When did you first get a 2600?

[chupathingy]

This thread is how you came about your first Atari 2600 (or 2600-compatible :3) and why you keep it alive.

 

Technically, my first system was the one my father owned. He used to have a Sears TeleGames Heavy Sixer unit until the cats forgot where the litter box was and hosed it.

 

The first system I ever bought with my own money was the Vader model, serial number KT 830290421. Picked it up at Goodwill for $4 in 2004. Didn't have controllers, games, or even a power supply, but at last I had my own real Atari. And this thing is battle-scarred. It's missing screws, the front is cracked, and there's some scratches on the front from the previous owner trying to scratch off some paint. It's nowhere near showroom condition and never will be, but it's my system and I like it.

 

Communities like this are the reason I keep it alive. That and constantly looking for new ways to give my music more edge. The idea of walking on stage not with a guitar or piano but a 2600 is very appealing to me. Also, Harmony cart.

 

Okay, AtariAge, your turn.

[pacpix]

I actually only recently acquired my Atari 2600 in June. I had recently got into retro gaming over the past year and I knew my Uncle had an Atari in storage. I bought it from him for 120 dollars. It included a four switch system, around 70 games, about 50 manuals, power supply, and some controllers. It is one of the best things I have ever owned.

[Schizophretard]

I was pretty much born with Atari. My first Atari was our family Atari. My memories are kind of fuzzy but I remember my dad introducing the Vader as the Dark Vader and it was a replacement for an older model we had. I think I'll ask my dad and brother their memories because they weren't toddlers.

 

A reason I keep it alive is because it feels so much different to me than other game systems.

 

When I was a kid we had a wooden floor model TV, we had lamps that had wooden tables, we had a couch and chairs that had bunk bed type wood frames, we also had a wooden coffee table with two cushions on both sides framed like the other furniture, we had fake wood grain paneling on the walls, we had brown carpet, all our picture frames were wooden, we had plastic end tables that looked like wood and had swinging doors, and out in the garage we had a wood grain station wagon. A wood grain Atari fits perfectly. It wasn't just a game system but furniture.

 

When my father introduced the "Dark Vader" to me it didn't fit with everything but it looked futuristic to me. I mean old sci-fi futuristic. I remember watching old sci-fi movies. My dad's favorite movie is the original The Day the Earth Stood Still and he loves the Twilights Zone. In my mind the futuristic is things in the past. When I first saw the movie Dazed and Confused I noticed this chair that was all plastic and was like sitting in a half ball. It looked futuristic and awesome but was from the past. I feel the same way about old cars and many other things from the past.

 

Anyway, modern day stuff doesn't look futuristic or like they have style to me. Everything is plain and ugly. Nothing matches. Nothing fits. The wood grain Ataris look like furniture, the Vader looks futuristic ,and both somehow remind me of an arcade machine. All the other game systems after Atari look like crap in comparison. So, one reason I keep it alive is because it is beautiful.

 

I love paddle controllers. They are the greatest controllers ever invented. A game system without paddles feels like a computer without a mouse.

 

I love the joysticks. I prefer right-handed joysticks that you hold in your hand that don't feel like I'm trying to fly a plane. There were a bunch of joysticks like that for the Atari.

 

I love points. It adds replayability. If I don't have someone to play against then I can play against myself by trying to get a higher score.

 

I love the graphics. I don't like games to look like movies. I like games to look colorful, cartoony, and look like toys on a screen. Atari looks like cartoons made out of glowing laser like legos.

 

I love the sounds. We are back to my idea of futuristic again. With all the beeps I feel like I'm talking to R2-D2 on the Starship Enterprise.

 

I love how collectible it is. There are many models and many clones. There are thousands of label variations and pirate carts. There is so much to collect that I could never say,"I'm done!"

 

I love the artwork because it looks like umm... art.

 

I love how it's limitations forced the programmers to focus on gameplay instead of eye candy with zero replayablity.

 

I love game variations. Instead of a game being one size fits all I can pick my size. Just selecting difficulty, volume, adding my name, and selecting rather or not I have a penis isn't game variations.

 

I love carts but not discs. Discs you take out of their cases but with carts you don't. The game stays protected in its beautiful cart. I prefer Atari carts over other systems' carts. Most Atari carts are the right size and stack well. M Network carts don't count because they are really Intellivision carts with Atari genitalia.

 

I love the name and logo. Nintendo is just Nintendo circled. That's about as creative as Coleco circled. It is too plain. The XBOX is an X on a sphere. I have never seen a spherical box. I guess they used a sphere because the Gamecube had a cube first. Playstation with it's sideways S crossing the P is intimidating. If you added a lower case d at the bottom you would have the swastika of the Fourth Reich. The Atari logo is awesome. It is the paddles and the middle line in Pong shaped like an A. It looks like a mountain and Atari sounds like what Chuck Norris screamed when he pushed up Mount Fuji.

