What are your 20 Atari 2600 Classics? (Not counting hacks or homebrews)

[BassGuitari]

...

Sorcerer

...

This is just a test to see if we're paying attention, right?

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

This is just a test to see if we're paying attention, right?

AHHHHH!!! How did that get in there? 'K were just gonna take that one out.

[toiletunes]

What can I say? It's the better of the three.

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

What can I say? It's the better of the three.

I guess you're right. Your list reminded me of games I forgot that were so good. (like Frankenstein's Monster and Taz) I might have to redo my list now.

[NE146]

18ish for now. I'll come up with more later.. but yeah of course it's mostly the games I had as a kid and liked the most then.

 

Frogger - Parker Bros Version (I still prefer it)

Ms. Pacman - My favorite version of Ms. Pac ever, aside from the arcade game.

Crystal Castles

Demon Attack

Star Voyager

Spacemaster X-7

Enduro

Pole Position

Moonsweeper

Adventure

Missile Command

Circus Atari

Video Pinball

Superman

Reactor

Fathom

Quick Step

Carnival

Edited March 22, 2017 by NE146

[+KaeruYojimbo]

In no particular order:

 

Frostbite

Enduro

Eggomania

Moon Patrol

Wizard of Wor

Bumper Bash

Bank Heist

Q*Bert

Star Wars: The Arcade Game

Demolition Herby

Keystone Kapers

Gyruss

Road Runner

Bump N Jump

Mr. Do!

Pressure Cooker

Cosmic Commuter

Asteroids

Crazy Climber

Tax Avoiders

[agb]

Solar Fox

Breakout

Super Breakout

Gran Prix

Dig Dug

Dodge Em

Home Run

Basketball

River Raid

Asteroids

Galaxian

Video Pinball

Space Invaders

Demon Attack

PAC man

Ms. PAC man

PAC man Junior

Turmoil

Missile Command

Video Olympics

[Spriggy]

I'm trying to sift through my amber-liquid damaged brain cells, for my best Atari visual memories back when .. and not my current age-tainted Top 20 games

 

So my list in no particular order ... as a 11-12 year old circa '83-'84

 

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Clear memories of smashing this until I finished it .. including the pain-in-the-ass pits!)

Superman (Likewise ... smashed this until I finished it)

Fishing Derby (Brother vs Brother fests)

Space Invaders (Marathon memories)

Missile Command (Marathon memories)

Asteroids (Marathon memories)

H.E.R.O. (Mates cart. Was in awe of the complexity)

Asterix (General memories of smashing this)

Dodge 'Em (General memories of smashing this)

Bermuda (Didn't have River Raid .. so this was my equivalent go-to)

Pole Position (General memories of smashing this)

Star Wars: ESB (Mates cart. Loved it. )

Barnstorming (Huge memories of going for the under 33.3sec patch. Still have TV photo of 33.15sec)

Berzerk (Marathon memories)

Pac-Man (Marathon memories)

Pitfall! (General memories of loving this game. Pretty sure mates cart)

Spider-Man (Mates cart. Loved it. )

Combat (Brother vs Brother .. Friend vs Friend fests)

Air-Sea Battle (Brother vs Brother .. Friend vs Friend fests)

 

I can only get to a visual memory driven 19

 

[rexreed]

20) Maze (Sears) This is a lot of fun with a second player

19) Tank Plus (Sears) Another great 2 player game

18) Race (Sears) 2 player madatory

17) Journey Escape

16) Demon Attack

15) River Raid

14) Galaxian

13) Superman

12) Frogger

11) Asteroids

10) Video Olympics

9) Star Voyager

Pitfall II

7) Jr. Pacman

6) Realsports Baseball

5) Warlords

4) Space Invaders

3) Missile Command

2) Ms. Pacman

1) Adventure

 

[+jeremiahjt]

Mine would be sure to change a week from now, but for right now this is it.

 

1. Pitfall!

2. Breakout

3. Q*bert

4. Video Olympics

5. Asteroids

6. Maze Craze: A Game of Cops 'n Robbers

7. Warlords

8. Combat

9. Atlantis

10. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

11. Wizard of Wor

12. Frogger

13. Space Invaders

14. Indy 500

15. Defender

16. Yars' Revenge

17. Double Dragon

18. Mario Bros.

19. Fantastic Voyage

20. Moon Patrol

[FOX2600]

 

20. Midnight Magic

19. Montezuma's Revenge

18. H.E.R.O.

17. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle

16. Alien

15. Starmaster

14. Miniature Golf

13. Adventure

12. Centipede

11. Robot Tank

10. River Raid

9. Sentinel

8. Kung-Fu Master

7. Crystal Castles

6. GORF

5. Millipede

4. Super Breakout

3. Ms. Pac-Man

2. Venture

1. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

YES! If I could throw in an honorable mention I'd say Skiing by Activision, IMO just a fun cute game.

