Is there a game you never really understood?

[Emehr]

If the guy I bought it from back in high school hadn't tutored me in the ways of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' I would have never known what was going on in that game. It would have been 'Raiders of What the Fark?'.

[devwebcl]

Yeah, Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Impossible to understand those years...

[tz101]

Space Shuttle.Buts that's more laziness on my part,also not patient enough to learn how to play the damn thing.When i saw the instructions for this game,i thought oh no,one of those games.But i recently started learning how to play,and guess what?its tons of FUN!One of the main reasons i love the 2600 is the ease of learning,just put game in and play.But i am now going back to those complicated games and giving them time,and its turned out to be a good change of pace from the regular shoot em ups/action games.

 

I've had Space Shuttle from its release so it was never a mystery to me. The console overlay helps a lot.

[VectorGamer]

Breakout

[schuwalker]

The box art promises action and adventure, yet the game itself was about as much fun as getting lost in Sears.

ROTFLMAO! I made that place my home for about 15 years. Seriously though, the Sears of the 70's-80's were awesome. Wouldn't mind getting lost or left overnight there

 

You can have their crappy stores now though.

 

 

 

Damn Straight!!!!! Sears back then equates to my Utopia!!!!

[Rik]

Space Shuttle.Buts that's more laziness on my part,also not patient enough to learn how to play the damn thing.When i saw the instructions for this game,i thought oh no,one of those games.But i recently started learning how to play,and guess what?its tons of FUN!One of the main reasons i love the 2600 is the ease of learning,just put game in and play.But i am now going back to those complicated games and giving them time,and its turned out to be a good change of pace from the regular shoot em ups/action games.

 

I've had Space Shuttle from its release so it was never a mystery to me. The console overlay helps a lot.

I did not get the overlays.I figure there must be pics here at AA,im going to check.But how to print them to size?anyone know how,im pretty useless at this stuff.Thanx!

[MagitekAngel]

The Swordquest series was always mind boggling to me. The box art promises action and adventure, yet the game itself was about as much fun as getting lost in Sears.

 

Speaking from experience, getting lost in a Sears is a sorry state of affairs indeed! But perhaps if one were to wander those lonely, empty aisles for long enough, it might be possible to discover a long-lost Tele-Games unit?

[tz101]

Space Shuttle.Buts that's more laziness on my part,also not patient enough to learn how to play the damn thing.When i saw the instructions for this game,i thought oh no,one of those games.But i recently started learning how to play,and guess what?its tons of FUN!One of the main reasons i love the 2600 is the ease of learning,just put game in and play.But i am now going back to those complicated games and giving them time,and its turned out to be a good change of pace from the regular shoot em ups/action games.

 

I've had Space Shuttle from its release so it was never a mystery to me. The console overlay helps a lot.

I did not get the overlays.I figure there must be pics here at AA,im going to check.But how to print them to size?anyone know how,im pretty useless at this stuff.Thanx!

 

Go to the link in my signature and look under the Atari 2600 tab off the top of the main page. There are scans of almost everything, including the Space Shuttle console overlay. Download and print it at 1:1 scale. Probably need some legal size (11" x 14") paper though. The scan is hi res-and top quality because I scanned my own for the site.

Edited March 8, 2010 by tz101

[Lonely Mountain Hermit]

The box art promises action and adventure, yet the game itself was about as much fun as getting lost in Sears.

ROTFLMAO! I made that place my home for about 15 years. Seriously though, the Sears of the 70's-80's were awesome. Wouldn't mind getting lost or left overnight there

 

You can have their crappy stores now though.

 

The Sears of the 80's was a magical place. They always had a good selection of Atari games...and Winnie the Pooh feety pajamas.

[A.J. Franzman]

The Sears of the 80's was a magical place.

True. I got hooked on Space Wars (upright version) in the Sears at the Puente Hills Mall. It was near the candy counter (long gone), optical department and photography (both still there). BTW, this is the mall that appeared as the "Twin Pines Mall" (later "Lone Pine Mall") in Back to the Future. Much of it doesn't look the same anymore, so for example, you can still easily recognize the parking area where Doc Brown first demonstrated the Delorean to Marty McFly, but it's very hard to figure out where the chase scenes with the Libyan terrorists were (the Fotomat booth of course was a fake for the movie and there never was one in the parking lot).

 

The only thing I hated about Sears was Toughskins jeans. We were poor and they were the cheapest, so they were the only brand mom would buy, and my brother and I suffered endless harassment about them.

Edited March 9, 2010 by A.J. Franzman

[Rik]

Space Shuttle.Buts that's more laziness on my part,also not patient enough to learn how to play the damn thing.When i saw the instructions for this game,i thought oh no,one of those games.But i recently started learning how to play,and guess what?its tons of FUN!One of the main reasons i love the 2600 is the ease of learning,just put game in and play.But i am now going back to those complicated games and giving them time,and its turned out to be a good change of pace from the regular shoot em ups/action games.

 

I've had Space Shuttle from its release so it was never a mystery to me. The console overlay helps a lot.

I did not get the overlays.I figure there must be pics here at AA,im going to check.But how to print them to size?anyone know how,im pretty useless at this stuff.Thanx!

 

Go to the link in my signature and look under the Atari 2600 tab off the top of the main page. There are scans of almost everything, including the Space Shuttle console overlay. Download and print it at 1:1 scale. Probably need some legal size (11" x 14") paper though. The scan is hi res-and top quality because I scanned my own for the site.

Hi,and thanx for your help,Where exactly?I went to your link,and it took me to a site called"SILVERMOONXTREME"I clicked on the ATARI tab and still couldn't find the overlays. VERY nice site BTW!!

