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Top 10 Worst Games on the 2600 (In my Opinion)


Atariperson23

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RE: Basic Math, it reminds me of Nintendo billing the Famicom as a "Family Computer System." Couldn't be "family oriented" without some kind of edutainment stuff on it. I doubt the strategy worked out for Atari on Basic Math though. I also would have been severely disappointed to have received that as a kid instead of just getting an actual game. But, I understand now why they made it. 

 

Out of the 2600 games I have played, Karate & Nightmare compete for the absolute worse spot. Dishaster a close one - not because it's unplayable, but because it's one of the most boring "games" I've ever played. I'd rather do simple math stuff, as at least then I have to think. Dishaster was just dumb.

 

On arcade ports, many of the games on the 2600 were the first time I was exposed to particular games - being a kid with no arcade close by in the 80's, I had no idea that Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Asteroids, etc. started in the arcade first. Without any comparisons in my mind, or disappointments to suffer from, I had a lot of fun with most of the games as they were. Granted, I figured out that Pac-Man and DK had better versions elsewhere, particularly the arcade, but that doesn't negate the time and fun I had with the 2600 ports. 

 

One port that did flummox me a bit back then was Zaxxon. Although I suppose that they did manage to nail the frustrating "feature" of making it tough to figure out where object collision actually was. Still, that was a port I could never get behind.

 

Almost everything from Data Age and Mythicon is flaming garbage. Data Age only saved itself with Frankenstein's Monster. A friend of mine had Starfox back then and we would occasionally plug it in, try and figure it out, then turn it off in frustration. We also thought it was related to SNES Starfox when the latter first came out, but struggled to figure out how.

 

One absolutely terrible POS game that I'm surprised doesn't get mentioned more often is Atari's StarShip. I've given this one a chance a few times and still find it to be absolute trash. I can't see how people back-in-the-day could have enjoyed it. Definitely one of the worst of the system - in my humble opinion. :P

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22 hours ago, Atariperson23 said:

Basic Maths belongs on a Commodore 64, not an Atari 2600 IMO.

 

Quite a strange thing to say as for one the Commodore 64 is a far more capable machine, Came out 5 years later and it had a good selection of educational software, most of which was quite sophisticated.

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5 minutes ago, Atariperson23 said:

Why Nightmare?

I only tried this back when my Cuttle Cart II was working (which has been a while - over 10 years), and it's entirely possible that I didn't give it a fair shake, since I had no manual to refer to. But as I recall, the screen was just a mess of blocks and it made no sense what you were supposed to do. Because of that I don't know if it was unplayable, but it felt like I was playing an unfinished, shoddy demo of a game. If anything Dishaster at least allows you to spin the plates and animates that part ok. Nightmare was like trying to interact with digital vomit. 

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Just now, Shaggy the Atarian said:

I only tried this back when my Cuttle Cart II was working (which has been a while - over 10 years), and it's entirely possible that I didn't give it a fair shake, since I had no manual to refer to. But as I recall, the screen was just a mess of blocks and it made no sense what you were supposed to do. Because of that I don't know if it was unplayable, but it felt like I was playing an unfinished, shoddy demo of a game. If anything Dishaster at least allows you to spin the plates and animates that part ok. Nightmare was like trying to interact with digital vomit. 

Level 1: Avoid the birds, jump ropes, climb into helicopter

Level 2: Beat the demon things into birds, climb into helicopter

Level 3: Get balloons, turn it into demon things, climb into helicopter

:)

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2 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

When mentioning Combat and Space War, I think back to the absolute roots of Atari as these were my first 2 games ever, so bad though they may be,  I will always have a soft spot for them.

 

Now perhaps even more strange, some years back, but still within the last decade, I had some friends over, (One of whom always played the latest, modern games) and they insisted we play some Combat (Especially Tank Pong!) and we followed it up with Space War and, now maybe this was the beer talking, but we had a blast!  I'd probably consider them to be boring too, if that hadn't happened...

 

I now think that maybe it's just a matter of setting aside some preconceived notions, or maybe lowering your expectations, or the idea that you need (at least) 2 players,...And...In the right mindset, and with friends over,  Both games are pretty fun.

I get that. My best friend had an Intellivision and I had an Atari growing up. As a result, we tended to play the Intellivision more when we were together and I played the Atari when I was alone. Combat never really grew on me. I included Space War on the list because I actually purchased Space War and that stung a little more than getting a ho-hum game as the pack-in.

