Asteroids
By: Atari Inc
Year: 1981
Genre: Arcade, Shoot 'em Up
Length: Until you get bored.
Mostly known for its arcade fame, Asteroids was ported to the Atari 2600! Simple and addicting, you move your around and shoot as many asteroids as you can, a mother ship may appear randomly and try to shoot you, if you shoot the mother ship you get some bonus points PLUS there is a new function in this game I didn't know that much about called the HYPERSPACE that when you press down (that I never do in a game like asteroids) you are teleported to a random part of the screen, this may be a bad idea considering you can be hit by asteroids so I don't recommend anyone doing this, I also did a little research and discovered that some games come with the hyperspace some don't, in fact there are allot of different version of this game that include a shield, no mothership, with mother ship, flipping the ship, INVISIBLE ASTEROIDS, zig zag asteroids, no special power at all and EVEN 2 PLAYERS...Wow! I guess owning a copy of Asteroids for the Atari 2600 has all to do with luck! This port unlike the original arcade game that used vectors has vivid pixilated colorful rainbow asteroids, which make the game more cheerful than the original dark and atmospheric arcade version. I also find that this version of Asteroids is a bit easier than the original... Bullets fire faster, most of the asteroids are to the far left or right and not the center you begin in. Either way it's a great port, maybe one of the best ports of its time being, if you have a Atari 2600 you just gotta pick this one up because it’s god damn ASTEROIDS and who doesn't want to play this game?
Berzerk
By: Stern Electronics
Year: 1982
Genre: Arcade, Isometic Shooter
Length: Until you get bored.
You're a guy in a deserted planet where all your fellow companions are dead and you are trying to survive a maze full of crazy robots, you can shoot in all 8 angles but the robots in this version of the game can only shoot in 4 angles being: up, down, left and right. The original version on the arcade had more difficulty considering the robots could shoot diagonally just like the character you play, so i guess you can consider the Atari 2600 version of Berzerk is a more simple and casual version to play, making it only better and more addictive. With each panel you go to, the game turns harder making the robots walk faster and bullets come faster as well. You have the option to play with evil otto or not play with otto that is a evil smiley face that comes after a time you've been in the room, meaning it's a sort of a time-limit thing. What's so evil about a smiley face anyways? Maybe he's just... Misunderstood. Talking about smiley faces, if you see the explosion of the robots really well you can see a smiley face in the explosion... That's kind of odd but a nice feature i guess. I also feel that the death in this game is TRAUMATIZING and pretty scary because YOU ARE ZAPPED TO DEATH and the sound effect for being zapped in this game is so loud. Anyways this is considered to be one of the best games for the Atari 2600, and it's obligatory to get this one.
Breakout
By: Atari, Inc
Year: 1978
Genre: Arcade, Pong
Length: Until you get bored.
A nice and simple port of the original classic arcade game. You’re a bar and you need to move that bar to bounce this ball that is constantly bouncing to hit this pattern of blocks, you cannot let the ball fall or you lose, when you destroy all the blocks on the screen you win a stage. Oh and did I mention the pattern of blocks in this is a big cheerful rainbow? Also each block in a upper row makes your ball goes faster. The movements in this version of Breakout are kind of flickerish in my opinion; there will be moments where you will perfectly be ready to bounce the ball and suddenly you accidently do a little nibble movement and BAM! Your bar is at the end of the screen like it was afraid of something on the other side. Going past 400 points in this game takes PURE SKILL, by then it would be so fast you would have to move your board in a blink or you would lose, it is also frustrating because not only does the speed of the gameplay get faster but the
Example
stage automatically starting starts faster too. Another weird thing in this version is a block being destroyed diagonally (see the example picture over there), and in a game of Breakout I cannot see how this is even remotely possible, and this HAPPENS ALLOT trough playing the game so it's an often problem for me. I also heard that the famous and legendary Steve Jobs worked on this project with Steve Wozniak, so that's some nice trivia for you. I don't find this game as mandatory as many people do to own for your Atari, they are much better versions of this game across history and the world, but this is a nice game to own, either way.