Edited March 9, 2010 by Rik

[tz101]

Space Shuttle.Buts that's more laziness on my part,also not patient enough to learn how to play the damn thing.When i saw the instructions for this game,i thought oh no,one of those games.But i recently started learning how to play,and guess what?its tons of FUN!One of the main reasons i love the 2600 is the ease of learning,just put game in and play.But i am now going back to those complicated games and giving them time,and its turned out to be a good change of pace from the regular shoot em ups/action games.

 

I've had Space Shuttle from its release so it was never a mystery to me. The console overlay helps a lot.

I did not get the overlays.I figure there must be pics here at AA,im going to check.But how to print them to size?anyone know how,im pretty useless at this stuff.Thanx!

 

Go to the link in my signature and look under the Atari 2600 tab off the top of the main page. There are scans of almost everything, including the Space Shuttle console overlay. Download and print it at 1:1 scale. Probably need some legal size (11" x 14") paper though. The scan is hi res-and top quality because I scanned my own for the site.

Hi,and thanx for your help,Where exactly?I went to your link,and it took me to a site called"SILVERMOONXTREME"I clicked on the ATARI tab and still couldn't find the overlays. VERY nice site BTW!!

 

I posted them to Silver Moon Extreme last summer, but for some unknown reason they never got posted on the 2600 rarity guide.

 

Here are the images you need for the 2600 4-switch woody or Vader models:

 

 

[Rik]

Cool.The one that goes on the console is the one i don't have.Looks easy enough to make myself.I found the pics here at AA also.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Rik

[Pioneer4x4]

Here are the images you need for the 2600 4-switch woody or Vader models:

 

Do you have a hi-res version of the 6 switch ovelay?

[GideonsDad]

I understand Yars Revenge, I just dont like it. I have never understood Airlock or maybe Airlock just isnt playable. I have also had trouble with Crypts of Chaos, it looks fun but I just dont get it. Then again maybe I am just stupid.

 

GideonsDad

[Cliff Friedel]

The box art promises action and adventure, yet the game itself was about as much fun as getting lost in Sears.

ROTFLMAO! I made that place my home for about 15 years. Seriously though, the Sears of the 70's-80's were awesome. Wouldn't mind getting lost or left overnight there

 

You can have their crappy stores now though.

In the 70s-80s, Sears and stores like David Weis were the best. Literally they were the places that had the games, home computers, etc. before the specialty stores came out. I bought my Atari 800XL and a good pile of 2600 games at places like that. What was funny though is just how crappy things were back then. Still remember the brownish yellow or dull green appliances, the bright orange couches that were upholstered with what could only be described as burlap, and the mannequins that had countless examples of clothing you could only find in your Grandma's closet or the local Goodwill. They really did suck. With that said, people actually helped you and gave you good service. A far cry from what you get at these places today.

 

Cliff

[Skylark68]

The Swordquest series was always mind boggling to me. The box art promises action and adventure, yet the game itself was about as much fun as getting lost in Sears.

 

Someone already said it, but if it was Sears from the early '80s I loved to get lost there. Now, outside of the tool department I could care less.

 

The game that always confused me when I was a kid was Porky's. The stupid pole vault level didn't make much sense as well as the maze. I didn't understand what the goal was (I didn't see the movie until much later) and I bought the game at a garage sale with no manual. AtariAge didn't exist back then (1985 or so).

[nester]

Stellar Track has never made much sense to me. Superman use to always baffle me as well but a it turns out it's actually a pretty good game. I guess it pays to read the manual sometimes.

[Tickled_Pink]

Not having the manual, I've been too lazy to search and read up on what to do in 2600 He-Man. That game seems to go on forever and the AI on it is goofy or tricky as hell. Never even knew there was a second screen until recently and that was from looking at the back of the box! lol

 

There's a bunch of 2600 games that really require reading their instruction manuals. E.T. and Raiders obviously. Riddle of the Sphinx. Kool-Aid man maybe. He-Man's currently the most frustrating game for me right now though.

 

Hell yeah. That was another one. I owned that back in the day (bought new boxed - probably at the same time I bought Atlantis) and played it a lot but never actually figured out what I had to do in it.

[Osbo]

I never understood Adventure, and Space Shuttle is really difficult too!!

[ratfink]

Froggo's Karate I could never figure out. I mean, okay, it's karate. There's 2 guys. You play one of them. Push the red button and... am I kicking? Punching? What exactly is that mess of blocky lines doing? The controls are a wonky mess and the game seems to kind of play itself. I doubt any human on earth has played that game for more than 60 seconds.

[Osbo]

In the other hand, and totally OT, I love the simplicity of games like River Raid, Enduro, and Activision Tennis.

[Tickled_Pink]

And that's what's missing from today's games. I've been working on a version of Loopz in XNA and to make it more interesting to today's youfs we're throwing in a completely new Anime-style Avatar system seperate from the XNA avatars for player characters, adding gazzilions of game modes, loads of new features, etc ...

 

Kids these days don't know what they're missing (or missed even).

Edited March 16, 2010 by Tickled_Pink

[Osbo]

I got stuck with my PS/2 for 'modern' gaming... I tried the xbox 360 while I was waiting for my plane in the Dallas USO when I got back from Iraq, and I was like 'WTF is this?'

[Christophero Sly]

The only thing I hated about Sears was Toughskins jeans. We were poor and they were the cheapest, so they were the only brand mom would buy, and my brother and I suffered endless harassment about them.

Toughskins!

 

I had to wear them too.