What game system finally made you put the Atari 2600 into th

[Joel D. Park]

Though my Atari 2600 Collection is back with a vengence, there was a time when it went into the closet and eventually sold at a yard sale (Forgive Me).

 

It was around 1985-1986 my brother got the Commodore 64 (Actually 128). The Atari held on for some years after that but probably was sold around 1990. Luckilly looking back, the only ER games I know we had was Frankenstines Monster.

 

So what replaced the Atari 2600 in your house hold??

[Bob Bytchin]

It was a combination of things. I didn't sell my 2600, but I did stop playing it as much as I had been at the time. What first put a big dent in my 2600 playing was my buying a C-64 (1985). I had a friend with "connections" who could get a copy of any game that he wanted...and hence, I wanted. I built up a collection of over 500 C-64 games in just a matter of months, and that was so much more fun than playing the same 'ol games on the 2600. But what finally put the nail in the casket was when I bought a Tandy 1000SX in 1986. I bought the game StarFlight and played it on my new, state of the art, 8088 system with 640k of RAM, 12Mhz speed, and a HUGE 20MB HD. Tandy 16-color was state of the art at the time, and was worth the $1800 I spent on the system LOL.

 

But as Joel says, things have come full-circle. I now use my computer to emulate the games I could never find when I was younger, and to emulate the two or so systems that I never bought. Although I prefer playing against my kids on the REAL systems, there are some games I can never play on those systems until some sort of "storage" cartridge comes along for those systems.

[chicagoidiot]

I remember wanting a Colecovision very badly, but the system had just debuted and was not widely available in the South, so my father bought me a used 2600 with a bunch of games, used. I tested them out on the seller's huge screen TV, and I can still remember being very impressed with Activision's Dragster. I kept the system a good while and had a lot of fun with it.

 

Then I got the 5200 bug, and I convinced my father to upgrade me. I played the hell out of that thing, and my mother had the foresight to purchase a bunch of new joysticks for me. I even managed to find one in the old attic a few months ago, still new in the box!

 

Next came the SNES, the PSX, and all.....

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Another cool topic Idea?!

 

God I love this board?!

 

What put my 2600 away was the B-day gift of my 7800 in 88. Since I figured I would never need the 2600 anymore...I gave it away to my cousins (Much younger than I was...) and about 10 or so of my lesser used carts.

 

However, it must be said that my 7800 had a very very short life span...

 

A year later my mother and I went in together and puchased a 286 16mhz with 20mb hard drive...and 1024 of ram. Also it came with a paradise supervga card. Total cost with the printer I believe we paid about $3000 for it. The 7800 collected dust immediatly after that for 10 years...

 

*sniff*

 

Now I not only have my 7800 back out an in active use (Playing and dumping of games...) But I was given a heavy sixer Sears 2600 from '77 in mint shape. I have the best of both again...

[Mountain King]

I was die hard Atari fan. I had it all the way up through the Nintendo craze. Thats how I got a lot of my Atari games, my friends would give me their old Atari systems and games after getting a Nintendo. After a while you couldn't get Atari games at all. The place I used to get them in my home town (Kiddie City) closed down and then re-opened as a Toy's R Us discarding their stock of out dated Atari Games. The last game I bought for my Atari in the stores was either Skate Boardin or Spy Hunter. It was so long ago I can't really remember. So I had to intrest myself in other things like the Nintendo, computers and a little blonde girl named Gabrielle.

[Ian Primus]

Actually, the first game console I ever owned was a Nintendo 64. I'm 16 now, and when I was younger, I begged my parents to buy me the latest and greatest in video gaming technology - the Nintendo Entertainment System. Of course, being parents, they said "We already have a computer, play games on that". The same thing happened with the Genesis and Super Nintendo. Eventually, by the time the N64 was about to come out, I was old enough to actually earn money (I mowed lawns), and I bought the Nintendo 64 with my own money. Later, I found an Atari 2600 at a flea market for $10 and it soon got played more than the Nintendo 64. I guess the Atari replaced the Nintendo...

 

Ian Primus

ian.primus@usa.net

[Tempest]

I'm ashamed to say it, but it was the NES. I didn't go for the 7800, I went for the far superior Nintendo.

 

Why couldn't Atari have agreed to distribute the NES? Oh well...

