What is your very fondest Atari 2600 memory?

[t.skid]

I received my Darth Vader VCS in 1984, for my birthday; it was used, and my Granpa bought it from a friend of mine, with some games. It was a dream!! I waited for that moment for two years, reading the first (and the only) videogame magazine.

 

Then, Xmas of the same year, I got Crystal Castles, and I still have beautiful memories about the Xmas holiday, spent playing with all my games: Mario Bros, CC, Yars, Haunted House, Ms Pac Man (also my Granpa played with it!).

 

Beautiful times

[JFD62780]

...whether it be from 25 years ago or 25 minutes ago - what's your fondest Atari memory?

 

2, actually. The first was way back in the early '90's ('91, I guess), when I bought a 4-switch woodgrain Atari VCS for a dollar. It had the console, an AC adapter, three games (Ms. Pac Man, silver label; Combat and Space Invaders, both black labels), but no joysticks or RF adapters! Fortunately, I made do with little experiments. I directly touched the RF plug to the connections, just to see if I could get a picture. I finally saw what Combat, Ms. Pac-Man and Space Invaders looked like from the 2600 point of view. It was just for fun, I guess, had nothing else to do at the time... (Plus it was my first TV console EVER, only had a GameBoy.) The console went crazy a few months later... Oh, well...

 

Years later, in 1996, one of my friends informed me of another Garage Sale Atari, only this time, with not only the console (complete with instruction manual) and AC adapter, but 2 controllers, a pair of paddles, an RF adapter, and not one, not two, but eight games (Asteroids (Pict. Label), Combat (Black Label), Demon Attack (Text Label), Grand Prix (Standard Label), Kaboom! (Standard Label), Pac-Man (Pict. Label (BOOOO! )) Space Invaders (Black Label) and Super Breakout (Pict. Label), still in their boxes, with instructions and catalogs!), and the fact that the console happened to have six switches!

 

The folks who were selling it gave it a $15 price tag. I was about a few cents shy (Okay, a couple bucks shy! ), but I brought every last cent I had at the time to the garage sale. They let it go when they saw my dedication!

 

Bringing it home I saw one of the few most proudly lost weekends in my lifetime!

 

My experiments with the old Atari paid off anyway, as I bought some parts from Radio Shack inbetween Atari purchases that boost the RF signal without the adapter.

 

When I was exploring the AA site for more info on the VCS's history a couple of years later, I found out that the 6-switched beauty was a 1977 model! I was like WHOA! I got a HeavySixer! The best part is it still works!

 

Come to think of it, make that 3 memories, as I've just lived my third one, telling this long-winded story in my first post to you guys!

[Buck]

Mine is playing Star Raiders in front of the TV with the Atari console right in front of me. I would take the couch cushions and sort of "box" myself in. That became my Star Blazers Battle Crusier.(Yes I said"Blazers" thats a different fond childhood memory) Ahhh...Saturday morning Scooby-Doo Captain Caveman Blue Falcoln ,a bowl of Lucky Charms and Atari.

 

Attention Star Raider! Buck is signing off!

 

Bye

 

Buck

[Brian R.]

I think back fondly of those times in the early 80s when the 2600 truly "shocked and awed" me. Even games like Pac-Man for a time were a wonder to behold on my family's 25-inch color console TV. When I didn't know how the Atari worked, when I didn't know what was inside.

 

When I would actually feel like I was flying in space while playing Star Raiders on the 2600. When playing Raiders of the Lost Ark was actually an adventure. Seeing a game like Dig Dug and marveling at how "close to the arcade" it was.

 

When I envied my cousins for always having more games than my family did - and the newer games while we only had the old games. Well, with my collection today, I finally got 'em beat - 20 years later!

 

[Mendon]

Might not really be an Atari memory, but I remember always looking forward to Saturday morning and watching "Starcade" on TV. I always remember answering all the questions that host Geoff(sp) Edwards asked and knowing that I could do BETTER than any contestant on there at playing the games or answering the questions.

 

After the show, I would take my allowance and any money I'd earned during the week mowing lawns or doing chores and go down to my local arcade and try my best to get my initals on every screen I could. Then, when I ran out of money, it was back home and play my 2600, with special attention paid to Space Invaders and Asteroids hoping that this practice would help me rack up a bigger score in the arcade.

 

A memory I'd like to forget is my disappointment at finally getting Pac-Man for my VCS and seeing how this game WOULDN"T help me improve my arcade Pac Man scores at all... but for some reason I still played the game and enjoyed it.