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4 minutes ago, cvga said:

I get that. My best friend had an Intellivision and I had an Atari growing up. As a result, we tended to play the Intellivision more when we were together and I played the Atari when I was alone. Combat never really grew on me. I included Space War on the list because I actually purchased Space War and that stung a little more than getting a ho-hum game as the pack-in.

Yeah, Spacewar wasn't as good, especially when you see the box art...

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25 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

RE: Basic Math, it reminds me of Nintendo billing the Famicom as a "Family Computer System." Couldn't be "family oriented" without some kind of edutainment stuff on it.

Yeah.

 

The thing with the original 'Famicom' though- which takes its name of course from 'Family Computer' is you could get a keyboard that could plug into the expansion port.

 

The family aspect was built into the design from the start. Much like with the SNES and Mario Paint and Mario Paint Composer.
 

You could also get a BASIC programming language cart as well to make your own programs and even games

so it gave far more credence to this claim because BASIC programming gave you a whole world of education and family orientated possibilities. 

 

When it went across the water (to the US), they took away the expansion port and therefore began to refer to it as the NES. Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

Quote

I doubt the strategy worked out for Atari on Basic Math though. I also would have been severely disappointed to have received t

hat as a kid instead of just getting an actual game. But, I understand now why they made it. 

I think education titles on the 2600 were very much an after-thought.

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, NE146 said:

Ok. But just so you know it's actually the reverse, as it was the 2600 Space War spaceship that found its way into 2600 Asteroids. ?

Good point. In that case I'd intentionally fly my spaceship into an asteroid field also to get away from that boring game.

 

 

2 hours ago, NE146 said:

Else I say Amidar.. really a piss poor port.

Amidar was on my dishonorable unmention list but I thought I had shared enough "suck" for one day lol. For the record I also considered Bugs, Spiderdroid, Sky Jinks, Dishaster, Combat, Krull, Zaxxon and Crypts of Chaos.

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8 minutes ago, Atariperson23 said:

The Channel F was that popular? I never knew about it until reading a book about consoles at college...

 

5 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

it wasn't so much that it was popular or not popular.

 

The console was released in '76, so before Atari, and Atari must have been looking at all possible competition at that time

I never knew anyone that had one, and I've never seen one in any thrift stores. It couldn't have been that popular. :)

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Don't you all think it should be up to the individual to decide if he/she thinks Basic Math is one of the worse games?  The word OPINION is right at the top of the page!   Sure, it makes for good debate...And a lot of things have been said that remind me of the time frame (Few options, first attempts etc.,)....But I'd say let anyone make up their own mind as to what's bad...

 

Even having it all on Harmony for sure...I can't seem to bring myself to play Basic Math so I won't have an official opinion on that one.   Maybe I don't see myself enjoying it too much.  I got an A in College Algebra...Went on to Calculus etc., (not that I remember it now (heh)), so something tells me it might not be my bag...

 

In truth, I tend to think in TOP 10 lists when it comes to Atari, not WORST Games...But that's me...

 

What am I doing over here? :ponder:

 

 

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1 minute ago, GoldLeader said:

Don't you all think it should be up to the individual to decide if he/she thinks Basic Math is one of the worse games?  The word OPINION is right at the top of the page!   Sure, it makes for good debate...And a lot of things have been said that remind me of the time frame (Few options, first attempts etc.,)....But I'd say let anyone make up their own mind as to what's bad...

 

Even having it all on Harmony for sure...I can't seem to bring myself to play Basic Math so I won't have an official opinion on that one.   Maybe I don't see myself enjoying it too much.  I got an A in College Algebra...Went on to Calculus etc., (not that I remember it now (heh)), so something tells me it might not be my bag...

 

I truth, I tend to think in TOP 10 lists when it comes to Atari, not WORST Games...But that's me...

 

What am I doing over here? :ponder:

 

 

Yes, it's your own opinion and you're free to think what you want. But not a lot of people will put Basic Math in their top 10 lists...

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1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Almost everything from Data Age and Mythicon is flaming garbage.

I used to think that based on Airlock... but a few years back I got "Encounter at L-5" and "Warplock" and I actually enjoy both of them.  Neither is a great game, but IMHO they redeemed Data Age in my eyes.  I go back to both periodically.  Of course YMMV, I can see why most of their catalog would be on your list ;)

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2 minutes ago, BydoEmpire said:

I used to think that based on Airlock... but a few years back I got "Encounter at L-5" and "Warplock" and I actually enjoy both of them.  Neither is a great game, but IMHO they redeemed Data Age in my eyes.  I go back to both periodically.  Of course YMMV, I can see why most of their catalog would be on your list ;)

Anything Data Age except Sssnake and maybe Bugs is a winner in my eyes! (I need glasses)

 

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