 

I keep it alive because...

[Keatah]

I first got a VCS back in the 70's of last century. I enjoy the hobby today because it reminds me of the good time with family and friends and the discovery of the world around! Especially the discovery of the mystery of how electronic chips operate. Imagine that! A magical box with colorful parts inside that can play games and do things faster than you can..

[+Random Terrain]

• I got my first Atari 2600 on March 27, 1982.
  _
  
• I later traded it in for a Coleco Gemini to get the game that came with it.
  _
  
• I bought an Atari 2600 Jr. in the late 1980s. I also bought an Atari 7800, but took it back after being disappointed. My uncle sent me a used Atari 7800 and random used Atari 2600s with a bunch of used Atari 7800 games and Atari 2600 games back in the 1990s.
  _
  
• I ordered an Atari 2600 with S-Video modification in November of 2007, but the unremovable sound chip died later that month, so I've been using a regular unmodified Atari 2600 Jr. since then.
  

 

Similar to what I've said before, the Atari 2600 was the system to have. The controllers were easy to use, the graphics were crisp, clean, and clear, there were a ton of games, the sound effects were unique and memorable, and Atari 2600 commercials were like a hug from Santa Jebus on Christmas morning. You wanted to drink the Atari 2600 Kool-Aid and get a big Atari logo tattooed on your forehead.

 

It was hard to feel that way about the Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, NES, Atari 7800, and so on. The only console that almost came close to that feeling again for me was the 3DO.

 

The Atari 2600 is a special console, but that specialness is magnified even more today. All of the people who wanted to make their own Atari 2600 games when they were kids can finally make their dreams come true thanks to batari Basic and Visual batari Basic (the bB IDE).

[tz101]

I got my VCS for Christmas of 1980. I keep it because it has always been fun and I'm not getting rid of it.

[plyboult]

Today

[Dauber]

Got mine Christmas of '82. (Somewhere else I posted it was '83 -- it was definitely '82.) Why have I kept my Atari gaming alive all these years? Because I've yet to find something as playable. Have consoles since have improved graphics? Immensely. Sound?? Absolutely. But playability and replayability?? Hell, no.

[SlowCoder]

I was pretty much born with Atari. My first Atari was our family Atari. My memories are kind of fuzzy but I remember my dad introducing the Vader as the Dark Vader and it was a replacement for an older model we had. I think I'll ask my dad and brother their memories because they weren't toddlers.

 

A reason I keep it alive is because it feels so much different to me than other game systems.

 

When I was a kid we had a wooden floor model TV, we had lamps that had wooden tables, we had a couch and chairs that had bunk bed type wood frames, we also had a wooden coffee table with two cushions on both sides framed like the other furniture, we had fake wood grain paneling on the walls, we had brown carpet, all our picture frames were wooden, we had plastic end tables that looked like wood and had swinging doors, and out in the garage we had a wood grain station wagon. A wood grain Atari fits perfectly. It wasn't just a game system but furniture.

 

...

... and all the rest of your long-assed post.

[SlowCoder]

My very first was in early 80's. I'm pretty sure it was a Sears L6. It disappeared after a short time. Pretty sure my Mom gave it away.

 

I got back into Atari about a year ago, and am having lots of fun. Actually, it's not just Atari, but many of the classics, some of which I remember from childhood, and some I never heard of until a year ago, but was curious. Lovin' it!

[Schizophretard]

I was pretty much born with Atari. My first Atari was our family Atari. My memories are kind of fuzzy but I remember my dad introducing the Vader as the Dark Vader and it was a replacement for an older model we had. I think I'll ask my dad and brother their memories because they weren't toddlers.

 

A reason I keep it alive is because it feels so much different to me than other game systems.

 

When I was a kid we had a wooden floor model TV, we had lamps that had wooden tables, we had a couch and chairs that had bunk bed type wood frames, we also had a wooden coffee table with two cushions on both sides framed like the other furniture, we had fake wood grain paneling on the walls, we had brown carpet, all our picture frames were wooden, we had plastic end tables that looked like wood and had swinging doors, and out in the garage we had a wood grain station wagon. A wood grain Atari fits perfectly. It wasn't just a game system but furniture.

 

...

... and all the rest of your long-assed post.

 

Long? That was the short version. That is why I put,"I keep it alive because... " at the end.

[+atari2600land]

I got mine in September of 2006. Yes, I know. I wasn't alive or couldn't play video games because I was a baby during its prime (the first console I ever played was the Commodore 64, albeit Kindercomp, Face Maker, Story Maker.) The reason I keep it alive is its impressive library. Probably every genre of game is here, which is impressive because it debuted in 1977!

