PitfallHarry77

Thank you for the suggestions. I was aware of some of the good ones like Defender Arcade and Bezerk VE but I will give others like WOW Arena, Exidy's Circus, Haunted House Adventure hacks and Gauntlet a go. Thanks also to Ventrra for posting a PAL version of Ventrra Invaders as most of the hacks I can only play on an emulator over here. It now has the correct colours for the ship and scoring on my Atari 2600 Jr. so I am busy making sure I get past the Megamania patch score of 45 000 points. It is great fun and much more satisfying shooting aliens! Arenafoot's long list is testament to the quality hacks that are out there so maybe I should have made it a top 20 list of the best hacks to do justice to the subject. It would be interesting to know what people think is the best hack of the lot.

Thank you for the advice. Yes, I have used the difficulty switch which shifts between the 50/60Hz but the colours stay the same. It still plays but doesn't look anything like as cool as the NTSC colours. I can play with the correct colours on the Activision Anthology but wanted to do the same on my Atari. I did a google image search of Oystron and no images came up that matched what I am getting. If I buy the Pal cart in the Atariage store, does anyone have a screenshot of what it will look like?

I agree with the comment about Nukey Shay's Pacman hacks as I should have included them. I love the pace of them and they sound good too. Nukey Shay's work is excellent and as someone who has fairly recently got back into Atari, it is amazing to see what people are doing with technology that is 40 years old.

Medieval Mayhem is one of the best 4 player games ever in my opinion as it improves on one of the best games in Warlords. If you want to show today's generation the joys of Atari it is a good choice. They absolutely love it! Timeless stuff! Intellivision Lives is a hack of Megamania where the sprites have been changed to Pitfall crocodiles, PAC-MAN ghosts, space invader aliens and Bezerk robots. The name threw me a little to begin with but it is a really good version of Megamania. More Adventure is a good thing in my book so Adventure hacks would rate highly. It is ironic that we are now spoilt for choice with Pacman after the much maligned original. The Atari 2600 is now my favourite platform to play Pacman, including Nukey Shay's 8K version. Are there any great hacks that I am missing?

I think the best hacks where they have improved on the originals tend to be the space invader type games. As good as Space Invaders is, it is even better with the original arcade sprites. Galaxian is a great game that had one issue which is resolved by removing the border. Finally, Megamania is even more fun shooting aliens rather than obscure objects. Therefore, my top 5 hacks are: 1- Space Invaders Invasion by Scott Dayton 2- Galaxian ND 3 - Arcade Space Invaders by Franklin Cruz 4 - Intellivision Lives by Scott Dayton 5 - Ventrra Invaders by Charles Morgan Unfortunately, I can only play these on Stella as there don't seem to be any PAL versions available. If the people that programmed these hacks or one of the other many talented people on here could help with this it would be greatly appreciated. If a PAL version of these could be made available in the store, that would also be great. What are everyone else's favourite hacks??

I really like the Homebrew Oystron but can't get the rom to run with the correct colours for PAL. It says that it supports both but I can only get it to work so that the colours are predominantly pink which looks quite different to the original NTSC version. I would like to buy a PAL cart but was wondering if I ordered one whether the pink background and green rocks would be what I get or something closer to the NTSC version (which looks great). Does anyone have a PAL cart of Oystron to confirm this??

I really like Spider Fighter and my 4 year old son loves it too. Some criticise it because it is too easy and it probably is in the early stages (which is why my 4 year old also enjoys it). It does, however, ramp up quickly and it isn't too easy when you are going for 40 000 points to get a patch. It gets insanely fast. In contrast, I think Thrust+ is one of the best games on the Atari VCS and the fact it is difficult is part of the appeal. The control is very precise and it is very rewarding when you get a little bit further. This was clearly made by someone who knows what makes a game great!!

The following games are in order for what I think are the best arcade games. There are lots of great ones and I tried not to include homebrews: Frogger Official Version Ms Pacman Stargate Missile Command Warlords Frogger Space Invaders Battlezone Dig Dug Galaxian Joust Indy 500 Spy Hunter Jr Pacman Pole Position Phoenix Millipede Pong Centipede Berzerk Jungle Hunt Super Breakout Q-Bert Tapper Moon Patrol Pengo Gravitar Klax Sprintmaster Mario Bros Crystal Castles Popeye Wizard of Wor Donkey Kong Vanguard Mouse Trap Mr Do Star Wars Arcade Gyrus Time Pilot Lock n Chase

I am a really big Megamania fan. I think it requires really precise shooting and is very addictive when going for a high score. The hacks that are available on here make an already great game amazing by changing the sprites to look like space invaders. Unfortunately, I have a PAL system so can't get them to work with the correct colours. If one of the very talented people on here could have a look at them I would be eternally grateful. Megamania Hacks Space Invaders Invasion by Scott Dayton Space Invaders Invasion Black by Scott Dayton Intellivision Lives by Scott Dayton Ventrra Invaders by Charles Morgan Megamania Raid by Thiago And a Space Invader and Galaxian Hack Arcade Space Invaders by Franklin Cruz (Atari 2600 version with more accurate sprites) Galaxian ND (original Galaxian with the borders removed) These games would be fantastic in PAL60 and I for one would be very happy. I wish they were available as a cart.

I agree that H.E.R.O. is one of the best games for the 2600 as it is far more complex than most games, it controls well and has great replay value (moves fast as well). I think the Video Game Critic gets most of his reviews spot on but I think that, of the Activision titles, he is a bit harsh on H.E.R.O., Megamania and Spiderfighter. He criticises how H.E.R.O controls and says that it isn't 'fun enough' to be a classic. I couldn't disagree more. Anyway, I started playing H.E.R.O. after watching one of your videos so thanks for that.

1. Hero 2. Warlords 3. Adventure 4. Video Olympics 5. Ms Pacman 6. River Raid 7. Megamania 8. Kaboom 9. Pitfall 10. Stargate I found this really difficult as my list is still missing greats such as Frostbite, Enduro, Spiderfighter and Missile Command Supercharger 1. Frogger: The Official Version (best arcade port on the 2600? 2. Communist Mutants From Space 3. Phaser Patrol 4. Fireball 5. Dragonstomper Homebrew 1. Pacman 8k Dintar816 version 2. Space Rocks 3. Medieval Mayhem 4. Chetiry 5. Thrust+ There are so many good homebrew games and titles such as Juno First, Halo 2600 and Toyshop Trouble really also need to go in somewhere but don't fit with just 5 places.

Very tough to choose but I would go with the following: H.E.R.O. Medieval Mayhem Thrust+ Platinum Pacman 8k Dintar816 version Spacerocks Juno First Adventure Frogger (Official Version) Ms Pacman Pitfall