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The Greatest System Ever


snakes3425

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Of all the consoles I own, I have to say the Atari VCS/2600 is probably the greatest console ever made, not because of it's game library, or even it's legacy, but because of it's life span: 14 years on the market, a feat which has yet to be equaled. when you think about it people were still buying Atari 2600s and 2600 games at the height of the NES fad, and when the SNES and Sega Genesis were starting to capture the eyes of consumers. Not bad for a console that began it's life in the 1970s

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And this is what I don't understand is how Nolan Bushnell thinks the 2600 is a piece of garbage (reference the article I posted in the Classic Gaming forum recently).

 

There's lot to be proud of. The longest production run of any computer in history, they're built like tanks and it remains an iconic and historically significant console in the history of video gaming. I argue that IGN's recent top 25 consoles of all time should reverse the #1 and #2 positions making the VCS #1 and NES #2 - one started the craze and the other resurrected it.

 

(To clarify, I don't expect IGN to go back and reverse the positions, I'm just saying that IMHO the number 1 and 2 belongs to VCS and NES respectively).

 

Who knows if Bushnell lurks here and has checked out the home brews still being written like Juno First and Medieval Mayhem that continue to push the limits of this system. Maybe he doesn't even care.

 

Yes, there were hardware constraints only because of the associated costs. They needed to keep the cost of the console in check and let's face it if they didn't it would've altered the history of video gaming as we know it.

 

The most influential console EVER, definitely deserves more respect.

Edited by rmaerz
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I totally agree with you guys, I love my 2600. I saw The Gadget Show had the 2600 compared to the Wii and the points brought up by both defenders are quite compelling.

I would like to pose one question to fellow 2600 lovers. Isn't calling it the greatest system ever like calling the Ford Model-T the greatest car ever? I mean, it was the first (successful) one and paved the way for the others that followed it. But is it fair to say the original machine is the greatest when really it initiated how everything else that is being compared to it went?

And for the purists out there yes I know the Odyssey and the Fairchild Channel F came before the 2600. That's why I use the Ford example. The Model T was not the first one, the Model A was, but the T was a huge success and generally considered the mold that others followed.

 

As I sit back and wait for car enthusiasts to destroy my argument, let me once again emphasize that I do think the 2600 is the greatest system ever.

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The VCS/2600 is the greatest system ever for all the previously mentioned reasons.

 

Now let me comment on the "built like tanks" bit.

Picture if you will, an innocent 4 switch sitting on the cocktail table.

 

I am enjoying a game of "Pitfall" (and who doesn't?), no wife, no kids (they're out shopping). Just me and my old buddy having some quality time.

In the background I can hear the thundering of paws coming across the house...

As I look over my shoulder, here comes the world's smallest cat(unofficially, but she's almost a year old and only weighs 1.5lbs)

being chased by my pack of hooligans. The hooligans are a boxer, a basset, and a lab puppy. The cat jumps up on the table to escape, followed very closely by the boxer (9 months-78lbs)who lands straight onto the console, then the lab (5 months-48lbs+/-)who lands next to the console and kicks it smooth off the table, onto the floor to be drooled on by the basset... :o

 

Through all of this, it stays powered on and survives.Very little damage, aside from the shiny new cracks in the top of the case. The cocktail table is worse for wear...go figure!

Edited by jsmith73
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Cute story jsmith73! Sounds like you've got waaaay too many pets over there though. And children too? Surprised everything you own isn't ruined yet ;-) lol

There are days.... :mad:

;-)

I wouldn't trade my wife or step-daughters for the world. The zoo however...Well maybe not the boxer I paid for him! :P

After that incident the collection was moved into the back bedroom where it's safer. I'm glad my youngest likes to play the old games too, otherwise I'd be lonely... :grin:

I had to threaten her with grounding from "the Ataris" (her name encompassing various platforms)if she didn't bring her grades up...

(that was when I realized I had become my father) :lolblue:

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Funny story -- my parents have two boxers, and those are the best dogs ever. I doubt many systems could surive the damage of a (in my folks case) a 80 and 60 pound pair of dogs landing right on them! :)

 

And I would certinaly rank the 2600 as the second greatest system, with the NES 1st and probaly the PlayStation 3rd (cause of what it did).

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Funny story -- my parents have two boxers, and those are the best dogs ever. I doubt many systems could surive the damage of a (in my folks case) a 80 and 60 pound pair of dogs landing right on them! :)

 

And I would certinaly rank the 2600 as the second greatest system, with the NES 1st and probaly the PlayStation 3rd (cause of what it did).

 

I agree those are the probably the top 3, I'd just switch the 2600 and NES. IMO even having the NES at 2nd is a compliment given the failure rate of the consoles.

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Ok, I am actually rather new to Atari, being I got my first console a few months ago: now have 6 units, and WAAAY too many games, as well as other assorted random stuff, and honestly, I just genuinely enjoy it. It is fun to look back and see and play Combat, to go to Video Olympics and see all the crazyness that pong evolved into in that game, and then see all the many random games, some good, some bad, some horrible, that populated the market for those years before I was born.

 

Then came 85.. the year I would come into the world, and the same year the NES hit in. It was "my" original console, a few years later. I would later get a Genesis, SNES, PS1, PS2, and.. well actually thats it outside of game boy, game gear, a PSP and the like. Yeah, I grew up with the bitwars and the 3D revolution.

 

Funny thing is, I hate the newer systems: well, more correctly, the games. Even on the PS1 and PS2, the games still had a feel that matched the arcade classics of the early 80's, and by nature, the home games of that era: in best example the 2600.

 

To think that in 1992 when I was introduced to the Genesis, that this machine was finally let rest, it really puts perspective on gaming as a whole. To think that today, people are STILL making software for it: to think that I play it every day, while my PS2's literally collect dust, and while I spend a good stash of money on games for it, when I could go get a PS3 or a Wii: I think it say alot about the machine and its games.