[jaybird3rd]

I first saw the 2600 around 1981. My uncles owned one first, and since they were (respectively) six years and ten years older than me, they were more like older brothers, so I got to play it a lot. My own family got one shortly afterward. I think I already had my first computer (a TI 99/4A) by that point, and we had a few games for it, but the 2600 opened up a whole new world to me. I vividly remember playing games like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, Adventure, and Pitfall! II for the first time, and they were all intriguing to me. I also remember being frustrated that I couldn't reproduce the 2600's slick and smooth graphics in BASIC on my 99/4A (which, as I learned later, was slow even when compared to implementations of BASIC on other computers of the time).

 

I think I've always owned a 2600 of some type ever since, although I don't have our original six-switch console anymore (it got lost during a move). I currently own a 2600 Jr. and a light sixer, but whether I've "kept them alive" or not is debatable because they both need work. I play most of my 2600 games on the 7800 these days, when I have time.

[Keatah]

Mine was gotten at TurnStyle, and later, we got a replacement or second unit from Venture.

[Amstari]

My family got a Vader in 1983 (or maybe late 1982). My parents still have it and it works perfectly. It no longer has the original joysticks though. So that was the first one but it belonged to the whole family.

 

I got my own first 2600 (light sixer) last year, and I now have a 2600 Jr too, and some consoles to repair. I made the jump from emulation back to original hardware after discovering AtariAge and the Harmony cart.

[Dauber]

TurnStyle? Wow, they still existed when Atari 2600 was out??? (Keatah -- you from the Chicago Metro area???)

 

I remember Venture was a good source for Atari games, and a surprisingly large number of arcade games in front of the store....

[Jr. Pac]

It was 10x as dirty as shown in the picture on the eBay listing (which I saved and attached). About a month and half ago, I was searching for Atari 2600s. I just searched atari and no category so I could find the sellers in the world who don't know anything about what they are selling, and I found this one: The description was "atari game system works great" and the title was "atari game" The seller barely knew what it was and didn't have any cables, so how could he test it? I didn't have any money at the time and it didn;t seem like it was tested, but I took the risk and payed my mom back eventually. After I won, I constantly PMed him asking if he sent it yet, but he didn't respond. But 7 days after I payed, he wrote back that he was on vacation. It took another 5 days to arrive, and it came in a dirty re-used over and over again Flat Rate box at my doorstep. I opened it, and voila! My new Atari VCS!..... But I didn't have a power supply and the system was in rough shape. I stayed up all night cleaning it and polishing it, etc. And now it looks almost brand new except for the fact that a little bit of the bezel paint is worn off. I didn't know where to get a power supply because the ones on eBay are soo expensive, and I remembered I had an AA account, so I created a Wanted thread, and got PMs and got a lot of my favorites (I just had boring commons like Combat, Asteroids, etc so I got my favorites like Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc) and... A power supply! It was the moment of truth. Plugged her in, hooked her up popped in Ms. Pac... And... Nothing. Then I realized I was on channel 4 instead of 3. I set it to channel 3... And... She was perfect! No RF interferance! Now she's all wrapped up in luxury and a small shelf of games. She's my little Stella and she'll always be my favorite. The big bummer is, since the controller ports are on the back, I scratched up the back a bit from trying to plug in a controller. It used to have the Left Controller Right Controller sticker in like new shape, but now it's scratched. Nothing's perfect!

Listing Pic (it was 10x as dirty as this when I recieved it. ):

Present day (I took her out of her fancy television stand for this pic):

(Yes, that is a brand new original Rev. 1 CX-40)

The Manufactured date stamped on the inside was JUL 28, 1979. I had a blast playing her with my family for her birthday.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Jr. Pac

[SlowCoder]

I think I've always owned a 2600 of some type ever since, although I don't have our original six-switch console anymore (it got lost during a move). I currently own a 2600 Jr. and a light sixer, but whether I've "kept them alive" or not is debatable because they both need work. I play most of my 2600 games on the 7800 these days, when I have time.

How does one lose a 2600? Did you hire movers? Was it lost, or "lost" by them?

[jaybird3rd]

How does one lose a 2600? Did you hire movers? Was it lost, or "lost" by them?

I won't bore you with the whole story, but we had to leave in a hurry and couldn't afford to hire movers at the time, so anything we couldn't take on our trailer or in our vehicles had to be left behind. My father packed some of the excess (including the 2600) into another guy's trailer, with the idea that he'd buy some other stuff from this guy and have it all sent to us at once, but those plans apparently fell through and I don't know what became of the stuff we left with him. That was nearly twelve years ago.

 

My rationale for leaving the 2600 was that it wasn't working and I didn't have the skills to fix it. It's too bad, too, because I could probably get it working again fairly easily now. I also lost the original TV from my Atari Pong coin-op cabinet, but that was dead for sure.