[bomberpunk]

In no particular order...

 

Enduro

Warlords

Berzerk

Joust

Yars' Revenge

Defender

Night Driver

H.E.R.O.

Zaxxon

Vanguard

Star Raiders

Space Attack

Jr Pacman

Phoenix

Thunderground

Combat

Pitfall

Keystone Kapers

Asteroids

Adventure

[Atarikid96]

(Out of order)

Defender

Missile Command

Centipede

Ms Pac Man

Starmaster

Pole Position

Yar's Revenge

Asteroids

Space Invaders

Battlezone

Kaboom

Pong (video olympics)

Breakout

Pitfall

Adventure

Defender II

Atlantis

Frogger

Space Attack (hated by some, loved by me)

Pac Man (just because it's pac man)

 

those are probably considered to be the "main" must own games for the VCS, for the most part anyway That's just my opinion, though.

[the_wizard_666]

I don't feel like I should list a top 20 list as I've only really played around 30 or so games so far, but as someone with little experience with the system (my first console was an NES in '89, and my first 2600 didn't come until around the turn of the century), I figure I could make a short list of the games I've enjoyed so far...so here goes I guess:

 

In no particular order...
The Activision Decathlon - I played this with a couple friends and (thankfully) a Track & Field controller. I'm not much for sports games, especially the ones that require such levels of manual dexterity, but I really enjoyed my run at it.

 

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - I'm not sure if this was the first 2600 game I played, but it's the first one that left an impression. I'm not sure what it is, but I very much enjoy blasting the AT-ATs straight to hell. Any time I fire up my system, Empire ends up in the rotation.

 

Demon Attack - Although I was spoiled by having the PCjr version for years before getting the Atari version, I must say that even though I feel it's the worst version of the game, it's still one of my personal favorites (so far of course). I also was extremely impressed by the graphics, which just blew away my expectations of what could be done visually on the 2600. While I doubt it'll remain high on my list as I progress through the library, it's a game that I'll always have a soft spot for.

 

Dig Dug - Kind of like Demon Attack in that I've played superior versions over the years, but I still appreciate it for what it is. It doesn't hurt that I've always loved Dig Dug though, but again, it's a very well done port.

 

Freeway - I fired this one up one day with the intention of playing for a few minutes to see how it was. 3 hours later I was still playing it. A very simple concept, but also a very engaging game. I don't see this one dropping down the list any time soon.

 

Galaxian - Yet another one of the titles that, while playing "better" versions previously, I just thoroughly enjoyed playing the 2600 port. As with Dig Dug, I'm just a fan of the game in general, and was impressed with what they coaxed out of the hardware to pull off the home version.

 

M*A*S*H - While I'm not a huge fan of the game as a whole, I do have to list it because of the "Operation" levels. For whatever reason I really dug them. The helicopter levels didn't do much for me, but the surgery stages felt like something I couldn't play elsewhere, and I always love games that offer something unique.

 

Planet Patrol - This one's a weird one to me, in that the individual components are nothing new or special, but the package as a whole was one I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

And that's about it for now. I'm sure many of these will not make the final cut once I've played enough to confidently list my top 20 titles, but I'm sure a few will stick for some time.

[Lord Innit]

1. H.E.R.O

2. River Raid

3. Demolition Herby

4. Ms. Pac-man

5. Defender II (Stargate)

6. Pitfall

7. Indy 500

8. Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Space

9. Reactor

10. Ram It

11. Frankenstein's Monster

12. Pitfall 2

13. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

14. Cross Force

15. Star Raiders

16. Frogger (Parker)

17. Battlezone

18. Vanguard

19. Enduro

20. Riddle of the Sphinx

 

I could quite happily get by with just these.

[Papa]

1 Ghostbusters

2 Spy Hunter

3 Rampage

4 Kung Fu

5 Star Trek SOS

6 Radar Lock

7 Asteroids

8 Supercharger Frogger

9 Porky's

10 Commando

11 Montezumas Revenge

12 California Games

13 Tapper

14 Time Pilot

15 Gyruss

16 BurgerTime (yeah..I like the VCS one. What of it?)

17 Off the Wall

18 Pole Position

19 H.E.R.O.

20 Joust

 

No order really. I could do this all day and have a few pop in and out as straggler/replacements.

 

Battlezone or Robot Tank may be in there. Keystone Kapers is great, too. Defender and Stargate are exciting. I can't help but be impressed with how much fun Ghostbusters really is on the VCS and how much of the 8-bit disk game they retain in the trimmed up cart. I was disappointed with the other home cart versions and the departures that were made from the original program. The VCS game retains the slanted particle beams, the wider/slower driving parts that are less cumbersome, and follows the original layout more than the other cartridge versions.