 

While the 360 has a 100% failure rate (face it, it WILL die on you. you WILL have to have it sent in), I have 6 consoles all in various working orders (only one that MAY be DOA, but I have to open it up and check it out), that says alot. Sure, the NES, Genesis, Master System, and other cart based units have similar longevity (depending on some things, anyway: orginal NES's we all know the woes of), a machine made in 1985 is still 8 years younger than an original heavy sixer.

 

I would consider the Genesis and the PS2 my fave consoles of my time: they are the ones I had the most fun with, and have the best memories associated with: heck, its been 9, almost 10 years since the PS2 was released and it is STILL getting a nice stream of games in: just got DDRX2 last night, and am waiting on a new game release in January. The Atari 2600 had 12 years of solid life, and actually SURVIVED the video game crash, unlike every other machine out there at the time.

 

There ya go, my thoughts on the whole thing. I would go along with the crowed to say it is the best ever. Why? Not because it was the first, no, but because it is about to be 2010, and it is STILL going strong. It survived what amounted to an apocalypse for its world, and kept on going. It outdid its own successor machine, and helped many of the companies we know and love today get their start. It helped set the ball in motion for all we have had, and will have.

 

An earlier poster made a model T comparison: I don't think people are saying just BECAUSE it was the first that it was the best: the 2600 wasn't the first home video game, but in a way the model T was not the first car. It was the fact that it extended WELL beyond it's means and made more of an impact than its creators could or would ever realize. The model T did what it was supposed to do: start up an industry in machines designed to transport people and goods (seriously, that is pretty much what ford wanted to do: why else would it be one of the testbed products for the assembly line concept? :D ) No, its just a matter of the 2600 being able to survive, both literally and figuratively, beyond anything anyone could have anticipated, and CONSTANTLY making an impact along the way, even today.

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There ya go, my thoughts on the whole thing. I would go along with the crowed to say it is the best ever. Why? Not because it was the first, no, but because it is about to be 2010, and it is STILL going strong. It survived what amounted to an apocalypse for its world, and kept on going. It outdid its own successor machine, and helped many of the companies we know and love today get their start. It helped set the ball in motion for all we have had, and will have.

 

An earlier poster made a model T comparison: I don't think people are saying just BECAUSE it was the first that it was the best: the 2600 wasn't the first home video game, but in a way the model T was not the first car. It was the fact that it extended WELL beyond it's means and made more of an impact than its creators could or would ever realize. The model T did what it was supposed to do: start up an industry in machines designed to transport people and goods (seriously, that is pretty much what ford wanted to do: why else would it be one of the testbed products for the assembly line concept? :D ) No, its just a matter of the 2600 being able to survive, both literally and figuratively, beyond anything anyone could have anticipated, and CONSTANTLY making an impact along the way, even today.

Well said. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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I totally agree with you guys, I love my 2600. I saw The Gadget Show had the 2600 compared to the Wii and the points brought up by both defenders are quite compelling.

I would like to pose one question to fellow 2600 lovers. Isn't calling it the greatest system ever like calling the Ford Model-T the greatest car ever? I mean, it was the first (successful) one and paved the way for the others that followed it. But is it fair to say the original machine is the greatest when really it initiated how everything else that is being compared to it went?

And for the purists out there yes I know the Odyssey and the Fairchild Channel F came before the 2600. That's why I use the Ford example. The Model T was not the first one, the Model A was, but the T was a huge success and generally considered the mold that others followed.

 

As I sit back and wait for car enthusiasts to destroy my argument, let me once again emphasize that I do think the 2600 is the greatest system ever.

Actually, the Model T came before the Model A. Fords first was the quadricycle. But yeah, the 2600 did pave the way.

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Actually, there were 2 model A cars made by Ford. One of them came before the model T, and the other one came after the model T.

 

Well, the Channel F and that other system were a few months before the 2600, but look at how they lasted" It's a similar situation, just in this case it is not various machines from the same company.

 

Just a thought, no flaming or anything either way. :D

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Of all the consoles I own, I have to say the Atari VCS/2600 is probably the greatest console ever made, not because of it's game library, or even it's legacy, but because of it's life span: 14 years on the market, a feat which has yet to be equaled. when you think about it people were still buying Atari 2600s and 2600 games at the height of the NES fad, and when the SNES and Sega Genesis were starting to capture the eyes of consumers. Not bad for a console that began it's life in the 1970s

 

 

The GREATEST console ever............. :) :thumbsup:

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I agree. The 2600 definitely gets all time best system in my heart.

The NES may have resurrected the gaming industry, I may be a hardcore INTV collector, the SNES may have defined a new era in bit wars, the playstation may have brought fourth open worlds to roam.. but when it comes down to it, there is no system I enjoy more.

 

I love the SNES and the INTV, but I grew up with the 2600, it was my first system.

There are classics on it that cannot be matched, like Phoenix, Atlantis, Megamania, Pitfall..

 

When I got my PSP (mainly for emulation of course) I was so bummed I could not get StellaPSP to work.. but now I have StellaDS up and running on my DSL and it ROCKS!

 

Lots of memories with the other systems.. endless nights playing Megaman 2, Super Mario 3, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, Rockband, whatever.. but nothing can outdo the memories of playing the ol' VCS on the woodgrain magnavox TV ;)

Edited by jeremysart
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No, no, you have it all wrong: The Virtual Boy is the 2nd greatest console, not the NES!

I love my VCS, even though I don't play it every day, it still has the most # of games in my collection by far (mostly because they were cheap, but now I'm getting into the more expensive R5s and stuff because i have all the R1-R4s.)

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