Pleasant suprises

[+johnnywc]

Over the last year, I have become re-aquainted with the vast library of games for the 2600, either through emulation or my old system and 200+ games. With hundreds of games, every so often I come across a 'pleasant suprise'; a game that I really enjoy playing that I didn't even know existed or ever got to play back in the 80's.

 

For example (*=awesome):

 

Beamrider

Bump 'n Jump

*Crystal Castles (per Tempest's rave review)

Double Dunk

Frostbite

Gravitar

*Jr. Pac-man

*Midnight Magic

*Millipede

*Montezuma's Revenge

*Pete Rose Baseball

*Pressure Cooker

Star Wars - The Arcade Game

Stargate

Super Football

Up 'n Down

 

Are there any other 'gems' out there that anyone else would like to share?

[Joel D. Park]

I really enjoyed "This Planet Sucks", its a homebrew available at Hozer.

 

Also, Cosmic Commuter is fun. I seem to enjoy "Lander" style games.

 

Those come to mind quickly as slightly obscure but still very fun.

[Hakogame 箱亀]

I really enjoy playing quickstep, especially 2 player mode.

[NE146]

Well I don't know how applicable these would be to you, but i seem to be playing the following 2 games quite a lot:

 

Stargate/Defender II: I passed on this when it came out and only recently decided to give it a whirl after snagging a cart. Pretty amazing stuff especially when compared with the original 2600 defender. Truly a great arcade port for the VCS imho... Gets nice and difficult too ;P

 

Pacman Hack ("Pac26" or "A Better Pacman"): hacked mscpacman turns out to be 2600 Pacman the way it was meant to be. Evertime I play this on an emu it transports myself back to that time when I was anticipating it for what seemed like ages and imagining that THIS was the version that came out.. (ok so I'm a little wacked). I noticed there are 2 versions floating out there, one with the ghost siren and the other without. The one with the siren of course is the one to get.

 

Oh and yes Crystal Castles does rock. has anyone figured out if there's an ending to it like the arcade game??

[+-^CrossBow^-]

NE..

 

I thought we had already covered Crystal Castles.

 

Again, It doesn't end on the 2600 version. It either just eventually repeats all over...or it randomizes after a point.

 

Either way...it doesn't end.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Just so I am not off topic.

 

For me the following are my pleasant surprises.

 

Krull

Indy 500 (Ice mode rocks)

StarWars:The Arcade Game

Keystone Kapers

Trick Shot

Ghostbusters

Solaris

Pitfall2

Minature Golf (graphics suck..but I think it is loads of fun!)

and

My new Riddle of the Sphinx CIB I just got.

 

That's all that comes to mind right now.

 

 

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ]

[Ze_ro]

What always surprises me is the games that were ported to the 2600 that I had no idea about. It was only recently I found out that they had even attempted Double Dragon or Kung Fu Master on the Atari (Granted, they're not very good, but they still surprised me). I'm really quite impressed they even tried to port some games to it, even when the system was woefully underpowered compared to the original hardware (eg: Congo Bongo, Zaxxon, Buck Rogers), whereas some of the ports are actually quite good (eg: Battlezone, Dig Dug)

 

--Zero

[davidbrit2]

Activision's Seaquest! It's a really fun high scoring type of game that starts off fairly easy, and eventually elevates to an insane pace. Also try Taz. If you can master that, everything else will seem rather easy. Robot Tank was another good one. I actually think it's better than Battlezone. And finally, try Radar Lock. It has kind of strange dual-joystick controls for selecting weapons, but it's a really fun air plane massacre.

[h.e.r.o]

When I was searching through many boxes one time in our basement, I accidently kicked a little black thing. I went over, picked it up, and it turned out to be Cosmic Ark, a game I didn't know we had before! And I love it!

[liquid_sky]

i dunno, commando on the atari 2600 was a pleasnt suprize, it had all the gameplay of the arcade, not the graphics, but it worked and was suprizingly good.. so was kung fu master on 2600, it was up to par with the 7800 version

[videotwit]

I bring this one up every once in a while, and I think it's time to again...

 

Solar Fox is a top notch game in my opinion. I love maze/puzzle style games to start with, and add in the cool "outer-space" element, and I'm hooked.

[PeeknPoke]

After downloading the Atlantis II rom, i found it to be a great game (after avoiding it before, it never appealed to me) and went back to the original release and played that one lazy Sunday.

 

Snoopy and the Red baron is a cool game to check out too, and I remember playing Dumbo for a while after discovering that game.

 

Combat II is quite a good two player (if a bit fussy unlike its ready to play first game)

 

 

Ho hum!

 

Lee

[King Asmo]

I was testing Ataris the other day, and inserting random carts. One of the carts I used was Vanguard... I never realized how great this game was! I must have spent an hour playing the thing.

[utamav91]

Please take another look at Double Dunk. It's the best sports game of all time for the Atari 2600. Probably one of the best games ever for any system.

 

The graphics are amazing, the sound isn't bad, and what can be more fun than slamming home a dunk and celebrating it right in your opponent's face? Or draining the long three with a sweet fadeaway as the seconds tick down?

 

It's much better than some of the better-known games like the totally overrated Adventure and Ms. Pac Man in my opinion. But since it was released so late (late 80's), it really never got much publicity.

 

What does everyone think?

[+johnnywc]

I agree on the Double Dunk review - it has it's quirks but overall it's the most enjoyable sports game (imo) on the Atari 2600 next to Super Football. My only regret is that I haven't been able to play against any human opponents on either, which I'm sure would be even more entertaining.

 

PS I do, however, think Adventure and Ms. Pac-man are also fantastic and belong in the top 25 games for the 2600 (again, imo)

[ATARIPITBULL]

I enjoyed double dragon and Montezumas revenge as some of the harder to find games that I enjoy playing.