What's the "must-have" carts for the 2600?

[atarianer2003]

Hey guys,

 

I need more information. What are the "must-have"-carts for the 2600.

 

Actually there are 106 carts (all PAL) in my collection:

 

Activision: Decathlon (+ manual), Enduro (+ manual), Ghostbusters, Grand Prix, Stampede, Sky Jinks, Kung-Fu Master

 

Atari text: Combat

 

Atari picture: Adventure, Air Sea Battle, Asteroids, Berzerk, Circus Atari, Combat, Dodge 'em, Indy 500, Maze Craze, Missile Command (boxed), Pac-Man (+ manual), Space Invaders, Star Raiders (boxed + VTP), Super Breakout (boxed), Yars' Revenge (boxed), Warlords, Basketball

 

Atari Silver: Dig Dug, Football RS Soccer, Jungle Hunt (+ manual), Kangaroo, Moon Patrol, Ms. Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pole Position (boxed), RS Soccer (boxed), RS Tennis (boxed), RS Volleyball, Stargate, Vanguard

 

Atari red: Jungle Hunt, Mario Bros., Moon Patrol, Pole Position, RS Boxing (boxed), RS Soccer, RS Tennis (boxed), Solaris (boxed), Double Dunk

 

Atari other's: 32 in 1, Sorcerer's Apprentice

 

Parker: Amidar, Frogger, Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back (+ manual), Popeye (SECAM-Label)

 

Quelle/StarSoft black: Astrowar, Boom Bang (orig. Crackpots), World End, Lilly Adventure, King Arthur,

 

Quelle/StarSoft grey: Bobby Geht Nach Hause (orig. Bobby Is Going Home / +manual), Die Ente Und Der Wolf (orig. Pooyan), Die Ratte Und Die Karotten (orig. Gopher /+manual), Eishockey-Fieber (orig. Ice Hockey), Im Reich Der Spinne (orig. Amidar), Motocross (orig. Street Racer), Schießbude (orig. Carnival), Super-Ferrari (orig. Enduro, blue font), Super-Ferrari (orig. Enduro, white font), Strahlen Der Teufelsvögel (orig. Atlantis /boxed), Weltraumtunnel (orig. Laser Gates), Wüstenschlacht (orig. Chopper Command /boxed), Pac Kong

 

Imagic: Atlantis (white), Demon Attack (white), Subterranea (white), Fathom (Text), Star Voyager (Text, +manual)

 

CBS Coleco: Blue Print, Carnival, Donkey Kong, Mouse Trap (+ manual), Venture

 

Spectravision: Cross Force, Gas Hog, Master Builder

 

Unimex/Ariola: Fussball (orig. Championship Soccer)

 

Goliath: Galactic (picture), Time Race (picture), Pac Kong (picture), Open Sesame (blue)

 

Telegames: Kung Fu Superkicks

 

Bit Corp.: Phantompanzer (Phantom Tank /+ manual), Snail Against Squirrel, Open Sesame!

 

FunVision/Quelle: Time Race

 

HES: Winter Games by Epyx (boxed), Ghostbusters by Activision

 

Bomb: Z-Tack

 

Xonox: Double Ender Ghost Manor + Spike's Peak (boxed), Double Ender Robin Hood + Sir Lancelot, Double Ender Robin Hood + Super Kung-Fu

 

ITT: Alien's Return

 

Salu: Keystone Kapers

 

Mike

[GrizzLee]

The Cuttle Cart

Pitfall II

Thrust

 

-Lee

[Room 34]

The Cuttle Cart

 

If only we were all so lucky...

 

It's hard to pin down a list, but here are some of my current favorites:

 

H.E.R.O.

Solaris

Yars' Revenge

Kaboom!

Keystone Kapers

Space Invaders

Frogger

Cosmic Ark

Berzerk

Circus Atari

[tantone56]

hey man you gotta get Q*bert I love that game. If your a big horror fan buff like me than pick up texas chainsaw masacre or halloween...halloween is a better game though.

[Redcurrie]

I would have to say almost any of the Activision cartridges. The sports ones aren't the best but they're still good. The others are wonderful! I'm currently hooked on Beamrider......

[ATARIPITBULL]

How about?

 

1) Raiders of the Lost Ark.

2) Pitfall 1.

3) Adventure.

4) StarWars.

5) Super Cobra.

6) Crazy Climber.

 

 

[ApolloBoy]

Adventure

Pitfall

Pitfall II

Thrust

Combat

Space Invaders

Enduro

River Raid

Chopper Command

The Activision Decathlon

Pressure Cooker

Asteroids

Ms. Pac-Man

H.E.R.O.

Solaris

Jr. Pac-Man

Gravitar

Secret Quest

Warlords

Indy 500

Super Breakout

Defender II/Stargate

[Eduardo]

Here's my Top 50:

http://groups.msn.com/ATARI2600UNACONSOLAU...latari2600.msnw

[BassGuitari]

I don't know how valueable my opinion will be to you (I dig games like Star Ship and Miniature Golf...don't laugh, they're awesome!), but i think some must-have cartridges for any Atari player are:

 

Warlords..................ultimate party game

Video Olympics.........when ya just GOTTA play Pong, but Foozpong is

pretty sweet - get some friends for this one

Ms. Pac-Man.............leader of the Pac

Pitfall.......................Pitfall Harry could take Mario any day

Air-Sea Battle...........who doesn't love to blow stuff up?

