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I review games... How original...

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Polaris (Tigervision)

OOH! Now here's a treat! Polaris... Wow what a game, It's gotta be one of my favorites for the system... Polaris is a submarine shooting game with other elements thrown in for good measure. Out of all the games that Tigervision published for the 2600 it's a near tie for me between this game and Jawbreaker as my favorite, but I think Polaris just beats it out. Now Tigervision, who were a subsidiary of Tiger Electronics, have put out some of the rarest and most expensive games on the 2600, thankfu
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Pitfall! (Activision)

This is going to be a difficult game to look at since it feels almost blasphemous to do so; the first of something is always sacred. Pitfall (I’m omitting the ‘!’ because Word freaks out and capitalizes everything), is generally referred to as the first side-scrolling platforming game, or at least the first one to do it right. It is one of the best selling games on the 2600 and is considered one of the best games on the console, if not ever for its contributions to gaming as a whole. But, and th
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Pinball for Windows (Impressions Software Inc.)

Continuing with my trend of reviewing old PC games I present to you what is at first glance the most unimaginative piece of crap you’ve probably ever seen. Pinball for Windows by Impressions Software is just one of hundreds of crappy pieces of software shoveled out for the ‘new hotness’ Windows 3.1. The box boasts ‘GREAT ANIMATIONS’ and ‘4 Pinball Tables’ to select, my goodness! I’m astounded! Seriously these guys are really trying to sell you on this like it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
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Phillip the 2600, What has he defiled today?

Phillip is pain... All it feels is an endless wash of pain. Phillip waits for death patiently and quietly for it knows its death is nigh Data Age Encounter At L-5 – Most sprites are slightly warped but you can see it most on the Data Age logo at the top right. Sounds are mostly the same with an off note here or there, nothing serious. Bugs – Most ‘Bugs’ are intact but some are scrambled to high hell, the transition scene is unaltered. Sounds are intact with nothing seriously
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Phaser Patrol (Starpath)

First-person space shooters are nothing new on the 2600, you have your classics, like Star Master, Star Raiders, and Star Voyager, then there are your not-so-classics, like Star Ship, and Space Attack, but there is one game that gets swept under the rug every time the topic is brought up, maybe it’s because the title doesn’t begin with ‘Star’ or ‘Space’ but the game is Phaser Patrol, and in my opinion it’s better than all of the others combined. I think the main reason why it doesn’t come up ver
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Pete Rose Baseball (Absolute)

I normally avoid sports titles on any console, I simply don’t enjoy them, but I may have found one that I actually like. The last game I reviewed that could be defined as a sports game was bowling which was my ninth ever review and as it was amongst the early Atari releases it was nothing to look at. But unlike with bowling, baseball had several versions released starting with Home Run in 1978 and ending with Pete Rose Baseball in 1988, I think we’ll review the latter of those two today. I still
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Party Mix (Starpath)

I’ve said before that some games are difficult to review, but this may actually be the hardest game to review out of the lot of them, because it’s very difficult to review a party game by yourself. It’s mainly because I don’t know a single person in 50 miles that actually wants to play 2600 with me, and I only have a single pair of Paddle controllers to boot. This game is rather amazing, in both concept and execution, a four player party game with three minigames that actually engage all four pl
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Panda: The OG Bootleggers!

Panda: The OG Bootleggers!

Okay so I know I usually do write-ups on games, not companies, but Panda was just so batshit insane that I feel they are deserving. The guys at Panda were the OG bootleggers, for a short time in 1983 they slithered onto the scene and vomited their wares, but before they could finish they vanished quite suddenly. Now, Panda was the supreme budget brand, they made their games out of the cheapest materials they could get, and cut as many corners as possible, i'm not sure what they sold for original
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Pac-Man (Atari)

This game is a glorious mess. And despite being one of the most commonly mocked and disliked games in the Atari library, I don't mind it. Let me just say this up front, I don't think that this is a 'Pac-Man' game, I think it's a Pac-Man style game. Same name different game, each share similar game-play and graphics (Sounds are not applicable here), but Atari Pac-Man shook things up a little bit. Also like the other mainstream whipping boy E.T., this game was rushed to completion, and also suffer
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Open Sesame (Bit Corp. / Taiwan Cooper)

I bought this game expecting the European version, which is the version that had the only other voice sampling apart from Quadrun. What I didn't expect though, was 'I Want My Mommy', a game released in America by Zimag. The version I own is a Taiwan Cooper bootleg which as far as I can tell is exactly the same as the Zimag version. I know these Taiwan Cooper bootlegs aren't known for having very pertinent box art but Open Sesame takes the cake as far as I'm concerned. The box art shows The Tramp
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Omega Race (CBS Electronics)

Omega Race (CBS Electronics)

There is nothing worse than a common game that is locked behind an obscure peripheral. In the case of most Atari games with these obscure peripherals you can still play the game normally since these things only act as a substitute for the standard controller. Milton Bradley Games and many of the games slated to be released by Amiga are prime examples of this, there are three games however that ARE locked behind this wall of inaccessibility, Sentinel by Atari which required the usage of an XE lig
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Oh Dear! I broke my stick!

