Good Atari Games for Tournaments

[Wedsau]

I'm trying to devise a 2600 tournament for me and some of my friends. I have two systems and most of the standard games(Asteroids, Space Invaders, Missle Command, etc.) I want to have people compete in multiple games~does anybody have any suggestions for format or games to use? Thanks!

[VectorGamer]

Indy 500.

 

Have everyone qualify by playing the game where you drive laps for 60 seconds. Then, seed everyone into a bracket depending on what their score was in qualifying. Then have everyone play head-to-head.

[WolfAmongWolves]

The Epyx titles Summer Games, Winter Games, and California Games are also good for tournaments. I think they allow for up to eight players.

[+SpiceWare]

Medieval Mayhem has been used in tournaments around the world.

 

 

If homebrew game's aren't your thing then use Warlords.

[davidbrit2]

Berzerk, game 9.

Marauder, game 4.

 

Both good choices if you want an intense shooter.

[Rick Weis]

Medieval Mayhem

surround

indy 500

frogs and flies

pac man jr

pitfall

just to name a few of my favorites.

 

Rick

[+save2600]

Midnight Magic

Track and Field

Decathlon

BMX Airmaster

Human Cannonball

Space Invaders

Super Breakout

[cvga]

Kaboom and Freeway. They are both quick and simple to understand.

[Gaztee]

Would love to run a decathlon tournament,but would probably have to be on the xegs or 5200 as those have 2 player options.

[Cynicaster]

I do this sort of thing fairly often, but usually in MAME.

 

IMO, the best games for this sort of thing are the more fast-and-frantic type games that ramp up quickly in difficulty, which helps to keep the games short.

 

Having shorter "turns" helps keep everybody engaged and allows for a broader variety of titles in a given span of time.

 

For a lot of 2600 games, if you throw on the default game mode and play on difficulty B, even the worst players will probably be able to last several minutes while the game slowly ramps up. A game at, say, 12 minutes long may not seem like much, but when you consider all of the different games and all of the different participants, 12 minutes adds up in a big hurry.

 

A possible solution for that is to use a timer, but I'm not a fan of that approach myself; I'd rather the results be based on the full scoring ability of the players, not how deftly they can race the clock and rack up points.

[VectorGamer]

What I've done at my Retrocade parties in the past (besides the Indy 500 competition) is play arcade Pac-Man for one board only and the best score wins. In the event of a tie then have each player plays 2 boards.