What are your Must Owns and most Overrated games in your collection?

[Tempest]

The Intellivision version of Atlantis really upped the ante, but the other versions were, as you said, just poor clones of Air Sea Battle.

[+davidcalgary29]

The only 2600 titles that have kept my interest over the years are homebrews: Chetiry, Stratogems Deluxe, Princess Rescue, and Hunchy 2 are all excellent and can compete in gameplay with any arcade game on any system. I have to say that I've never liked Pitfall!.

[+Cafeman]

Concerning Pitfall, if you try to get all the treasures before the time is up, the game becomes much more interesting. The day I got the perfect score was a fine day, my friends.

[AtariLeaf]

The Intellivision version of Atlantis really upped the ante, but the other versions were, as you said, just poor clones of Air Sea Battle.

 

Agreed, it made it much more like Colony 7. Probably the best port of Atlantis.

[+save2600]

Concerning Pitfall, if you try to get all the treasures before the time is up, the game becomes much more interesting. The day I got the perfect score was a fine day, my friends.

And was that the very last time you played it?

[RamrodHare]

I'll tell you what I just came to realize..

 

When I got my Atari, I grabbed up about 60 games at the same time. Other than testing them, most have never been back in the system. I spent most of my time playing Seaquest, Fishing Derby, Boxing, Combat, Berserk, Q-Bert, Frogger, BurgerTime, and Ms. Pac Man. Then I got the Harmony Encore. I now had access to more games than I could ever have imagined. The funny thing is, I only play about 10 of the 800 or so I have on the Harmony. Most of the ones I play are homebrews, but a few are still the same ones I had on carts. I find the games I keep going back to are the ones I always liked or the Homebrews that use the savekey. I really love being able to save my highscores, then go back later to beat them. I've also noticed that I rarely play paddle games, because I'm apparently too lazy to unplug the joystick and plug in the paddles.... Ok, It's not that I'm THAT lazy, It's because of how tight the plugs are. I feel like I'm going to break the ports every time I mess with them.

 

I'm rambling, so I'll stop now before I get completely off topic.

[+Cafeman]

And was that the very last time you played it?

 

Honestly , no it wasn't. I've played a few rounds since then. The game is well made and I find it fun.

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

Its weird cause some of the games you loved as a kid you sometimes see later as complete shit when you're older.

Maybe its part of life jading you sometimes. Just going to list the very first console my family owned, the Atari 2600 which we bought in 1980.

 

Games I still hold in high regard on the system.

 

Space Invaders(this home port is appealing,I just clicked with it. Also much easier than the arcade version which always annoyed me.)

Phoenix (one of my favorites of all time. Probably the first game I played with some good multi stage variety in an Atari 2600 game.)

MsPacMan (bought this on day one,did a billion chores around the house for my parents. The day it released friends and I were floored.

The whole neighborhood's holy grail on my block for us kids back then. Still holds up so damn well. Liked that they added level difficulty where you chose the number of ghosts to play against,made everyone love the game.)

Asteroids(simplistic but the music, the asteroids,space ships,getting high scores,great classic game.

VanGuard(use to play this as a friend's house and always liked it allot. Liked the stage variety and progressive difficulty later in the game.) Still have that invicibility powerup music in my head

PitFall Series(another that I always played at friend's house. But I was there day one for its sequel. Was truly floored by the music and gigantic stage design. I remember really being put off by the difficulty but eventually grew to become better at such a deep game for its time.

Centipede and Millipede(tough but classic fun,so very different from all the ports that the system had. Holds up well even today.)

JungleHunt(Another game I never owned,played at a friend's house.) Tough for me to grow into but enjoyed playing it,reminded me of Donkey Kong with the jumping.)

Donkey Kong (hated it at first,but liked how smooth it ran next to the Colecovision version which was always choppy but still looked so darn good for Coleco. Again,what really sold me on it was the smooth scrolling,just seemed more refined,even though the Colecovision version smoked it graphically. Use to always immediately play the 2600 version after the Colecovision one,just felt better control and scrolling wise. )

I think I gave it a free pass and accepted that it was awful and looked nothing like its arcade cousin but the core gameplay was there so I grew to love it.)

