The ones you really wanted, but didn't get

[Gabriel]

This is a thread about the games you wanted, but never got, when the Atari 2600 was big.

 

Slot Racers = This was due mostly to that cool art for the game in the catalog. I never did see this game in a store.

 

Demons to Diamonds = for some reason I really wanted this game. I have no idea why. Looking back on it now, it seems I was lucky not to get it.

 

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle = I REALLY wanted this, but never could get it. Now that I do have it, I know it would have occupied me for ages as a kid.

 

Ms. Pac-Man = Everyone seemed to have it but me, and it was so much better than regular Pac-Man.

 

Spacechase = I don't know. I just wanted it. It reminded me of Cosmic Encounter, which was the first arcade game I was ever hooked on.

 

Phoenix = This was one of my favorite arcade games when I was a kid, but, for some reason, I didn't get the home version.

 

Space War = I really loved the vector version, and I lusted after the version I saw in the 2600 catalog. However, now that I've played it, it seems I was lucky that no store stocked this cart.

 

Centipede = Despite the graphics, I wanted this bad. One day I almost got it, but I ended up buying a trak-ball for my 2600 instead. (If I had known about Millipede back then, I would have wanted it too.)

 

Starmaster = I loved the idea of Star Raiders type games, so I desperately wanted this one because it was the "good" version of that type of game for the 2600. (I really hated the 2600 version of Star Raiders)

 

Crazy Climber = I wasn't able to buy it when it was offerred in Atari Age, so I missed out.

 

Jr. Pac-Man = I only learned about this one after the crash. It was sitting there in the bargain bin at KayBee for $5 (the most expensive of any of the games in the bin). I fished in my pocket and found... no money. I begged a friend to loan me the $5, but, as you can guess, everyone was stingy that day. When I came back to the mall later, armed with money, the game was gone.

[Phineasfool]

I wanted the Atari 2600 itself. I was never lucky enough to get one back when they were the big thing. Making up for that now though.

[+HatNJ]

I agree with some you have listed

 

Slot Racers - Did see in stores but always sid "Next WeeK"

 

Flag Capture - Dont know why Played on friends and Liked it

 

Hunt N Score/Concentration - Had chance to buy as Hunt n Scorein the Pink box but Did like Slot Racers "Ahh Maybe Next time Im here Ill get it"

 

Basketball, Mini. Golf, Golf (have em now but no boxes or manuals

 

Any of the Atari Club Exclusives

 

Quadrun, Crazy Climber, Atari Video Cube

Money when they were out was too tight UGH shouldve just went broke or debt for those

 

I did finally get Atari Video Cube for $65 on ebay a couple yrs ago Cart and Manual Mint but No box Id kill for the box to it

 

Im sure theres more just trying to think off top of my head.

 

Oh as for Jr Pacman I got 2 copies new in box a year or 2 ago I think they are still floating around Funny you said for $5 thats what I pd for 2 copies

 

Starmaster Oh yeah I liked it better than Star Raiders for the 2600 never got it for my own til 2004

 

Pressure Cooker - Cuz I ws a cook in Restaurants for years just finally got 1 copie not too long ago but it acts up this one is not tooo easy to find

 

Activision Games Esp Later games I wish I just bought all the relases at the time

Edited February 13, 2006 by HatNJ

[Lord Helmet]

When the silver-box era started at Atari, I can remember wanting every single arcade release, becase they were starting to actually LOOK like the games from the arcade. I ended up getting a bunch of them, but not all. I remember wanting all o fthe Coleco and CBS games too, since they were arcade games...

 

Ones I wanted but never got as a kid:

 

DK Junior

Mouse Trap

Time Pilot

Star Wars: The Arcade Game

Gorf

Omega Race

Wizard of Wor

Burgertime

Galaxian

Crazy Climber

Track & Field

Jungle Hunt

Phoenix

 

Other non arcade games:

 

Pitfall 2

Enduro

Robot tank

Adventure

 

 

Man, there were sooo many. I wanted them all! I used to drool over the Sears Wishbook every year...and not just at x-mas...I'm talking all year.

[black dog]

I remember looking through the Sears Christmas Catalog and wanting Smurf so badly. I would open up the catalog every day and look at the Atari 2600 games. I did get it for Christmas and was not disappointed.

[rorysl]

Man I wanted so many!!

 

Smurf = I was a HUGE Smurf fan back in the day and I REALLY wanted this game. When I'd visit my grandparents I could borrow it from a friend but I never had it myself. Finally picked it up on a newsgroup in the late 90's.

 

He-Man = REALLY wanted this one too. I've never even seen a copy.

 

Frostbite = What an awesome game! I loved the sound you made when you'd hop from ice-pan to ice-pan. Just recently picked this one up and I'm dying to re-create an old experiment when I get my 2600 from my parents. Maybe one of you guys can beat me to it : I remember playing Frostbite on my 2600 at home with a Sega Genesis controller. When I'd hit one of the buttons the ice blocks on my igloo would disappear one by one.

 

Burgertime = I played it in an arcade while on vacation and fell in love with it. Saw the glossy ads in the back of comic books and wanted it but never got it. Dodged that bullet!!

 

Mario Bros. = I actually played Super Mario Bros on the NES at a friend's house first and then later heard about the 2600 regular Mario Bros. I totally wanted it. Man, would I have been disappointed! Don't get me wrong Mario Bros. is great, but not when you're expecting SUPER Mario Bros.

