why we like the 2600

[mark]

Eventhough I grew up in the nes era and never owned a 2600 until 2001 this is why I like the Atari 2600:

 

1) I love the history and really respect everything about it

2)The thought of playing on a 25+ year old system

3)The sweet classic games

4)Collection can be had for little money

5)Adventure of finding stuff in the wild

6)Simplicity of the games (forget the novel sized manuel you need with todays games)

7) The joysticks

The one of a kind look that belongs to the 2600

9)These forums

10)Probably a few more but can't think of right now

 

 

How bout you, why do you like the 2600?

[MegaManFan]

1. It's the original "cart based" system and I love cartridge gaming.

2. Timeless simplicity + surprisingly deep (when properly used) versatility.

3. You can acquire a lot of decent to good games for very low prices.

4. You can acquire a lot of excellent to amazing homebrews for very reasonable prices.

5. The sheer "retro" feeling of playing these games as opposed to today's modern systems.

6. A durability that surpasses said same modern systems in amazing ways.

7. It's just plain fun, damnit!

[mark]

I knew I forgot 2:

 

1) tank like durablity

2) very fun

[Brian R.]

Well, I did grow up with Atari, so I remember when people didn't play "video games" or "Playstation," they played "Atari."

 

Many of the 2600s games are still fun to play today - games like Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall, River Raid and many, many more. There's no whiz-band, 3D, light shaded, whatever graphics, but the games have more gameplay than lots of what's out now.

 

And you can just sit down and PLAY. You don't need to figure out a complicated controller to play, or need a two volume players guide to understand it.

 

And I do love firing up any Atari system and seeing it run on my TV. Just makes me smile.

[Intrepid]

1. It's the original "cart based" system and I love cartridge gaming.

 

Yeah, who's counting the Channel F anyway.

 

[King Atari]

Simply said, the system is just pure fun. The games are easy to learn, challenging to master. It's such a great throwback to the early 80's.

 

I also love seeing how it evolved over time, the graphics in later games are excellent.

[MegaManFan]

Yeah, who's counting the Channel F anyway.

 

 

Okay, maybe not TECHNICALLY "the first" (I should have consulted Leonard Herman's book) but I would consider it the first of any significance. It's success gave birth to an entire era of vintage cart gaming on Coleco, INTV, and even later the NES.

[Krytol]

1. Nostalgic feeling I get playing the carts I used to have as a kid

2. Just how damn creative the designers had to be considering the limitations

3. The endless number of carts to collect

[lonesome_pa]

Yeah, it's a fun system, but I like it for 2 reasons:

 

1) I have a very clear memory of my dad and I sitting down at night and playing hours upon hours of Pac-Man or Combat "back-in-the-day" and since he past away a while ago, it's a very pleasant memory to remember.

 

and

 

2) To do the same with my son and hopefully he'll have the same memory years later when I am gone.

 

In other words, to sum it up in one word: bonding

[Godzilla]

for me it has always been about one thing, SPEED baby SPEED

the 2600 has THE FASTEST playing games ever, period. It's kind of funny that even after all these years, NOTHING comes REMOTELY close to the speed of a fast 2600 game (like 2 player entombed, 4 player warlords, kaboom, spider fighter, space master X-7, Dark Cavern, >edit< Fast Food/Taz, Turmoil, Cosmic Ark, Atlantis etc.)

 

Amazing how even after all these years, NOTHING has caught the 2600. Even more interesting, you can literally watch the average speed of game play steadily decline with every console since the 2600, almost like a simple sloping graph. Wasn't until the Dreamcast that you had a system that started to have some real speed to its average games again.

 

I love zen gaming. The 2600 OWNS zen gaming, lock, stock, and smoking barrell.

[Spector]

That's a very interesting point from Godzilla about game speed, and it's significant. I'd never thought about it that way, but it's true. The directness of gameplay has gone down with each technical development. That's the trade-off for better graphics and sound, I suppose. And it's a trade-off that favours the 2600.

[allstater4by800]

I think its fun when you keep getting smashed in PS2 games to just kick back and get simple with video games. The games have to real story line, or most of them dont. You can just pick up and play. And I love searching for things in the wild its so oddly fun.

[hurt]

if i could figure out why i liked it i could prob stop this crazy addiction i have to collect the stuff, but until then i just keep on going with it

[eldunko]

i like not having to use my brain while playing, games to me usually mean getting away from using the old noggin. Plus most of those games required skill, not just practice

[AtariDude]

I like the Atari 2600 because it was the first game system I ever owned. My friends had it so we would spend hours playing on it and always trying to get better scores.

 

I like the fact that the games were easy to get into since you did not have to read a book most of the time and they had a lot of frantic, twitch games that kept you wanting to come back for more.

 

And of course, now I love the fact that I can get games for a few dollars that I was not able to afford before. I wish I had as many games then as I do now.

[liveinabin]

I love the 2600 because:-

 

The games are just SO different to modern fare.

 

Woodgrain on a console is SO great!!

 

It's a completely cross generational, cross gender gaming experience.

people who would never dream of picking up even a relatively friendly Gamecube controller and who are alienated by the kind of games on offer today will happily play Centipede and Ms. pacman on my machine all day long! Even the ubiquitous Playstations don't reach as wide an audience.

 

If I have to be honest, being into Atari does make me look a bit more hardcore than your average gamer:) Well, in this country anyway, where most people have never even seen an Atari.

[Shannon]

Just this made desire to relive my childhood, like any other grown man would.

[Mr. Pepper]

 

I think it has to do with legos!!! they are blocky just the same.... if you like the 2600 you like legos.....

 

thats just my spin on it!

 

 

- Joe