Which is weird because I just could not do the same with Pac-Man.)

 

 

Games that don't hold interest for me anymore

 

Defender(hated,hated,hated this as a kid,played so slow. Use to have sleep overs in 4th grade and friends would play this ghetto port forever. lol)

PacMan(always thought it was bad even as the neighbors held it in high regard)

Night Driver

Haunted House

Moon Patrol(The Atari 2600 version just feels so clunky and sluggish)

Indiana Jones( part of this is age jading me now now, just have no patience to try and solve what I once loved as a kid.)

[+davidcalgary29]

+1 on the Defender 2600 hate. I came to this one after playing the A8 port for years, and found the VCS version to be horribly disappointing. I'm forever grateful for the wonderful Defender Arcade.

[zzip]

Raiders of the Lost Ark - Was a mess back in the day, is still a mess now

A mess in what way?

[+sramirez2008]

Phoenix is definitely a must own and possibly a 2600 exclusive. I don't recall any of the other home consoles of the day having a port of Phoenix.

Missile Command

Front Line

Beamrider

Asteroids

Centipede

Battlezone

Berzerk

Super Breakout

Kaboom!

 

Pitfall and Pitfall II are overrated for me.

[Good_Times]

Food Fight. Food Fight is underrated. As beloved as it is among those in the know, it's still underrated. A nearly perfect gaming experience.

 

I'd love to see a modernized/'remastered' version of this.

 

[RamrodHare]

Food Fight. Food Fight is underrated. As beloved as it is among those in the know, it's still underrated. A nearly perfect gaming experience.

 

I'd love to see a modernized/'remastered' version of this.

 

Food_Fight_1.png

Not to rain on the parade, but Food Fight is for the 7800. I do agree that it's a great game, but there's not a 2600 version of it.

[AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol]

Must haves:

Solaris - in my mind, the highlight of VCS development and great to play

Pitfall II - great game, hours of fun

River Raid - this game is always fun to play

Space Invaders - the original "killer app", a great conversion

 

Overrated:

Atlantis; as others said, it looks great but actually not that much fun

Yars Revenge; this game never did anything for me

Dragster; just underwhelming back then and even more so now

[BassGuitari]

+1 on the Defender 2600 hate. I came to this one after playing the A8 port for years, and found the VCS version to be horribly disappointing. I'm forever grateful for the wonderful Defender Arcade.

Defender 2600? Never heard of it. I'm a big fan of Defender, though.

 

I think the must-have games are pretty well established by now, with the Top 100 lists and all. Contrarians who don't like River Raid notwithstanding. There are plenty of other hidden gems threads if you want to know about some worthy "deep cuts" on the Atari. (Here are some I recently posted.)

 

Speaking of contrarians, some games I think are overrated include (note that I don't think they're objectively bad, just not as subjectively good to me as popular opinion would have me believe):

 

Yars' Revenge - monotony defined

Most Imagic games (notable exceptions being Subterranea and Solar Storm) - their Intellivision lineup is much more interesting to me overall

Kangaroo - I don't know if it really qualifies since it doesn't seem to get talked about that much, but I hate this game

Dig-Dug - just not my cup of tea

Mario Bros. - people laud this game despite its differences from the arcade, but will then trash Pac-Man for the same reason; Mario Bros. is a good game, but come on

Moon Patrol - another one that every seems to love but just doesn't click with me

Dragster - even for an Atari VCS title, this is a minigame

 

I would have lumped Asteroids in there, too (for a long time I thought it was tedious and lame), until a week ago when I decided to sit down with it and explore more of the variations, and maybe see if I could find out what I was missing. I knew Difficulty A was required regardless (no UFOs on B!), but I never knew--because I never cared enough to find out--there were variations that award extra ships at much higher point thresholds. Once I actually had to work to stay alive (as opposed to mindlessly rolling the score because I'd be piling up extra ships every 12 seconds), this game instantly became substantially more enjoyable. Redemption, thy name is Asteroids.

