wor 88. Worm War 1 89. Xenophobe 90. Zaxxon Edited March 26 by Living Room Arcade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r_chase Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Zaxxon 2600 may not be like the orginal arcade version, but it's a good game on its own for sure. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Spriggy Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Flash Gordon is a bloody ripper imo. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Montezuma’s Revenge is one I didn’t know about until I got it (recently) and It’s arguably the best platformer/Metroidvania that I’ve played on the 2600. I don’t know if my not knowing about it makes it a hidden gem, but it certainly was to me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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