Younger members: how/why did you get into Atari?

[Coolcrab]

I have an extensive gameboy collection and then went over to NES and mega drive and started watching some retro gaming channels on youtube.

Eventually I found a very good deal online for an Atari + like 20 games and I really loved it. It's simple and easy yet hard and challenging. And ideal for sort play sessions. (I hardly ever have time these days so big RPG's are a Nono.)

 

Then I found out that people program for the Atari and then I definitely got hooked.

[0078265317]

Because that is all that was available at the time.

[Keatah]

Simple and fun seem to be recurring descriptors when discussing the original VCS from 1977. Things the gaming industry needs more of. Hence the rising popularity of retrogames.

 

Obvious to seasoned players, sure. To newcomers it's a revelation.

[up2knowgood]

Simple and fun seem to be recurring descriptors when discussing the original VCS from 1977. Things the gaming industry needs more of. Hence the rising popularity of retrogames.

 

Obvious to seasoned players, sure. To newcomers it's a revelation.

 

Its entertaining too.

[maxdrive]

I was wondering this my self born In 81 family had a 5200 I loved that thing jungle hunt still a fav of mine. Got an NES later on. It's cool to hear about younger generations appreciating what came before.

[maxdrive]

I was wondering this my self born In 81 family had a 5200 I loved that thing jungle hunt still a fav of mine. Got an NES later on. It's cool to hear about younger generations appreciating what came before.

[digdugnate]

Simple and fun seem to be recurring descriptors when discussing the original VCS from 1977. Things the gaming industry needs more of. Hence the rising popularity of retrogames.

 

Obvious to seasoned players, sure. To newcomers it's a revelation.

this. this right here is the reason that my 2600 sees more gameplay time than any other device in the house.

[The Mr. Video]

I first heard of the 2600 probably around 2010 while googling Pac-Man gameplay videos. I then looked that up and stumbled upon 2600 game reviews from Classic Game Room (HD), and I guess the games peaked my interest. It wasn't until November 2012 when I got an Atari 2600 Jr. with some games to go along with it. It, along with the NES and the SNES was what got me into retro gaming.

[Jason123]

I only found this forum due to my uncle passing away, and my aunt Dixie gave me all his Atari and Commodore 64 stuff. I have always been a gamer and I suppose that is why she gave me the stuff. I love the games for the most part (I was raised on Nintendo) and I really enjoy the Starpath games especially.

[thiccwheels]

I was born in 99, and didn't really have much in the way of video game systems growing up. I had a DS (shoutout to Nintendogs ) but nothing else. My mom had brought home a tote full of plug and plays that she got at a garage sale. There were a few crappy ones that were Nickelodeon and Disney princess themed, and a couple Namco ones with goodies like Dig Dug and Pole Position. The one that got the most use, though, was the Atari Flashback 2. I must've spend half my childhood on that console! Adventure was a favorite, although I could only play through level one (I was little, give me a break!). The console ended up getting lost during a move, and I was really devastated. I really missed those games.

Then, a few years ago, my mom bought an actual 2600 and a few games for my birthday. It was so nice to finally experience the real deal! I was instantly hooked, and I guess I still am

[ajlenahan]

I was born in 1987, so I was too young for the Atari. By the time I was playing video games, my parents got us a NES and then a SNES. So I basically grew up on mostly Nintendo. However in the early to mid nineties my parents got us the activision Atari action pack. I loved playing those games on the PC.

 

More recently, I wanted to play those games again and am now trying to collect them in there original form.

 

[Magmavision2000]

I was born WAY after the Atari 2600 came out (about 28 years later to be exact) so my first introduction to Atari was just a comment on an Atari 2600 when I was about three, I didn't actually own an Atari 2600 until 2012 when I asked for one after watching Classic Game Room, the Atari I got was an Atari 2600 jr with the box (i still regret throwing the box out). the reason I kept collecting for my Atari is mainly because I'm very interested in pre-NES stuff.

[AlecRob]

I was born in 99, and didn't really have much in the way of video game systems growing up. I had a DS (shoutout to Nintendogs ) but nothing else. My mom had brought home a tote full of plug and plays that she got at a garage sale. There were a few crappy ones that were Nickelodeon and Disney princess themed, and a couple Namco ones with goodies like Dig Dug and Pole Position. The one that got the most use, though, was the Atari Flashback 2. I must've spend half my childhood on that console! Adventure was a favorite, although I could only play through level one (I was little, give me a break!). The console ended up getting lost during a move, and I was really devastated. I really missed those games.

Then, a few years ago, my mom bought an actual 2600 and a few games for my birthday. It was so nice to finally experience the real deal! I was instantly hooked, and I guess I still am

 

That is badass... I was born in 1995 and I grew up with sega Genesis, Saturn, N64... I always just liked older stuff.. never liked games that were trying too hard to be realistic... I cant pinpoint when exactly I became an Atari fan it just sort of happened..

[theor]

Born in 84, my first computer was a 8086 MSDOS 3.0 PC in 1989, and my first console was the SNES in 93.

I'm passionate about retro computing, computing history, and I also love simple machines and languages.
I've built a simple stack TTL computer, played with a lot of logic circuits in Logisim, fantasize about owning a PDP11, have tried Unix systems all the way up to the very earliest versions, wrote programs in Forth, LISP, Haskell, you name it...

But there's one machine that stands out among this crowd, and it's the 2600. I am absolutely fascinated by this piece of hardware, there are simply so many unique things about it.
It's the most retro hardware one can gets his hands on. It's the console that started everything. It's a mere CPU-in-a-box that will make most programmers flip the table and give up on it because it's so hellish to program, but achieving anything useful with it is a technical award in itself. It's a fully documented machine that can be fully understood by a single mind down to the transistor. It has no framebuffer, 128 bytes of memory, yet it can run a game like Solaris. Some of its games like Boulder Dash or Draconian are technical wonders like exist on no other platform. No other console takes so much craftmanship, and no other console runs such über optimized assembly jewels. It's simplistic hardware, yet it takes mastery to tame this beast, and that makes it captivating.

Finally its game have a very particular aesthetic that brings back memories from my early childhood. Blocky graphics on a black background, scrolling rainbows... there's something about those that I just like. It's the console of the Space Age, the console of Shoot'em up like the SNES was the console of RPGs.
I will not play the latest AAA titles because they leave me unimpressed and I just don't have time anymore for all the storytelling, but I was in awe when I first tried Draconian, Star Castle Arcade, Super Cobra Arcade or Boulder Dash, because man, it's just unbelievable to write code that's so tight. I enjoy the craftmanship and the technical prowess more than the game.

So the Atari 2600 was in my book since 2003 until I finally made the step to get myself one and restore it. I don't play much but it's sitting in my living room in all its glory. And heck, it looks a hell of a lot better that a PDP11! As for playing, Stella stays on my laptop whenever I feel like trying a new homebrew or playing a classic.