[SlowCoder]

It was 10x as dirty as shown in the picture on the eBay listing (which I saved and attached). About a month and half ago, I was searching for Atari 2600s. I just searched atari and no category so I could find the sellers in the world who don't know anything about what they are selling, and I found this one: The description was "atari game system works great" and the title was "atari game" The seller barely knew what it was and didn't have any cables, so how could he test it? I didn't have any money at the time and it didn;t seem like it was tested, but I took the risk and payed my mom back eventually. After I won, I constantly PMed him asking if he sent it yet, but he didn't respond. But 7 days after I payed, he wrote back that he was on vacation. It took another 5 days to arrive, and it came in a dirty re-used over and over again Flat Rate box at my doorstep. I opened it, and voila! My new Atari VCS!..... But I didn't have a power supply and the system was in rough shape. I stayed up all night cleaning it and polishing it, etc. And now it looks almost brand new except for the fact that a little bit of the bezel paint is worn off. I didn't know where to get a power supply because the ones on eBay are soo expensive, and I remembered I had an AA account, so I created a Wanted thread, and got PMs and got a lot of my favorites (I just had boring commons like Combat, Asteroids, etc so I got my favorites like Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc) and... A power supply! It was the moment of truth. Plugged her in, hooked her up popped in Ms. Pac... And... Nothing. Then I realized I was on channel 4 instead of 3. I set it to channel 3... And... She was perfect! No RF interferance! Now she's all wrapped up in luxury and a small shelf of games. She's my little Stella and she'll always be my favorite. The big bummer is, since the controller ports are on the back, I scratched up the back a bit from trying to plug in a controller. It used to have the Left Controller Right Controller sticker in like new shape, but now it's scratched. Nothing's perfect!

Listing Pic (it was 10x as dirty as this when I recieved it. ):

Present day (I took her out of her fancy television stand for this pic):

(Yes, that is a brand new original Rev. 1 CX-40)

The Manufactured date stamped on the inside was JUL 28, 1979. I had a blast playing her with my family for her birthday.

+1 for your efforts! Great job! Tell your mom AA says she should be proud too, and give you a bigger allowance to support your habit.

[Chuck D. Head]

I got my first Atari the summer of 1981. I worked for weeks picking Strawberries (I was slow as hell at picking berries) and bought it from a classified newspaper ad for $150 and it had maybe 10 games with it. It was a six-switch, but dont really know if it was "heavy" or "light". The funny thing was that I had never even PLAYED one before, so putting that first cartridge (Basketball) in was really special. I dont know when or how it broke or where it went, but I know I didn't have an Atari for a few years, until I bought a 2600 Jr.

 

That's where it gets a little weird and people always call bullshit on this, but here I go. I bought it at Sears. It was in a very non descript box, came with the Coleco Command Control controllers and Mousetrap packed in, but definitely a Jr and not a Gemini. I also got to select a free game from Sears inventory, which was Tac-scan. It was $50 and it still works great today!!

[Lord Helmet]

Got mine in the early 80's...not sure exactly when, but it was right when Berzerk and Defender came out. I remember the salesman telling me they were the two newest games. I also know it was right before the silver label era. It was a 4 switcher. Long gone now.

[keilbaca]

I got my first Atari 2600 when I was 7 or 8, by the parents. Then a year later they sold it, then a year later or so got another one. My brother and I weren't allowed to play for more than an hour. When I got good and games laster longer than an hour in one sitting, I asked for longer, and then they sold it. This went on and off for about 5 or 6 years, till I got one again when I was 16, in which I did the Cracknel mod, for composite audio/video. I no longer have that one. I got the atari that I plan on now on a regular basis in Japan, from this site. This was about 2004.

[the.golden.ax]

My parents bought an OD2 in 1981, then a Coleco Adam a few years later. Everyone else has 2600. It wasn't until 1987ish that I finally got a 2600 ColecoVision expansion module #1 and used it with my Adam. First borrowing it from a friend at school, then buying it from him. Second hand 2600 games were cheap and easy to find at that time, so I had a blast. By 89 - 90 I got a 7800 at a store going out of business sale. It was the store display unit and I paid 90% off the $199 price tag, on the very last day (HILLS DEPT STORE). Toys R Us, KB, and Sears still sold games new for both 2600/7800, so I had a hay day buying up new in box games for a few bucks each. That's where I started my obsession with red boxes for 2600. The KB Display was awesome at that time. In the mid 90's I got an Aquarium as a Birthday present. Sold everything to a comic book shop employee (because the store didn't want to buy it) for $25 (Clearly $1000+ worth of stuff in todays eBay market) so that I could buy a big Angelfish from a pet shop the day after I set the tank up. The fish was dead by the next morning. The next year I got the Jaguar. Didn't get back in to my classic roots until around 2004 - 06ish. Haven't stopped since.

 

AX

[Animan]

Summer of 2009. Can't remember the exact date.