10 Most fun 2600 games?

[Cynicaster]

Frostbite

Pressure Cooker

Enduro

Kaboom

Keystone Kapers

Frogger

Empire Strikes Back

Q*Bert

Track & Field

Megamania

[davyK]

For max fun on 2600 , 2 or more players are required. (Actually, that's a rule for any console).

 

And if it's simultaneous , not turn-based , even better.

 

So -

 

Warlords / Medieval Mayhem.

Combat

Space War

Maze Craze

Quadrapong (in Video Olympics)

Surround

Fishing Derby

Breakout (2 vs 2 team variations)

Dodge 'em (player 2 controls crash car variation)

Freeway

 

And there's a brilliant variation in Demon Attack in which control switches between players every few seconds.

 

There's others that I haven't played enough to include in my list...

 

Fall Down

Indy 500

Boxing

Steeplechase

Sky Diver

Tennis / Realsports Tennis

Realsports Volleyball

Demons to Diamonds

 

Co-op games are always fun. There are excellent co-op variations in Space Invaders and Atlantis.

Edited February 9, 2017 by davyK

[alanwatkins]

1. M-Network baseball (I'd even play this one player with some tricky joystick handling)

2. Combat (Greatest 2 player game ever!)

3. Jungle Hunt

4. Pitfall!

5. Solar Fox

6. Dig Dug

7. Mr. Do

8. Basketball

9. Moon Patrol

10. Dodge 'em

 

This was a hard list for me to come up with since I spent so much time playing #1

[iesposta]

Millipede

Omicron

Beamrider

Juno First

Demon Attack

Robot Tank

Tunnel Runner

Missile Command

Space Rocks

Kaboom

Now that's a pulse pounding list of fun right there!

 

I've had some very high scores in Millipede with the real Trak-Ball control.

Even at 350,000 it was still increasing in difficulty!

[thecrypticodor]

Pressure Cooker

Pitfall II

Moonsweeper

Gravitar

H.E.R.O.

River Raid II

Moon Patrol

Joust

Ms. Pac-man

Qbert

[gliptitude]

Already mentioned games that are also on my list:

 

HERO

Yars' Revenge

Kaboom

Juno First

 

Games that I don't think were mentioned yet:

 

Cosmic Ark

Dragon Fire

Night Driver

Spell n Speak

Montezuma's Revenge

 

And games so bad they are good, (the fun ones):

 

Ghost Manor

Starship

 

Another bad game I enjoy, but not because of its faults, is GYRUSS. Love to crank the volume and listen to the music for a few minutes.

[+davidcalgary29]

I'd put Chetiry, Princess Quest, and Stratogems Deluxe in any top ten 'fun' list.

[Tangentg]

Now that's a pulse pounding list of fun right there!

 

I've had some very high scores in Millipede with the real Trak-Ball control.

Even at 350,000 it was still increasing in difficulty!

Is it really "real trak-ball control" though?

 

Cause I'm pretty sure the original cart didn't have analog control.

Nonetheless, I think the transition of both it and Missile Command to the digital control was really good (unlike say, Crystal Castles) and I don't feel like I lost that much on the Atari 2600 port.

 

A really good thing with the Millipede cart is that there's a continue feature. You can restart the game after you die at the second last bonus life mark you reached so that it pushes you up further and further (the difficulty increases the more points you get so if you aren't able to get it in 1 run you could gradually continue on to get to the higher levels), but at the same time you can't abuse it cause you start at the second last bonus life mark, so if you get a lower mark or just hit reset repeatedly you would instead keep dropping your score, pushing you to really get good at the game. And unlike Centipede, you can't set up the trap for the centipede that just causes it to run straight down as soon as it enters the screen and just sit back and shoot at the centre as soon as a new chain appears.

[MaliciousCarp]

Here are the 10 that I play the most:

 

1. Solar Fox

2. River Raid

3. Space Invaders

4. Missile Command

5. Galaxian

6. Jr. PacMan

7. Ms PacMan

8. Adventure

9. H.E.R.O

10. Sky Jinks

[+cvga]

Here are the 10 that I play the most:

 

10. Sky Jinks

 

I'm not knocking your selection of Sky Jinks but what causes it to be in your Top 10? I'm wondering if I haven't given it a fair chance.

[Rick Weis]

my top ten would be (in order):

Adventure

Pitfall

Ladybug NWCGE

Super Breakout

DragonStomper

Chunkout 2600

Montezuma's Revenge

Fast Food

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back

Spider fighter

 

this top ten will change once Aardvark is released

 

ones that did not make the top ten but are dear to my heart:

Bowling (I just can't test this game without doing a few games)

Custard's Revenge (my dad help me find this game... Thanks Dad!)

X-man (well.... ummm..............................)

 

 

Rick

[MaliciousCarp]

 

I'm not knocking your selection of Sky Jinks but what causes it to be in your Top 10? I'm wondering if I haven't given it a fair chance.