 

Porky's has boobers.

[G-type]

Pressure Cooker

Private Eye

Warlords

Frogger

Robot Tank

Solar Fox

Missile Command

Q-bert

Joust

Dig-Dug

Yar's Revenge

Enduro

Wizard of Wor

H.E.R.O.

Kung Fu Master

Enduro

Jr. Pac-man

Frostbite

Tapper

River Raid

[+save2600]

The VCS games I've consistently played and never seem to tire of over the years include:

 

Berzerk

Cosmic Ark

Dig Dug

Dragonfire

Gorf

Gyruss

Joust

Jungle Hunt

Mario Bros.

Midnight Magic

Montezuma's Revenge

Moon Patrol

Ms. Pac-Man

Pengo

Phoenix

Popeye

Q*Bert

Stargate

Tapper

Venture

[Yosikuma]

Just 20? This is a tough one, but:

 

Keystone Kapers

Dig Dug

Trick Shot

Dragonfire

Pressure Cooker

Enduro

Kaboom

ice Hockey (great with two players!)

Jungle Hunt

Missile Command

California Games (the BMX segment is hilarious!)

Dodge 'Em

Gyruss

Battlezone

HERO
Pitfall II

Boxing

Combat

Ms. Pac Man

Maze Craze

 

I would have included Save Mary had it actually been released ... :: laugh ::

[Inky]

I generally don't like doing lists, because I invariably forget something, but I'll give it a go here. These are not ranked. Exception of Adventure

 

Adventure
Pitfall II

Tapper

Chopper Command

Yar's Revenge

Phoenix

Berzerk

Buck Rogers

Ms.Pac Man

Super Breakout

Circus Atari

Warlords

Night Driver

Indy 500

Human Cannonball

Sky Diver (I have a soft spot for Human Cannonball and Sky Diver)

Crazy Climber

Space Invaders

Asteroids

Dodge 'Em

Edited March 29, 2017 by Inky

[davyK]

In no particular order.

 

Combat

Super Breakout

Yars' Revenge

Demon Attack

Surround

Warlords

Pacman Jr

Kaboom!

Berzerk

Realsports Volleyball

Megamania

Atlantis

Fishing Derby

Solar Storm

Video Pinball

Pitfall

Video Olympics

Maze Craze

Missile Command

Flag Capture

Edited April 1, 2017 by davyK

[gliptitude]

This is just a test to see if we're paying attention, right?

Ha ha awesome. I guess I'm not the only fan of bad games. I actually enjoy Sorcerer as well as Firefly. Ghost Manor was listed by someone earlier and I'd include it as well. These plus Gyruss and Star Ship probably actually are among my 20 most played, all fairly classified as "bad", but good for more than just a laugh in my opinion. I play Coconuts occasionally also. (Let's say four of these really are on my top 20).

 

The rest of my list, not so controversial:

 

Yars' Revenge

Night Driver

Cosmic Ark

Subterranea

HERO

Dragonfire

Moonsweeper

Kaboom

Adventure

Star Wars Death Star Battle

Space Invaders

Frankenstein's Monster

Demon Attack

Montezuma's Revenge

Encounter at L5

Secret Quest

[Bucket Brigadier]

Not necessarily in order:

 

1.) Kaboom!

2.) Space Invaders

3.) Combat

4.) Defender II

5.) Millipede

6.) Ms. Pac Man

7.) Joust

8.) Yar's Revenge

9.) Asteroids

10.) Spider Fighter

11.) Pitfall

12.) Pitfall II

13.) River Raid

14.) Warlords

15.) H.E.R.O.

16.) Beamrider

17.) Atlantis

18.) Chopper Command

19.) Berzerk

20.) Yars' Revenge

[+FujiSkunk]

To the fans of bad games, you're not alone. I like Star Fox, not enough to put it in my top 20, but still more than I was ever apparently supposed to. Sure it's a Defender clone, and a rather uninspired one at that, but the one-on-one dogfights have their own charm, and the background sound effects are strangely captivating.

[bugcatcher88]

Like many users before me, mine is in no particular order.

 

1. Adventure

2. Haunted House

3. Galaxian

4. Solaris

5. Radar Lock

6. Secret Quest

7. Frankenstein’s Monster

8. Mario Bros.

9. Space Invaders

10. Yars’ Revenge

11. Pressure Cooker

12. Realsports Volleyball

13. Ms. Pac-man

14. Night Driver

15. Super Breakout

16. Moon Patrol

17. Millipede

18. Crystal Castles

19. Dig Dug

20. River Raid