 

Xonox Sir Lancelot / Robin Hood = Neighbour had it. I wanted it. Just recently I had a friend unload a ton of his games on me -- it was in the batch!

 

That's all I can remember for now!

Rory

[+uosipa llamxew]

I was just little when our VCS got most of its lovin'. We only had 4 channels on the television and I couldn't read, so I didn't see many commercials or read any advertisements.

 

I only remember one commercial I saw back then. There were a couple of kids playing an atari game when light flashes from the television and they are sucked into the screen. Inside the television, they ride around on a magic carpet (still controlled by an Atari joystick). I don't remember if they showed any of the game's enemies nor do I remember seeing any graphics for the game. The commercial inspired quite a few dreams in my young mind; I would love to know, find, and have whatever game it was advertising.

Edited February 13, 2006 by mojofltr

[NE146]

Good question!

 

Man if I had KNOWN there was a Crazy Climber back then I would have freaked out and done anything to get it. CC was one of my favorite arcade games. But, as is I never even knew it came out for the 2600 until almost 15 years later. Quadrun would have held zero interest to me though as it wasn't an arcade port. Hell I didn't even hear about that game until recently.

 

I guess I always wanted more Imagic games. But they were few and far between and hard to find where I lived. I also wanted a lot of CBS games such as Omega Race a whole lot. I also wanted a Supercharger but I could never find those either.

 

But after that once I got my 5200 I mostly concentrated on that.

[Vic George 2K3]

Wizard Of Wor was one I didn't get back in the days (and would've wanted).

[Kid Ice]

Hard to say since everything I wanted I bought for a few bucks after the crash. Zaxxon, Spiderman, Home Run, Venture, and Phoenix were all games I really wanted that I didn't get until the crash.

[Big Player]

I wanted all of the Activision games except Bridge and Checkers.

[+Nathan Strum]

Crazy Climber - I had the order form for it, and for some reason never ordered it.

 

Starpath games - I have six of 'em, but I had the chance to get the rest on close-out, and again, never ordered them.

 

Threshold - I bought Marauder instead. I have no idea why. Maybe the box looked cooler. I was young and stupid. It was through the Columbia Video Game Club. I didn't do very well ordering stuff, did I?

 

I'd bought (and returned) a bunch of mediocre games, so I was able to weed out the losers for the most part. Eventually, the stores caught on and stopped exchanging opened games for different ones.

[graywest]

Frostbite = What an awesome game!  I loved the sound you made when you'd hop from ice-pan to ice-pan.  Just recently picked this one up and I'm dying to re-create an old experiment when I get my 2600 from my parents.  Maybe one of you guys can beat me to it : I remember playing Frostbite on my 2600 at home with a Sega Genesis controller.  When I'd hit one of the buttons the ice blocks on my igloo would disappear one by one.

1017887[/snapback]

 

I think that's the way it's supposed to work with any controller - when you are on a row of ice-blocks, you can push the controller button to reverse its direction. Doing so can save you from being pushed off the edge by a crab or bird, but you lose a block from your igloo. Took me awhile to notice that there was a penalty...

[rorysl]

I think that's the way it's supposed to work with any controller - when you are on a row of ice-blocks, you can push the controller button to reverse its direction.  Doing so can save you from being pushed off the edge by a crab or bird, but you lose a block from your igloo.  Took me awhile to notice that there was a penalty...

1018289[/snapback]

 

Wow! I didn't realize that -- and here I thought I had discovered some crazy glitch!!!

 

Rory

[SHAGOHOD X99]

Well back when my pops had bought the Atari 2600 VCS @ a yard sale with like 20 or so games the year was 1983, things were already going down hill for the gaming industry as I remember TOYS R US and KayBee Toys selling most of the games (already) at no more than $25.00 a pop. Because of that, both before and during the video game crash, which I had no idea about at the time... well I more or less got a buttload of games if I behaved and brought home good grades. There were more than a few though I never got:

 

KABOOM!

---still have yet to play this as of 2006

 

Midnight Magic

---still have yet to play this as of 2006

 

Crazy Climber

SMURF

M*A*S*H

Atari Circus

Buck Rogers & Planet of Zoom

 

There were more than that I'm sure, but this is what comes to mind right now.

[Lord Thag]

Good topic!

 

Yeah, for me there were several:

 

Riddle of the Sphinx & Cosmic Ark. I drooled over the Imagic catalog for hours wondering what these games were like. When I got them years later, they actually exceeded my expectations. Imagic is just about the only company from back then to do that.

 

Star Trek. My cousin had this, and wouldn't let me play it. He was kind of a jerk back then. Another great game. I bought all of my cousins games from him years later. He really regreted it when 'retro' gaming caught on. Now it's ME who won't let HIM play

 

All the swordquest games, Swordquest Waterworld in particular. THE titles I really wanted way back when. I got earthworld and fireworld in my teens and spent hours trying to figure them out (no instructions). Unlike most folks around here, I don't hate them. They are kind of fun in a salvador dali ink blot test kind of way

 

Then there was my personal 'holy grail' Waterworld. I was expecting it to suck by the time I got it, given the awful reviews and the other two games, but it's the best of the bunch. Much easier to figure out, and actually challenging. Kind of a logic puzzle crossed with a couple of arcade games. I like it.