Centipede
Combat
Demon Attack
By: Imagic
Year: 1982
Genre: Shoot 'em Up
Length: Until you get bored.
It's a typical game with the Space Invader formula of shooting aliens down... Or demons considered there called that (Even though its hard to believe there demons with alien-like technology like that, what next? UFOs being called Satanic Futuristic Ships? I KNOW THERES SOMEONE THERE WHO BELIEVES THIS AND IT DOESN'T AMUSE ME ONE BIT). First of all, this game has to have the smoothest and best animation in the entire Atari 2600 library, the way the ships give there entrance in some of the most coolest transitions, the colors in the game have a great variety and when you die, the point screen bellow flashes into the entire rainbow. Gameplay is pretty simple and as i said before it has a similar style to Sapce Invader, but it isn't as all like Space Invader, instead of simple patterns going from left to right it's complex enemies that usually come waggling in circles that usually respond to what side you go on the screen, each row of enemies gets stronger, some enemies split into 2 homing enemies (which are enemies with no purpose other than trying to kamikaze kill you) and some other enemies that simply manourver easier and shoot other type of shooting paterns. I love the simple fact that the bullet which comes out of the ship is clearly visible inside it before you shoot it out.
Demon Attack is a simple shooter with addicting personality, challenging enemies and awesome animation that surpasses most of games for the Atari 2600, this game is a must have if you want a good shooter in your Atari 2600 library.
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Enduro
Fast Food
Frogger
Frostbite
Joust
Jr. Pac-Man
Kangaroo
Kaboom!
Mario Bros.
Megamania
Millipede
Montezuma's Revenge
Mountain King
Mountain king may look like a simple game for you at first but, believe me... It's more than that.
If you do a perfect jump at a precise angle... You may find it... The Glitch heaven.
Pitfall
By: Activision
Year: 1982
Genre: Platformer
Length: 1 hour
This is it, THE Atari 2600 game, the one everyone loves and remembers as the most classic adventure platform game on the planet when it comes to Atari. I'm not really a professional about knowing what to do in this game, the only thing i did was go look for treasure but I do hear that if you go right it's a easier path to find treasure than going left, but then again, going left is easier not in finding treasure but living! Barrels OR haystacks (I wouldn't really know if there are any haystacks in forests OR BARRELS for that matter) when touched don't kill you but drains your point bar fast, and considering you go in the left path which is the same direction the barrels are going, it’s easier to avoid them. Another neat thing about the left path is that when you die you are spawned at the other side so that's just the game helping you pass a difficult part. On the right side on the other hand (the right hand in this case ho ho ho) it's obviously harder to avoid barrels considering there going towards you and the game doesn't give you a chance to pass a part when you die. The platform challenges are few but enough for a simple Atari game, there are rope sequences, crocodile sequences and reappearing disappearing holes either of water or VOIDNESS. Sometimes these sequences will mix both a little for example: a rope where crocodiles are under. The crocodile sequences are the hardest of the bunch considering it's all about timing, when the crocodile’s mouths are shut you can jump on top of them all really fast and when they are open you are swallowed whole by them. Another thing that shocked me is that I never knew that if you just go on the tippy top of the pixel on the head of the crocodile you could survive and then later slowly plan your jumps, i never knew you could even do this I just simply jumped over them all fast using GOD-LIKE timing. The animation. Is Amazing. It may not be the best in the entire Atari 2600 library but you can notice in the first seconds of gameplay that the walking animation on the pitfall guy, the rope swinging back and forth and the holes appearing and reappearing are clear to see what's happening and have a smooth animation. Many say Pitfall is a must have game due to its fame on being one of the first actual platform adventure games but I really don't find it that necessary, and to be honest compared to other adventure games on the Atari it's pretty short in terms of level design (I know right! Me complaining about length in a Atari game?). But still it's mandatory to try this game out because of it being a gem in video game history.
Plaque Attack
Pong
Q*Bert
River Raid
Space Invaders
Vanguard
Yar's Revenge