The Bjorkinator Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I'm tying to find the weirdest/strangest Atari 2600 titles that I can get my hands on. I got Sneak'n Peek and I'm honestly not sure how it gets much weirder than that, but I'm sure that it can! Do any of you have any suggestions/must haves for the weirdest games the in library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbk Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Zimag's "I want my Mommy" is pretty odd. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbk Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Mangia from SpectraVision is also incredibly strange, where endless plates of food are being brought to you until your stomach explodes, unless you can shovel them off to the cat at the window or the dog along the floor. Just don't let your mother catch you... 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KaeruYojimbo Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 1 hour ago, keithbk said: Mangia from SpectraVision is also incredibly strange, where endless plates of food are being brought to you until your stomach explodes, unless you can shovel them off to the cat at the window or the dog along the floor. Just don't let your mother catch you... That's usually the first game that comes to mind for me when someone says "name a weird Atari game." Mr. Postman is pretty trippy but kinda fun too. The actual gameplay in Deadly Duck isn't particularly strange, but you control a duck shooting at flying crabs that drop bricks on you, which is pretty weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 This probably qualifies for strange and definitely dark, The Wicked Father. I didn't know if you only wanted classic 2600 games as this is a homebrew from 2011. The premise is that you've locked your family in the basement and are flooding the house, drowning them in the process. You've now got to escape the rising water before you drown too so you can collect the life insurance. It's a dark premise but a pretty fun platformer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 HeadKicker. The goal is to sit there all day long pressing the fire button, to kick someone in the head. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magmavision2000 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I'd like to nominate Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle as one of the weirder 2600 games. The game itself isn't that weird, it's your run of the mill 2600 shooter, but the sounds are otherworldly. There's also Atari Video Cube where you play as an elf who's only purpose in life is to change the color on a cube. As you can tell, I don't know of a lot of weird games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I'm just looking over my little game shelf, because I like to collect weird games specifically. So here's the ones that stand out, for one reason or another, to me. No qualifying reasons. I'll leave that up to anyone here. Go ahead and expound on any of these if you want to. Tooth Protectors Tax Avoiders A Misterious Theif Mines of Minos Kool-Aid Man Riddle of the Sphinx Extra Terrestrials Beany Bopper Journey Escape Quadrun viva 2600... the weirdest library of all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrummy Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Demons to Diamonds may satisfy your craving for metaphorical madness as you carefully push your laser into the correct colored demonic entity and it is reincarnated as a diamond, the diamond can then be shot for big points. If you lase the wrong colored demon it becomes a floating death head and will try and kill you. Fun for one or two players (at the same dang time) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Chase the Chuckwagon. It's a game based on dog food and often cited as an example of the silly shovelware being pumped out that resulted in the crash. Any Atari 2600 adult games. The idea of porn being produced for a console where everything looks like blocks and stick figures is bizarre and hilarious. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You actually play as the killer trying to massacre innocent people. This was an unusual concept for the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrummy Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Telepathy strikes me an wonderfully bizarre and unusual game. I can't help but feel a atemporal connection with Donny Darko or some other strange Rabbit. Jimmy Stewarts Harvey Perhaps. Hope the video will satisfy your needs. It's all true. The Incredible True Facts of Space can not lie. For great Justice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Spike's Peak: straightforward concept, weird (but cool) implementation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzard Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerpoco Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Coconuts and Fast Food are a bit strange as well. Buuurp!!! Master Builder is another odd one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 My first thought involves 2 pretty well known games. Adventure and Superman;...And this might be hard to explain, not due to some weird gameplay, but rather the difference between arcade games where there was always something going on, and the idea that both of these games would have rooms or screens where there might be a static backdrop with no enemies for a time. They actually gave you a moment sometimes to relax and take it all in, but it also felt isolated, lonely, and strangely melancholic to me. I've actually always liked games that allow you to explore or take a breather from time to time to appreciate your surroundings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfAmongWolves Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Hmm, I guess it really depends on how you define weird. A lot of games may have unusual gameplay, but they still have a story/objective that makes sense. Going by that definition, Sneak'n'Peek isn't actually all that weird. It's two people playing hide and seek, pretty normal stuff. For me, an example of a truly weird game is Amidar. A gorilla being chased by warriors and a paintroller being chased by pigs, trying to fill in squares on a grid. There's no rhyme or reason to the characters or the objective. The same goes for Quick Step, which features a squirrel and a kangaroo jumping on trampolines. No story, no motives, it's pretty much just random nonsense. In both of these games you could replace any of the characters with pretty much anything else, and it would make just as much sense as before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidus79001 Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 On 9/1/2020 at 3:27 AM, CaptainBreakout said: I'm just looking over my little game shelf, because I like to collect weird games specifically. So here's the ones that stand out, for one reason or another, to me. No qualifying reasons. I'll leave that up to anyone here. Go ahead and expound on any of these if you want to. Tooth Protectors Tax Avoiders A Misterious Theif Mines of Minos Kool-Aid Man Riddle of the Sphinx Extra Terrestrials Beany Bopper Journey Escape Quadrun viva 2600... the weirdest library of all. On 9/1/2020 at 11:40 AM, mbd30 said: Chase the Chuckwagon. It's a game based on dog food and often cited as an example of the silly shovelware being pumped out that resulted in the crash. Any Atari 2600 adult games. The idea of porn being produced for a console where everything looks like blocks and stick figures is bizarre and hilarious. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You actually play as the killer trying to massacre innocent people. This was an unusual concept for the time. Chase the Chuckwagon is an an early example of tie in promotional marketing. Really was a new concept then for game. I suspect that Tooth Decay is supposed to be the Crest, Cavity Creeps but wasn't officially licensed (I am sure that the programmer took inspiration from the Crest commercials that were being ran during that same period of time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 (edited) Edited September 13, 2020 by Rom Hunter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommodoreDecker Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 On 8/31/2020 at 10:16 PM, keithbk said: Mangia from SpectraVision is also incredibly strange, where endless plates of food are being brought to you until your stomach explodes, unless you can shovel them off to the cat at the window or the dog along the floor. Just don't let your mother catch you... Undoubtedly, "Mangia" is the most original video game ever. A little bizarre, but original nonetheless. That said, it should have been much more popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommodoreDecker Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 I always thought that as far as "games" was concerned Atari's BASIC Programming was weird. For an actual game, I always thought "China Syndrome" was a tad bizarre. I mean, you're collecting different types of radiation. But then, not as far-fetched as an alien armada attacking Earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 3D tic tac toe, although it is a fine line between weird and terrible idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 18 hours ago, CommodoreDecker said: This game definitely had some unique mechanics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 I am surprised that nobody has mentioned any of the Swordquest games. They are completely pointless since the contest ended, and largely incoherent at best. Put random objects into various rooms and receive cryptic numeric clues in return. It does not get much stranger than this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torr Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 Selling the game in countries where people couldn't even compete was strange. Continuing to press copies into the late 80's when the contest was WELL over and abandoned, was strange too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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