Well isn’t this a little awkward, today’s subject for review, my recently acquired Datasoft Le Stick, has just stopped working. I have popped open the bottom to get at the wires to see what was going on and my worst suspicions were confirmed. Due to how you use the Le Stick, violently jerking it from side to side, it really does a number on the internal wiring where they all coalesce into the controller cord which leads to wires being severed. Datasoft tried to mitigate this by placing the wires
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Nova 9 (Dynamix)

I can’t remain in the world of the 2600 forever, I need to branch out and expand, then promptly fall right back on the 2600 when I tire of the new stuff. So, what’s new today? Well, its big box PC games, if the 2600 game boxes weren’t big enough then these monsters will scratch your itch. Standard console game boxes are absolutely dwarfed by these behemoths, but this can have some positive effects. The artwork on some of these boxes is absolutely fantastic, and there’s something so rewarding abo
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No Escape! (Imagic)

This genre bender cones from the same time period as one of my previous Imagic reviewees Laser Gates. This was a period of great decline for the company as the crash was getting into full swing and Imagic hadn’t prepared in the slightest, leading to its untimely demise in 1984, I already spoke about the death of Imagic in my Laser Gates review so let’s move on from that, shall we? The first thing that immediately strikes me about No Escape! is that box art, wow, that guy looks so out of it, at l
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Night Driver (Atari)

I think today I’m going to dial it back a bit; I’ve been fixated for too long on the graphically impressive or highly original. I think I’m just going to talk about an old favorite, I think I’ll talk about Night Driver. Night Driver is not a graphically impressive game, nor is it particularly astounding in the auditory department, but it has the one thing that trumps them all, fun.  On a visual level Night Driver is seriously lacking, all you’ll really be seeing is a shit-ton of red-ish pegs whi
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Name this game (U.S. Games)

Competition games are just the worst, because you know there were so many disappointed kids out there who wasted their money on the game hoping to win the grand prize and only getting a mediocre game instead. Name This Game is one of those disappointing competition games, and like many competition games before it the competition was never completed since the company folded before it could be finished. We’re now left with a nameless game, even though it has had multiple over the years when it was
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My thoughts on the 5200

My thoughts on the 5200

The other day I referred to Sub Scan from Sega as a bad idea… That got me thinking, or well, recalling something I had been thinking of previously. By 1983 the Atari 2600 was a pretty old console by console standards, and was being faced with fierce competition from Mattel with their superior in almost every way Intellivision, Magnavox need not apply themselves to this squabble. Atari needed a console that would trounce the Intellivision and the rumored super-console from Coleco, so Atari gather
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My Favorite 2600 games (and then some)

Since I don’t normally post reviews on Mondays I decided to do something a little different. Instead of posting a review how about I put up a list of my personal favorite games on my personal favorite console the Atari 2600. These aren’t in any particular order; they are simply the games that have given me the most enjoyment during my time playing the 2600. There may be some titles that you think should be on this list, so please tell me your favorite games in the comment section. 20th Century
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My Ebook for free!

Alright so I decided to just release my Ebook for free here on the forum so here ya go. It comes in EPUB and MOBI flavors for Kindle users. 101 Reviews for the Atari the Good, the Bad, and the Weird.mobi 101 Reviews for the Atari the Good, the Bad, and the Weird.epub
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My 'not so' Brand Spankin' new Atari 800!

So… This Atari 800 computer was found in the basement of West High School in Madison WI. It was with 2 other 800’s, and 800X and a 520ST, there was also an Atari 820 printer, four 5 ½ inch floppy drives, and an Atari 850 interface. The 800X works as do all the floppy drives,the 520ST is not functioning due to an issue with the power button and likely something else,and two of the three 800”s are functioning as well, it is unknown if the 820 or 850 work since we have no idea how to hook them up
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Mr. Postman (Taiwan Cooper/ Bit Corp.)

Whoever programmed this game knocked it right out of the park since Mr. Postman is one of the most varied and interesting games I’ve ever played. When you look on the Atari Mania page for Mr. Postman you’ll see that it has been released by almost all of the cheap bootleg publishers out there, from Brazil to Australia and almost everywhere in between, this game has permeated the Atari 2600 library like a virus. I am unsure of who actually programmed this game originally, was it Bit Corp. or was i
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Mouse Trap (Coleco)

Am I the only one who still finds the fact that both Mattel and Coleco released games for the 2600 weird? I know it’s not uncommon today for publishers to release games for all available consoles, but usually the games are from third party publishers. Just imagine if Nintendo released a Mario game for the Playstation AND the Xbox, which just wouldn’t happen today. In rare cases like with Air Raiders, Mattel, who distributed their own, rather successful console, released an exclusive title on th
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Mountain King (CBS Electronics)

I’ve debated whether or not I should review this game for some time, due to its complexity, but I’ve decided that now is the time. There are advanced games for the 2600, Solaris, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Dragonstomper being excellent examples, but there is one that I think beats them all out in terms of volume, and complexity. Mountain King is one of those OG games that never seems to get talked about anymore, kinda like Miner 2049’er or the Jumpman series of games, games that were big for a
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Motorodeo (Atari)

Once upon a time, this game was rare, I mean THE rarest, I of course am referring to the fallen angel that it Motorodeo. Once it sat at a kingly R10 on the AtariAge rarity scale, now it only at a modest R5, how the great have fallen. We can thank Venezuela for this influx of new old-stock, these days you can find almost all of the Atari Red Box/label games for a modest price brand new, as long as you can stomach the shipping times. Venezuela also has a large amount of Taiwan Cooper carts which m
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Motocross Racer (Xonox)

I think it’s about time I finally review one of my favorite Xonox titles, Motocross Racer. This is the pinnacle of pre red box programming; seriously the sheer amount of game they managed to stuff into a little 8K cartridge is amazing. I don’t really have much to say about Xonox as a company, I think I’ve already said all that could be said but for those of you who haven’t heard… Xonox was a subsidiary of K-Tel a telemarketing company that sold a wide variety of products on daytime and late nigh
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