sloth-machine

You are asking a bit much out the the humble 2600. Skeleton+ has you covered. It's a great maze game that gets tense, especially when you hear skeletons nearby and you are playing the hardest difficulty. The 2600 port of Ghostbusters is a favorite of mine and the best port of the Commodore 64 version (next to the master system). Skip the 2600 for Halloween themed games? I wouldn't go that far. Lots of games put me in the right spirit. Berzerk (perused by robots in dark rooms), Dark Chambers, Xenophobe, etc. I also like to play ET around this time of year, mainly because the film takes place during the Halloween season.

Both ends of a double ender at the same time...sounds like we are walking into fetish territory here

I like the 2600 port of Roc N' Rope. one of the better Coleco conversions in my opinion. I never noticed the speed differences, i'll have to check that out.

It was request by myself just recently, and CDS Games (topic creator) is the one that did it. Here is the thread link: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241901-possible-to-make-a-dark-chambers-speed-hack/ The possible problems of hacking it are discussed, but it seems to work great.

Never knew this, that's awesome. I love Dark Chambers, especially with that speed hack. I play it co op with my young son.

What the hell is up with it? It came out at the beginning of plug n play consoles, I remember it sold for 20 or 25 bucks. It was sold as a novelty right when retro gaming was becoming mainstream, a few years after the excellent Namco Museum games in the late 90s. All the games are reprogrammed replicas. It was a cute and shoddy licensed product back then for casual nostalgia. That is until the nostalgia wore off and people caught on that it wasn't authentic and you could buy a real Atari for just a little bit more.

With the Vader you can relax in style and comfort. With it's all new black casing, your grandfather's smoking jacket is not required.

I think the 2600 Epyx games are great.

I would be awesome to have a cart version and a rom version, both for purchase. I need a rom image for my Harmony Cart.

No, I meant calling 'Battlezone' terrible is trolling. There are games that definitely deserve terrible status.

Thank you for your work, this is great I tested it and there seems to be no problems. It makes all the difference. *runs off smiling to play*

It's ok not to like the game. But calling it 'terrible' is straight up trolling. The game is very well programmed and uses the strengths of the hardware. The game has a very impressive 3D environment where you can dodge shots and see them pass right by you in first person. Also enemy fire comes from all direction. It can get quite intense unlike the peekaboo gameplay of Robot Tank, but I can understand how it's not for everyone. It's personally one of my favorites. Battlezone is up there with Yars, Pitfall, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Missile Command.

It's good to see there will be a young generation out there having nostalgic and comforting memories of the 2600 instead of most kids who won't even touch it without sarcastically calling it a videogame from 1920. I just had a co-op play of Dark Chambers yesterday with my son. The game is lot of fun with 2 players. btw, looking at that pic, I think there is a ghost in your room.

You're right, but I meant personal use Multicarts such as Harmony.

"Multicart" & "I don't want to infringe on any copyright laws" in the same sentence? That is like saying I want to take a shower but don't want to get wet

Yep, nailed it. Very powerful and abrasive sound effect. That and 2600 Venture sounds always stuck in my head the most through childhood. But really, too many to list. The 2600 sounds are just awesome. Nothing like it.

It's amazing that games are still being unearthed and people get to experience them. A brand new 30 year old game I am all for homebrew, but there is just something very different and much more interesting about the games actually made at that time period. No modern tools, forum feedback, emulators, etc. Just instinctual, raw programming. I hope some kind of release agreement is made soon, I really look forward to trying this one out. I love Donkey Kong style games and the Noah's ark theme seems quite charming even though I am in no way religious.

Yep, that's the BIG flaw. The 2600 Star Raider galactic map has NO strategy... based on a game that is nothing but strategy. Here, the starbase cannot be saved, hyperwarp or no hyperwarp. Just one fleet (why?) that cannot be stopped, and only destroyed AFTER your starbase is gone, also makes the keypad pointless. That was pretty bad...BUT, it made for some nice visual flair. It did help enhance the 'feeling' of controlling a starship back then for those who only had a 2600. Switching to the map and kicking it into hyperwarp like I was in Star Trek was amusing. I had no way of convincing my parents to get a computer back then since I was really young, so this game did it's job. Even though it was just a glorified Star Voyager.

My main complaint with Starmaster is the same with Robot Tank. If an enemy is away from your field of vision, they do not exist. At least Star Raiders on the 2600 had full 360 combat making the dogfights much more intense. This is the sole reason I don't like either Starmaster or Robot Tank, totally kills the gameplay for me making for dull combat, give me 2600 Battlezone instead of Robot Tank. Star Raiders on the 2600 is not that bad, I had fun with it. It's fitting for a 2600 console port.

A topic dating back to 2006, let me respond with a meme from 2006.

True, but Howard definitely earned those 2 properties by hitting one out of the park for Atari with Yars'. He was given the Raiders project, and it was pretty innovative for it's time. Then Speilberg requested Howard for E.T because of his work with Raiders. Also in my opinion, Howard proved he was not a one trick pony in making Yars' with Saboteur (if only the game saw the light of day back then). For a time when no baselines were set for game design, he had some very forward thinking ideas, just like Warren Robinett.

I actually like Tomarc. The platforming and jumping is so unconventional, yet I find the game enjoyable. Maybe it's the D&D fantasy setting, and the 'Adventure-ness' of finding a sword that dpesn't really look like a sword.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard Atari was trying to tighten up their quality control at this point and starting testing games with select audiences before release. These were the games that did not go over well with a testing audience, so they used them as Atari Club exclusives. However, I personally love all these games, especially Gravitar, glad it finally got a wide release later.

I'm in your shoes. I have 3 boys. 6, 3 and 1. The 6 and 3 year old are home schooled. My six year old plays my Atari on the weekends (limited game time to keep his imagination strong), and he loves it. I have a high score sheet for his favorites, but he just likes to play, and doesn't care so much about the scores. Pixelated graphics are the hot thing with minecraft but it's cool that my son know the true definition of pixelation with Atari

I disagree completely, but that's just me. I never cared for the stock controllers until the flashback ones. I still have several original CX-40's ranging from like new condition to the broken in ones I grew up with. They are too stiff with little leeway, only thing going for them is the rubber grip. I've used Flashback controllers for years and they still result in better scores due to the smoothness of the joystick. Never had one break, or even unscrew unless I forcefully unscrew. How hard do people play?