Count Me A Convert!

[Count Me A Convert!]

For me, I just don't find the gameplay that fun.

 

Hunting down the phone pieces? Not fun.

 

Finding the landing zone? Not fun.

 

Collecting candy? Not fun.

 

Avoiding the baddies? Sometimes mildly fun, but not enough to make up for the rest of the gameplay.

 

It's far from the worst game ever made, as there's a big difference between a gameplay element just being not fun (as in boring) and being aggressively frustrating or stupid. But I just don't enjoy it. The core gameplay elements entertain me about about as much as making my bed or balancing my checkbook.

[Weird Yars' Revenge glitch...]

So I popped in Yars' Revenge last night and noticed something strange right off: The screen displayed my score (zero, obviously) but there was no number displayed representing my number of lives.

 

On a hunch, I deliberately killed myself several times and sure enough, the game didn't seem to be keeping track of my lives at all. I was immortal!

 

Not long after, I shot the swirl with the cannon and gained an extra life, but it was no gain in this case since the game now displayed that I had one life total and it ended on my next death. It was sure neat while it lasted, though!

 

Did this ever happen to anyone else? The game played completely normal otherwise and I wasn't "frying" or anything like that.

[Atari 2600 games that stand the test of time.]

I think an easy answer is Kaboom!. The twitch action gameplay pretty much transcends any graphic limitations.

 

 

Not only that, but the twitch action paddle control for Kaboom!, when played on the original hardware, has yet to be replicated by any game/controller combination on any other game console, classic or modern. I dare anyone to prove otherwise.

 

Definitely. I've tried it with a standard "control pad"-type setup before and it's borderline unplayable.

 

A stark reminder that emulation will never be perfect.

[Atari 2600 games that stand the test of time.]

I can't think of a single game that was good then and isn't now.

 

I agree for the most part...BUT...

 

I used to be able to play some of these games for hours back in the day. Now I fly through a stack of games in an hour...usually playing no more than one game...sometimes just one life.

 

Fun, yes...but they don't hold my attention like they used to. I've moved on to bigger and arguably better games.

 

You know it's funny, but I almost never play any game for more than half an hour these days. I've even whittled my PS2 collection down to things that can be played in short spurts, like fighting games.

 

Maybe it's a getting older thing? I dunno.

[Atari 2600 games that stand the test of time.]

Well after pulling out my Atari after a number of years I have to admit there are alot of terrible games for the 2600.

 

But I figured we could make a list of Atari 2600 games that after all these years are still fun to play.

 

 

1)Pitfall

2)RiverRaid

 

and Im going to throw in

 

3)Hangman (for my 7 yr old daughter she enjoys this game alot and we end up playing it as a family all working together to guess the word)

 

I can't think of a single game that was good then and isn't now. I'm not even sure how such a thing as a fun game becoming unfun can happen.

[Most disappointing game you got as a child]

I was really disappointed in Pac-Man. Some of the other games that most people were disappointed in I actually liked better than the arcade version (at least at the time). When you suck at arcade Donkey Kong, Defender, and Asteroids, but kick ass at the Atari versions, you tend to like the latter

 

This is actually why I like Defender for 2600 so much. Sure, my smart bombs are less useful, but at least I can last more than a few seconds.

[What fun games am I missing?]

Indy 500 seems like a fun head-to-head racer (never played it though!) w/ unique controllers.

Keystone Kapers

Haunted House

Dodg'Em

Mouse Trap

Dolphin, one of my all-time favorites! (cuz I can beat it)

H.E.R.O. (a must have)

 

How could I forget H.E.R.O. and Haunted House? I'll get those for sure.

[What fun games am I missing?]

A lot of people say Kaboom is the ultimate paddle game but for me, that crown goes to Circus Atari. A must have IMO.

 

That's the teeter-totter one, right? I'll look into it.

[What fun games am I missing?]

I'm not much of a collector, but I do play a lot for fun. Here's a list of what I have. If you could recommend some favorite games of yours that I'm missing and why they're worth hunting down, I'd really appreciate it.

 

Adventure

Asteroids

Atlantis

Battlezone

Beamrider

Berzerk

Boxing

Breakout

Burgertime

Carnival

Centipede

Chopper Command

Combat

Cosmic Ark

Crackpots

Crystal Castles

Defender

Defender 2 (Stargate)

Demon Attack

Dig Dug

Donkey Kong

The Empire Strikes Back

Enduro

Frogger

Frogs and Flies

Frostbite

Galaxian

Joust

Jr. Pac-Man

Jungle Hunt

Kaboom

Kangaroo

Laser Blast

Maze Craze

Millipede

Missile Command

Montezuma's Revenge

Moon Patrol

Moonsweeper

Mountain King

Ms. Pac-Man

Mr. Do

Pac-Man

Mario Bros.

Megamania

Pengo

Pitfall

Pitfall 2

Phoenix

Pole Position

Popeye

River Raid

Seaquest

Space Invaders

Spiderman

Starmaster

Super Breakout

Tapper

Q*Bert

Vanguard

Venture

Video Olympics

Warlords

Wizard of Wor

Yars' Revenge

[Most disappointing game you got as a child]

Swordquest: Earthworld here, too! So terrible.

 

Maybe I'm just lucky, but that's the only one I can remember being disappointed in. I actually liked Pac-Man. Maybe because I was just a little kid at the time. I still think it's an okay maze chase game today, although the other Pac offerings for 2600 are obviously superior.

[Most underrated games for the 2600]

I'm also going to say Joust. I think it was ever better than the original, as the constantly moving/floating eggs made the "egg waves" much more fun.

[Most underrated games for the 2600]

I had an incredible amount of fun exploring Mountain King. Great use of sound as a gameplay element, too. Was that a first?

[What happens when this generation is finished?]

I was born a year after the VCS (1978). I guess I'm pretty young still. I plan to be around for a while.

[A couple questions from a newcomer.]

Remember too that some of the more complicated games, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters used the difficulty switches for acutal gameplay, such as the switches allowing you to leave the store in Ghostbusters.

 

Those patches might be somewhat hard to find, though. Like Phuzzed, I've occasionally seen one on ebay.

 

One thing you might find interesting since returning to the classic systems is the HUGE homebrew scene, especially for the 2600. There are TONS of great homebrewed games out there, all in authentic 2600 plastic cartridges, and most with nicely illustrated stickers on them.

 

Tell me about it! I am already hooked on Space Treat Deluxe!

[A couple questions from a newcomer.]

Hello, all.

 

I'm 30 year-old man and some of my first memories were of my first gaming system: The 2600 I owned from 1980-1983.

 

So I recently went online and bought a replacement for that long-lost woodgrain wonder. Needless to say, I've felt no need to consider blowing cash on PS3s and X-Box 360s since!

 

I'm having great fun so far, but here are my questions:

 

1. What's the deal with the a/b difficulty switch? Is there one setting that is considered the default for serious players?

 

2. My proudest accomplishment at six years of age was earning Activision's "Cliff Hangers" patch for Pitfall 2. Does anybody know where I can find one of those now?

 

Thanks, everyone, from a previously-fallen twenty-something who forgot how good it could be.