 

Tempest

[+Cafeman]

For me, it was actually the 5200 and the Atari computer. I found I never played my old 2600, and sold it to my cousin's neighbors for like $30. Argh!!! How stupid!

 

What closet'd my 5200 was getting a Sega Genesis around 1991! When I saw the visuals, games and heard the sounds, I was *done* with that old clunky Atari stuff! So I gave my computer and 5200 to my cousin. To be honest, I totally forgot what happened to that stuff over the years.

 

Fast-forward to summer of 2000 (to finish this tale). Due to a family death (my father actually), I was around my family more than I had since I was young, and my cousin mentioned he had all my 'Atari stuff' in a bag in his attic. I suddenly remembered giving to him 10 yrs ago, and asked for it back, and that's why I'm posting here today -- I fell in love with my 5200 and 8bit again!

 

I know this is a 2600 forum, however I haven't quite re-purchased on of those yet. I've seen 'em, but for like $40 -- no thanks!

[Tempest]

Funny thing was I grew up with the Atari 400 (Christmas of 83 was a good year for me), I never had a 2600 until the revival years when my uncle gave me his (good timing I guess). I do remember playing the 2600 at my friends house and wondering why the graphics sucked compared to my 400. My other friends Colecovision was the only thing that seemed to compete with it (I didn't know anyone with a 5200).

 

But I guess the 400 served me well. It got me interested in programming which lead me to persue a degree in computer science and get a nice job. Just think if I had a 2600 back then? Using it's Basic cartridge would have turned me off of computers forever!

 

Interestingly when I got the 2600 in 86, the bad graphics really didn't turn me off anymore. It was overshadowed by the sheer number of games available at cheap prices. But then the Nintendo came along, but I didn't throw my 2600 into the closet quite yet. I played with both of them for a long while until about 90 when it had to go. Then I dug it out again in 95 and got into the classic gaming scene.

 

Tempest

[khryssun]

I've had to sell my VCS 2600 to buy the colecovision. Nicest graphics, but I've never met again the same 'magic gameplay' than I found with the 2600.

 

Fortunatly, I've bought a new 2600 12 years ago, but damn..... it's hard to find cartridges in France.

 

maybe one day, I'll get all the cartrigdes i've got in my first collection.

[soda B]

we were atari fans and we had the 5200 with a 2600 adapter then the 5200 went to the basement after the nintendo entertainment

system and game boy.

that was it for at least 10 years

after then we got the N64'PSX'snes'and GBC

then an actual VCS

[Osbo]

The last time I used my Atari was around 97-98 before moving to USA. After that my mother got us a NES, but it didn't last long. The unly game that I really liked to play was Bart Simpson and the space mutants, but NES controllers sucked big time. Then when I moved here, I find me myself using computers and not really playing games any more (only Doom 2 and DukeNukem).

A while ago I brouth a N64 and PSX but I;'m selling all that stuff on eBay right now, and I got me an Atari Jr 2600 like two weeks ago. I like the cheaper games and mostly are easy to play.

so far... i'm happy playing Ms Pacman and Jungle Hunt

 

OsBo

[liquid_sky]

dont laugh me off the board but ummm... the sega saturn drove my atari to the closet for a while

[someguy]

I never actually owned a 2600 when they were popular back in the late 70s / early 80s.

I did own an Atari 400, followed by an 800XL, and played with other folks' 2600 machines.

 

A couple of years ago I stumbled into 2600 emulation purely by accident. After trying out a 2600 emulator, I decided to go looking through the local thrift shops and dug up a 2600.

 

I now have four 2600s with about 100 carts, a 5200, a 7800, a Lynx and a Jaguar.

[ATARIPITBULL]

Like most people, when the Atari 2600 system first came out, it was the hottest thing around, and I was the first person in my area to have one, then others followed. When the coleco system came out with its better graphics and more power, everyone rushed to the stores to buy them, but I didn't. I had my system until Atari crashed and from there I lost my system through time, but I never forgot how much fun I had playing those games as a kid and now I have four different systems with all the extras, and over a two hundred games with boxes.

[+Random Terrain]

soda B:

 

Thanks for messing up the page. Ever heard of using a space or two?