 

Mendon

[Chadivision]

My best Atari memory would be have to be writing text games in Basic on my 400 at the age of 9. I also made one program with graphics. I had a guy that gets hit by lightning when you move the controller.

 

The runner up would have to be when I got my Cuttle Cart.

[AtariDude]

My favorite Atari memory was when I got my Atari 2600 for Christmas and I opened up the package and there was the Atari Fuji symbol on the corner that I ripped. I remember forgetting about the rest of the Christmas items and needing to set up it on the TV so that we can play with it. I think we played it the entire day and some friends of mine brought over some of their own games and we played against each other.

[+Nathan Strum]

For me it would have to be when my parents bought me Pitfall for Christmas (or my birthday... they're right near each other so they blur together a lot).

 

I just remember thinking how cool my folks were to go out of their element and into the video game section of a store, and make sure they got exactly the game I wanted. They wouldn't know one game from the other, but knew and cared that I would.

 

Very cool memory.

[Kasenoke]

The very second that I turned it on, then played H.E.R.O. and Pitfall! the entire night. Remember, I am younger than most of you, this happened in 1997, instead of 1977.

[The Historian]

Here is mine.

 

I'm not real sure of the year but it was just as the Atari Crash was starting.

 

We were fairly well off, better than most, as my step-dad was an officer in the AirForce. Well things weren't perfect and they divorced just after christmas.

 

So from riches to rags.

 

We really struggled to make ends meet through that year and as christmas rolled around again we had no money for gifts. We had a small plastic tree, a few decorations and no lights. Mom and I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of tv dinners for christmas day. Well they just happened to be having a blow out sale Atari carts. Everything was $5.00. I knew things were tight so I just looked while she shopped. bein christmas eve people were grabbing games faster than you would believe, I watched them all fly by. I noticed a Miner 2049'er that people just passed up and I really wanted it. We just didn't have the money.

 

We left and headed home. Once at home I guess my mom, started to feel bad about not having anything for me for christmas and asked it there was a game that I saw that I wanted.

 

"Yes", I said but we don't have the money.

 

She, didn't say much more for awhile.

 

About an hour later she told me to get my coat on we forgot something at the store.

 

You can guess the rest, with a slight twist at the end. Miner 2049'er was not there. Instead I got Fathom and I played that game for days on end. I don't know exactly what it was but that game, but it was a turning point in my life. It led to computers and to the games there and many steps later to a career with computers. I also run fan sites for games from time to time, when one catches my attention. The last one was Planet Dungeon Siege.

 

Rob Fulop, if you read this, I know you didn't care for Fathom. Just know that your game made a significant impact on at least one person. Enough of an effect, to point a child in the direction of his future.

 

So my quest, my holy grail, is a mint, sealed Fathom, which I hope to have signed by Rob. I refuse to buy a loose Fathom cart, till I get one...

[Witchfynde]

(sniff) I do believe that post beats all of ours put up together so far on this entire thread.

[ihuntley]

My dad was a recruiter for the USAF in Detroit back in 1983 or thereabouts. He did a moderate amount of in-home entertaining for potential recruits and their families. One night, he had the family of a young man he was recruiting over for supper and they brough their daughter, who was about two years younger than me, with them.

 

Well, a ten year old boy doesn't have much use for an 8 year old girl, but I gave it my best and led her back to my room for a little Atari action. Being a good host, I let her select the game, and of course, she selects the god-awful Pac-Man. Well, she enjoyed playing, so, that's cool.

 

During her turns, to kill time, I was moving my joystick in accordance with the moves I would make were I playing. I noticed she was getting wayyy better than she had been. After she'd cleared her 8th or 9th consecutive board, I said, "Hey, you're pretty good! I thought you said you didn't have an Atari."

 

She replied, "I don't. I'm not. It's been your turn for awhile!" I realized that I had missed her losing her turn, and I had been actually playing all that time! I was doing so well because I had no fear of losing.

 

From that point on in my life, whenever I've been faced with a challenging task, I try to achieve that level of supreme confidence, the knowledge that it is impossible to fail. It doesn't always work, but it's got me through some tough scrapes, like AF Basic Training, for example.

 

D. Dodge Silver

[Osmeroid]

Like several others, mine is of Christmas day, many, MANY years ago when my brother (Tony) & myself got an Atari that year. My Dad had just suffered his first heart attack (August time) & had been off work for months and cash was pretty tight. Despite all that, my folks got us an Atari (with free Combat) plus enough cash that we could both buy one cart each. I bought Frogger and my brother got Demons To Diamonds. All of the family joined in playing the Atari that year, very much 'Halcyon Days'.