Canyon Bomber.......the Sea Bomber game is so addicting it should

be illegal

HERO......................gotta be one of the best games of all time

Indy 500.................Nascar 2003 it ain't...but Nascar 2003 ain't Indy 500.

And besides, you get to use those cool Driving

controllers

Star Ship.................give it a chance. I was skeptical when I first picked

my copy up (i'd heard it was a stinker), but when I

first started it up, I fell in love with it. Explore all the

variations in the dark with "On The Run" from Pink

Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon playing...it's a trip

Circus Atari..............one more reason to run off with the circus

Miniature Golf..........gives Pong a run for its money in terms of primativity

(I don't think that's even a word), but highly playable

[Room 34]

Don't feel bad... I like Miniature Golf too!

 

Star Ship is a dog though!

[oesii]

I think we should have a poll or a vote setup to get the five essential 2600 games decided by consensus. Maybe someone can average all the top 10 lists that have been posted here in the last 2 years

 

Here's 5 that might win:

Pitfall

Berzerk

Space Invaders

Adventure

Warlords

[BassGuitari]

Star Ship is not a dog! And if it were, it's okay cuz I like puppies.

 

As a general rule of thumb, however, I think most of the common games are good games to play (except games like ET or Pac-Man). The way I figure it, these games are common because, naturally, they sold extremely well...and they sold extremely well because people liked to play them, and people liked to play them because they were good games. I realize, in the case of certain games (again, ET or Pac-Man), they sold well because they were hyped extremely well, or because so many were made.

 

But in general, I think most common games are good.

 

 

But I gotta admit, I can get into Pac-Man now and then (I always seem find myself liking the games everyone else hates...I will not stick up for ET however, the game's unplayable by any standard)

[Rob Mitchell]

I have to admit .. I was hanging with some friends late last night .. and we pulled out an Atari 2600 (picked up at a thrift for $1.50) out of the trunk of my car and we set it up. We had a blast playing .. 2600 PACMAN! Played it over and over again .. for about 90 minutes! And they are asking me to bring it back next time!

 

You must have at least one game that represents and uses each of the unique 2600 controllers.

 

Indy 500 with driving controller

Brain Games, Codebreaker with keyboard controller

Circus Atari, SCSIcide, Marble Craze with paddle controller.

Sentinel with the light gun.

Adventure, Thrust with the joystick.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Godzilla]

i think all the Imagic, Fox, Cbs & Tiger games are must haves, but thats just my humble opinion. Personally, I'd be so bold as to add Parker too (with the singular exception of strawberry shortcake,)

[candiru]

I think E.T. is a must have just so you can complain along with almost everyone else about how bad it is.

 

To be truthfull though I haven't really given E.T. a fair shake because I haven't tried playing it again since I first got it. Back then I didn't have the manual or know about AtariAge in order to get the instructions.

[Zeus]

Personally, I like the following:

 

Frostbite

Space Invaders

Pheonix

Tron: Deadly Discs

Ms. Pacman

Seaquest

Missile Command

Chopper Command

many more I haven't thought of yet

 

The best part about collecting for the 2600 is that common carts are the most fun to play. Rarer carts are rare for a reason, they generally blow.

 

Here is my observation that will probably infuriate all 2600 collectors. After playing Quadrun, I realized that the game was a real stinker! All that money for a piece of plastic. Personal advice: Collect for the gaming fun, not for the trophies.

[Godzilla]

Here is my observation that will probably infuriate all 2600 collectors. After playing Quadrun' date=' I realized that the game was a real stinker! All that money for a piece of plastic. Personal advice: Collect for the gaming fun, not for the trophies.[/quote']

 

quadrun is definaety not a game for everyone, it epitomizes what I love about 2600 games, though. It is unique, and requires very quick reflexes and has very fast gameplay. It's by far the best of the really rare 2600 games and up there as one of the best 2600 games period, but I can see how someone might not like it, due to difficulty. And, you really need to know HOW to play the game, too.

[Zeus]

I see your point, it definitely is not easy. Without instructions, it is nearly impossible to understand.

[Godzilla]

COINBIRD! COINBIRD!

[Zeus]

Congradulations! You are the winner of the "guess zeus' avatar contest!" you win one big phat . I was wondering when someone would recognise this fellow.

 

Back on topic:

 

Laser volley is also a fun game.

[Godzilla]

thats just a pirate imagic game (arrrr!) and of course its (Laser Gates) fun, all Imagic games r00l j00 soxx!

 

Thanks for the award :-) now if only I could train birds to bring me quarters to feed my gaming addiction....

[Zeus]

indeed!

[MattyXB]

Activision: Ice Hockey, Keystone Kapers, Megamania

Atari: Asterix, E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Joust, Pengo, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Imagic: Dragonfire (same as King Arthur)

ITT: Peter Penguin

Parker: Q-bert

Tigervision: Miner 2049er, Miner 2049er Volume II

[Sanriostar]

I'm gonna post my slightly-rare favorites, because the conventional wisdom is true: the most fun-to-play carts tend to be the easiest to find. But there are exeptions:

 

Off the Wall

Road Runner

Millipede

BMX Airmaster

Worm War 1