[Rhindle The Red]

My 2600 (bought in the early early eighties) only left my care about four years ago when I started collecting again and got a 7800. I gave it to my sister (to keep it in the family, in case I wanted it back for nostalgic reasons).

 

Of course since then my collecting has caused me to obtain about seven more 2600s. They just keep piling up...

[NE146]

It was the 5200. Actually I would have kept playing games on both forever except finding games to buy dried out like a puddle in the desert where I was from. I couldn't find a new 2600 game or 5200 game to save my life (and believe me, I looked!)

 

It was only later that I found that several games for the 5200 that were released that I would have loved to buy but didn't have the opportunity (like Robotron) simply because no local stores sold them.

 

Eventually, both the 2600 and 5200 just got put away and I didn't hear anything about video games for a while. Then I went to college and the NES came out... that was the start of a brand new story

[Ze_ro]

I never actually had an Atari as a kid (I only really got into it about a year ago, strangely enough), but I did have a ColecoVision, and a decent amount of games for it. The NES came, and I couldn't manage to get one, since they were so expensive. Eventually though, I ended up getting a Gameboy for Christmas one year (I guess my parents felt guilty for never getting me a Nintendo). This pretty much sent the CV to the closet for about 10 years, until I eventually gave it to my dad, who keeps it around his place for my six year old step-brother to play.

 

I regret giving it away though, as I've had trouble finding all the cool games I used to have, and the only working CV I've been able to find has goofy controller problems

 

I still have the original Gameboy, and haven't yet bought a color or advance... even though I still have about 40 games for the thing. Ironically enough, I now play the Atari more often than the Gameboy

 

--Zero

[Malix]

When I was four or five my dad bought an atari for me. He ended up playing it as much as I did. We really enjoyed the mutual time spent doing something together. It was replaced by the NES soley because of the arcade version of super mario brothers. I played it in the arcade a ton and when I found out they had it for a home system just had to have it. Pops didnt like the new games to much so the atari was sold at a garage sale. . It is back with a vengeance now. I have to blow,hit,tackle my NES to get it to work but the old woodgrain comes through every time. Well almost

[ed]

My 2600 power source and decathalon helped my 2600 into early retirement. After replacing countless plugs and joysticks my atari wound up in the closet roughly 6 months to a year before I got my NES. The model still works, but the power connection still breaks off at the most inconvienent times and I can never find a working joystick.

[Gr4ph0n]

I believe the Apple //e was the reason I strayed from my Atari, and then Nintendo tore me from the Apple, but even tho I was interested in these other systems, I never quit playing the 2600 (mainly because of my obsession with River Raid)

[chrisrob9]

I love this post, it's like some kind of therapy for people who gave up their Atari. Anyway, I got an Atari 2600 for Christmas in 83. The 5200 was already out but hey, times were tight and the 2600 was cheaper. Some of my best memories of living in a backward small town in Arkansas was playing Atari, bike riding and recording songs off the radio, (uh oh that was pre-napter)!

I sold my Atari and all my games and I remeber thinking at the time, some day I may wish I still had this. After college and I had a life again, I tried playing new systems and found the games neat to look at but way to complicated, some games seemed like you needed a degree to be able to play them. I realized I loved the simple yet additve games of my youth and am a proud new owner of a 7800 pro system.

[Inky]

Hmm... Believe it or not, I stopped playing the 2600 when I got my ST

 

Then I bought a 7800, and later a PS then pulled my 78 out and now play it again

[Jeffy Arensmeyer]

Hmmmmm.... This is AtariAge.com, right?

 

I'm 32 and since 1977, my Atari 2600 has never been in the closet.

 

Shame on you guys for ever shelving the 2600. Even though my 2600 has been "bumped down the line" some, it's the same one I got in '77 and is fully operational. Every thing is intact and still original.

 

When Sky Jinx came out, I did do a little personal modification to the deck however. I cannibalized a joystick and added a 9-pin port onto the back. Then I went to Radio Shack and bought a project box and some switches. Within a day, I had my own "remote" console switches (On/Off, Select, Reset).

 

Sky Jinx was kicking my butt so bad, I got tired of reaching for the Reset switch every time I creamed a tree or balloon.

 

Since '77, it's been available for play. The others have come and been added to my collective, but the 2600 has never been further away than a joystick's cord length.

 

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