Ever change your mind on which Atari 2600 you prefer?

[kennetzel]

For the longest time I was a fan of the Darth Vader...I thought the black made it look sleek and modern. But I was never a fan of the picture quality...Lots of ghosting. But I then got a heavy sixer which looks good too and the picture quality is so crisp and clean. So now my favorite is the heavy sixer.

[Tickled_Pink]

Always 6-switch for the same reason as OP. It was my first. Still have it but not sure which one of the three I now own it is.

[BigO]

Nope. Always have preferred the original "heavy 6'er" sitting on the floor right in front of the TV as nature intended.

[coleco82]

When I was a child, my first Atari 2600 was a junior. At the time you could get them new for $100 or $50 sometime between 84 and 88.

I liked the rainbow stripe and the LED light.

The switches did feel cheap but they worked.

Many years later I had to sell ol' Junior to pay down college debt.

I have had a woodgrain light sixer, 4 switch.

I have to say I really enjoy the woodgrain thing, just as long as I don't get a big wood sliver.

 

TLDR: for nostalgia reasons, the junior, for now, the woodgrain 4 switcher.

[Mister-VCS]

For the longest time I was a fan of the Darth Vader...I thought the black made it look sleek and modern. But I was never a fan of the picture quality...Lots of ghosting. But I then got a heavy sixer which looks good too and the picture quality is so crisp and clean. So now my favorite is the heavy sixer.

Love my vader too - I have a PAL machine with good picture quality- not as good as my 6switch woody - but still good.

[jhd]

I may be unique in this, but my favourite model is the Gemini. The reason for this is simple -- it is small and compact. I have never had any compatibility problems with it.

 

The Jr. takes a close second place for the very same reason.

[The Mr. Video]

I'd say the Jr. is my favorite model with the 7800 being second. Though I have been using the 7800 more because my Jr. needs a new power supply.

[adamchevy]

My favorite model has been the Sears Tele-games VCS heavy Sixer for a long time. I didn’t grow up with a VCS so I decided that in 2013 when I purchased my first one. I also really like the big rainbow Atari JR console. I go back and forth with which one I like more, but it always wanders back to the Sears version. I really like that faux walnut woodgrain look. It feels definitively 70s to me, and the big rainbow Jr feels extremely 80s to me. Seeing as the VCS is from the 70s it always wins in my heart. But as a child of the 80s I can’t help but love the aesthetic of the Jr. Maybe it’s reading rainbow? I don’t know, but I own them both.

I’ve also owned a few 7800s over the past few years. For some reason the games don’t feel much different than the 2600. I actually like the look of the graphics less on the 7800 if that’s possible. The only games I would purchase a 7800 for again is Robotron(best home version ever made IMO), Asteroids and Centipede(best 2 player and only simultaneous 2 player versions of these games that I know of on console.)

[Keatah]

I wish to clarify my earlier post #7. I sometimes go back and forth between the Heavy Sixer and the Light Sixer. And I'm not excited about the 4 switcher models or anything that came after.

 

3 hours ago, adamchevy said:

I’ve also owned a few 7800s over the past few years. For some reason the games don’t feel much different than the 2600. I actually like the look of the graphics less on the 7800 if that’s possible. The only games I would purchase a 7800 for again is Robotron(best home version ever made IMO), Asteroids and Centipede(best 2 player and only simultaneous 2 player versions of these games that I know of on console.)

Exactly right. They don't. They didn't feel significantly different enough to warrant me getting into the 7800. Since the 7800 was closer to the VCS than it was to contemporary consoles of the day I felt it redundant and un-necessary.

 

Currently, today, I feel that if developers are going to push a console's limits they should also create infrastructure that allows other devs to join in and collaborate and use the new framework. If the 7800 has that I'm not seeing it. But the VCS has that in spades and droves. I call it useful innovation. Practical innovation. And it has given rise to many games we thought not possible BITD.

 

As a child BITD I was only occasionally impressed with the VCS. Today much more so - because of newfound understanding of its bare-metal nature. At times I could almost ALMOST imagine the console was steampunk inside. With mechanical happenings and stuff. Gears, levers, pulleys, and linkages.

 

Much of my adoration for the VCS comes from reading the sometimes really-in-depth postings by devs. And by experience of experimenting with and troubleshooting/testing Emulator Stella.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Keatah

[danny_galaga]

Not so much change of mind, but I have my various  consoles in a 8 place IKEA cube thing. Problem is the 4 switch woody doesn't fit. But a junior would so I may start sniffing around