[BassGuitari]

Must Own:

Rescue Terra I

It's a very good game (if a bit of a slow burn), but I'd have a hard time calling any R9 cart a "must own."

 

Definitely worth firing up in an emulator, though, or getting a repro made.

 

Underrated:

Subterranea - Amazing game no one plays

N00bs, maybe. People who've been around a while know about Subterranea.

 

And there are a lot of people with recent join dates and low post counts around here lately.

[Tempest]

N00bs, maybe. People who've been around a while know about Subterranea.

 

Know about it sure, but how many play it? I think I played it once and haven't touched it since. Nothing wrong with it, it just didn't grab me.

 

BTW what's with all the 2600 Moon Patrol hate around here? That game is a gem!

 

I think Gangster Alley is another underrated game. I just wish there were a few more screens for some variety. I wonder how hard that would be to hack in?

[+save2600]

I think Gangster Alley is another underrated game. I just wish there were a few more screens for some variety. I wonder how hard that would be to hack in?

Light-gun support would be awesome too!

[GeekDragon]

My must owns are:

 

Snnoopy vs the Red Baron

H.E.R.O.

The porn games(felt dirty just typing this one).

Frogger 2

Milipede

Porky's

Roc N Rope

Wabbit

 

Overrated:

 

Superman. I've seen this one on a few top 10 lists and I just don't get it.

Edited August 8, 2017 by GeekDragon

[agb]

Must own I think are Super Breakout, Breakout, River Raid, Demon Attack, Solar Fox, DigDug, Enduro. Over rated Pitfall, Space Invaders.

[adamchevy]

Must owns:

 

Boing!(reminds me of qbert, another one of my favorite games, but not on the VCS}

Stampede(so much fun when you get in the groove of your saddle}

Kaboom!(main reason for me to own paddle controllers}

Spider Fighter (I think its a great fast paced shooter}

Adventure( My love for the original Zelda always skews this one higher}

Hero( reminds me of platformers that I love on post nes era systems}

Beamrider(reminds me of the original tron movie for some reason}

Millipede(the reason I own a roller controller}

Freeway(my favorite 2 player 2600 game for a quick match up}

 

overrated and underrated games: I dont feel qualified to list any games in these categories.

Edited August 14, 2017 by adamchevy

[GeekDragon]

Must own I think are Super Breakout, Breakout, River Raid, Demon Attack, Solar Fox, DigDug, Enduro. Over rated Pitfall, Space Invaders.

 

Ptfall overrated? I think not. One of the all time best. But, that's my opinion as it being overrated is yours, and that's all cool.

[Tempest]

 

Ptfall overrated? I think not. One of the all time best. But, that's my opinion as it being overrated is yours, and that's all cool.

 

My problem with Pitfall is that there's no real goal. Sure you can collect all the treasures before the timer runs out, but that's kind of dull. I wish there was an ending screen with a treasure or something and then it would loop but at a harder level. I never really got into 'beat the timer' type games.

[GeekDragon]

 

My problem with Pitfall is that there's no real goal. Sure you can collect all the treasures before the timer runs out, but that's kind of dull. I wish there was an ending screen with a treasure or something and then it would loop but at a harder level. I never really got into 'beat the timer' type games.

 

Growing up, I always heard there was an ending to Pitfall. Of course, I never seen it and found out there wasn't. Would've been cool if there was. I recently bought Pitfall II, but haven't had the time to play it yet.

[AtariLeaf]

 

Ptfall overrated? I think not. One of the all time best. But, that's my opinion as it being overrated is yours, and that's all cool.

 

My problem with it is the pixel perfect jumps that need to be made that I could never successfully achieve which made it frustrating. To get to a certain part and missing a jump over a scorpion by a pixel or two is not fun IMO. For me this is a game better suited for emulation with save states.