 

 

I find the game relaxing, but still challenging. I think that is why I go back to it so often. Honestly, I probably wouldn't feel the same way about it if I hadn't played it so much back in the day, but as it is - I consider it a staple of my collection.

[R.O.T.S]

Combat

Warlords

Outlaw

Millipede

Adventure

Ms.Pacman

Haunted House

Escape From The Mindmaster

Sky Diver

Skiing

[AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol]

For some light and casual, fun games these would be my picks:

 

Frostbite

Air-Sea Battle

Sky Diver

Human Cannonball

Keystone Kapers

Tapper

Combat

Kaboom

Freeway

Q-Bert

[AW127]

- Phoenix

- Space Rocks

- Keystone Kapers

- Lady Bug

- Pac-Man 2600

- Solar Fox

- Stay Frosty 2

- H.E.R.O.

- Thrust

- Yars Revenge

- Pitfall 2

 

Puuuh, it`s hard to choose only 10 games, because there are much more games which make alot of fun on the Atari VCS-2600.

 

Oh my god, how could i forget "Pitfall 2"? I added it to the list. Okay now it`s eleven games, but i can not delete one of my list.

Edited February 21, 2017 by AW127

[PitfallHarry77]

Very tough to choose but I would go with the following:

 

H.E.R.O.

Medieval Mayhem

Thrust+ Platinum

Pacman 8k Dintar816 version

Spacerocks

Juno First

Adventure

Frogger (Official Version)

Ms Pacman

Pitfall

[Hank Rearden]

I have fond memories of:

 

• Pitfall
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Space Invaders (invisible)
• Asteroids
• Superman
• Combat
• Dodge'em
• Frogger
• Yars Revenge
• Circus Atari

Can't wait to play Space Rocks and Pacman 4k or 8k!

[Inky]

My favorites...

Adventure

Pitfall II

Chopper Command

Yar's Revenge

Tapper

Space Invaders

Ms. PAc Man

Berzerk

Dodge 'Em

Raiders of the Lost Ark

[Duke75]

Just naming what comes to mind first...

 

Pressure Cooker

Demon Attack

Adventure

Yar's Revenge

HERO

Pitfall

Seaquest

Atlantis

Keystone Kapers

Dragonfire

[adamchevy]

I was about to post this same topic after watching Stella 20 on YouTube.  David Crane mentioned that newer games are big on graphics but low on gameplay.  He mentions that newer games might give you 40 Hours of gameplay, but those 40 hours might not be fun. I started thinking about it and this is what originally drew me into the 2600 for the first time in my life back in 2013.  I was low on time because I was becoming a father of 4 and worked 50-60 hours a week.  I still wanted to feel like I was having some fun with my limited gaming time, and modern systems just couldn’t get me there in 10-15 minutes.  Sometimes I only had 5 minutes to play a game somedays, and the 2600 could deliver the fun in that amount of time. I don’t think modern games will likely get there with excellent gameplay ever again. Most updates take that amount of time, and you will likely wait that long just to install the game.

 

My favourite 10 fun games on the 2600:

 

1.   Boing! 

2.   Circus Atari

3.   Millipede

4.   Centipede

5.   Mario Bros.

6.   Beamrider

7.   Berzerk

8.   Hero

9.   Qbert

10. Yars Revenge 

 

that is a really hard list to make.  I’m going to cheat and add 10 released homebrews that I really love to play.

 

1.    Galagon

2.    Wizard of Wor

3.    Mappy

4.    Halo 2600

5.    Juno First

6.    Boulder Dash

7.    Aardvark 

8.    Space Cactus Canyon

9.    Fall Down

10.  Stay Frosty 2

 

That list of homebrews I would put up against any modern systems line up of current games. I think in gameplay and actual fun I have never experienced that amount of fun on any single modern console, and possibly not on any console.

 

thats an even harder list to make. I could add atleast 20 more homebrews to my list that I really enjoy.  The Homebrew games that have come to the 2600 really carry on the wonderful creative gameplay that the 2600 will always be known for. I want to thank all of the current and past  Homebrew creators out their for keeping the Atari 2600 the best home console anyone could hope to own.  What a testament it is to the genius of Chuck Peddle, Jay Miner, Joe Decuir, and many others that helped bring this wonderful machine into existence.  The passing of Curt Vendel recently made me put some serious thought into why he put so much of his time into preserving the History of Atari. Thanks Curt!  I recently found an interview with Curt that was conducted this year on the podcast, Into the Vertical Blank.  He sounded like a great guy! I really never understood what an asset he was to this community. 

 

 

I think we could add Albert Yarusso to the list of amazing people in this community who go under appreciated. The amount of effort it would take to run Atariage.com, the Atariage Forums, and stay on top of the store has to be a lot of work. Thanks Albert!