kencrisis

No, the real big difference is that there are TWO bombers instead of one. Definitely the most hectic and challenging game of the collection.

When you can routinely find a copy of one of the best 2600 games ever on Ebay for 99 cents, you really are a shameful admitter. Click Buy Now for godssakes!

After working in the music industry for a few years, I rode the wave of the Internet boom as a tech/marketing writer. To some, it may sound like the best job in the world: I made over $100K in one year and only really worked about 5 months, mostly from home. I did this for a few years and made a lot of money, but found my soul being crushed by meeting after meeting with VP/marketing-type people who were dumb as $h!t and reminded me constantly of the jock bullies I loathed in high school and the frat boy rapists I knew in college. It was high stress without any reward besides the money -- which I've always been a little ambivalent about (to a certain degree). I couldn't really take vacations with my time off because I was always hunting for the next gig. So I decided to chuck it all and look for non-profit work. Luckily I made that decision before the bottom fell out of the Web "industry." I now am the lead coder/info designer/editor for an HIV/AIDS information organization and I've never been happier making my lousy $30K/year. I work all the time, but I work with amazingly intelligent funny people -- and I get to work from home 100% of the time. There's a real peace to be found in knowing everything you do only does good in the world, rather than selling crap made by evil companies to other evil companies or unsuspecting consumer victims.

Thanks for your story. These memories posts are invaluable to my Atari experience, as they inevitably bring up new memories of my own. Now I remember a trip a friend took me on with his family and another couple's family to a cabin in Cresline, CA. After a long first day of hiking and sledding, we played a few hours of Missile Command (I was SO impressed that this family had a 2600 in their cabin!). We had bunkbeds, I was on top. Late one night I fell out of the bed and screamed holy hell. One of the mothers took me to the kitchen and rocked me to sleep. When I got drowsy, I remember one of the fathers coming in and asking if I was "out." I was drowsily faking sleep, so they determined they could resume whatever they were doing. As I was carried back to bed, I got a peek at what they were doing. It was definitely a session of Custer's on the 2600. I was so horrified and in my little-kid mind equated these people with swinging, porn, and all things evil. Very scared of them, I became pretty quiet the rest of trip -- determined to quietly ride it out and get home safely. I pretty much dropped my friend after that, seeing him and his whole family as being just a shade shy of antichrist. Which of course is too bad. They were just normal '70s folks having a barely randy good time.

I know compared to all of you, it's kind of lame, but with only 60 carts, I'm very proud of my Defender II w/ box + literature and my Off the Wall loose cart.

I'm in the middle ground. I play it for nostalgia's sake; it really brings back memories of summer vacations, sleep overs, Xmas, etc. That makes me like it. However, I don't really enjoy the actual play of it.

Dustcover #1 is definitely for the 4-switch (I have one). It won't fit the sixer.

Super Breakout Starfire Galaxian Seaquest

I brought this topic up with my wife tonight and we ended up with a great soundtrack for our Atari-playing tonight. Requirements were nostalgia, game-play conducive, and a good beat. We chose Kraftwerk's "Computerworld" and Parliament's "Mothership Connection." Both on vinyl of course (ahem).

My guilty pleasure is a re-enactment of my typical childhood afternoon, which I've done twice now. I put together a lunch of PBJ, Cheetos and Chocolate Milk and played "one-person Combat." Just sat there by myself and racked up points shooting the other tank.

I didn't notice it at all. In '83 I was a freshman/sophomore in high school and my attention was totally focused on girls, music (and the new MTV) and finding someone to buy us beer. The Atari was played often, but only as kind of a lazy-trashy activity. I don't think we bought any new games -- just used the 30 or so we had.

Ice Hockey is number one. Definitely try to find someone to play 2-player with you -- heated action and competition!

I've wanted to say for a while how much I appreciate the level of discussion on this forum. I've abandoned many forums on many subjects because of their juvenile responses, in-fighting, rants and mismanagement. AA amazes me. Old timers are so friendly about answering the same newbie question for the umpteenth time without a hint of sarcasm. Arguments and disagreements are generally friendly and intelligently discussed. Off-the-track side comments are usually actually funny and don't usually side-track the main discussion. I don't see a lot of this in other forums.

That brings up a good point that probably warrants a new thread, but I'll just do it here. With the lure of TV programs, it was hard to just play Atari all day on summer vacations. Who here had a regular summer TV/Atari schedule? I sure did in 1979 and the first few years of the 1980s: 9:30 - 9:45 am: Wake up and play Vanguard until ... 10 am: Love Boat re-run with breakfast (Coco Pebbles, Thomas' English Muffin with Boysenberry Jelly, Sunny Delight, more Coco Pebbles) 11 am - 12 pm: Serious Atari playing with my brothers. Hardcore competition with fights, tantrums, cheating (my older brother would routinely "accidently" hit the power or reset switches when he was losing. Games: Bump'N'Jump, Demon Attack, Warlords, Combat. Soundtrack: KISS, Doors, Styx, Walsh, Zepplin. 12 - 1 pm: Two episodes of Tighlight Zone. I demanded this one, it was my fave. 1 - 2 pm: Wild Wild West would be intermittently viewed while Atari was being played, more or less depending on how often we'd seen the re-run. Playing Adventure was popular at this time of day and often interfered with a WWW plot that someone wanted to get back to (more fights). 2 pm: At this point, my jock brothers would go out to shoot baskets or do some other sporty thing. I would have the game room all to myself until 5pm or so and play Atari, shoot pool, make models. (I was a relatively home-bound, inactive kid -- but the irony is that both my brothers are now fat and inactive while I am thin and a regular exerciser.) 3 pm: Cartoons/Atari. 3:30 pm: The ABC 3:30 Afternoon Movie. Often horror movies, depending on interest, would be broken up with lots of Atari. Maybe some more cartoons and "POW." For some reason Missile Command was always an "afternoon game" for me. I don't know why, but after dinner I don't think we played much Atari unless we had friends over. Probably there was too much TV to get in before bedtime. What with CHiPs, Battlestar Galactica, and all the other great shows on, time was tight.

I remember playing Circus Atari all day at a rich friend's house in 1978 or '79. KISS was the only thing on the turntable for about 6 or 7 hours -- although I think we might have snuck in a play of Aqualung (we always thought it was so funny when the "snot running down his nose" line came). I never owned any KISS albums when I was a kid (parents wouldn't allow it), but since I got my new/old 2600 it's inspired me to pick up a lot of old KISS vinyl.

I think it'll depend on how enjoyable a game is and how long the production run. For instance, I could see Star Fire being extremely valuable because it's one of the best 2600 ever made, but since it's so great, I really can see it being produced for many years to come.

I just picked up Galaxian recently and have really been enjoying it.

... and I really shoud add that using the trackball makes your moves in the games FEEL faster.

No, not faster. All 2600 games work in "Joystick mode" with the trackball. However, once you get used to it, you will find that your C.pede and M.pede scores will be higher using the trackball, and you will enjoy the games more because of the "arcade-style" experience. Well worth it, in my opinion.

I'm proud (hmm... maybe ashamed?) to say that I have 7 out of 10 of those items on that list in my apartment.

I've been giving Off The Wall a lot of play lately, but only to try to figure out why people like this game. So far it eludes me. Maybe I'm too big a fan of Breakout/Super Breakout. Maybe I'm too impatient to wait what seems like forever for the next ball to come out. But for some reason, no matter how much I've been not enjoying this game, I keep trying to "find the love." So far, it seems chaotic and when I try to do the same thing twice I get different results. Can you help me? Can you explain to me what is enjoyable about this game? Are there strategies to the play that I'm missing?