Congo bongo was cool.
I loved playing Joust on my buddies Atari, and it and Asteroids as well as Ms. Pac Man where the big games I remember playing a ton of.
I logged more hours on Asteroids than any other 2600 game.
Yars Revenge - went off to college and found a guy in the dorm with a 2600 in good condition. We started having Yars Revenge marathons.
River Raid We got this the first or second Christmas after my family moved from where I was born. I remember my dad sitting down and asking if he could give it a go and then watching raptured as he proceeded to play it for a couple of hours. He wasn’t a big video game guy (he loved Pinball, though), but for some reason this captured his attention, if only for a little while.
Adventure - Played and beaten a zillion times. Young me was so fascinated by this game and yet couldn’t have anticipated what was to come.
Megamania - a fun Space Invaders inspired shooter. Each stage of aliens had different patterns.
Indiana Jones - ok so the movie didn’t feature a spider. And it had weird bits. But I loved it just the same.
It is funny, because I was hesitating putting Indy Jones in there - sort of a guilty pleasure, as while I remember the game being horrible, it was also mysterious, thanks in part to its convoluted symbology, and it featured a rendering of title song, something so rare and astounding it was almost worth the experience, back then!
A very strange game. I never really understood how to play it but it haunted me somehow. I feel like there was some weird secret room.
This was on the 7800 though.
Heh, this is what reminded me of congo bongo.
I traded congo bongo to a friend for Indiana Jones… and then he moved away, and I never got it back. And Indiana Jones sucked.
The big issue with it is that it didn’t really have any clear way by which you were supposed to figure out what to do.
Anyone who wants to know more about Howard Scott Warshaw, the developer of Yars’ Revenge and E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, check out this GDC Classic Game Postmortem talk. He’s an interesting fellow.
All I know is I had an Atari when I was in Jr. High, I couldn’t tell you what the numbers after it where. I didn’t realize it actually mattered, so I retract my entry! :)
Oh man, in those days the difference between a 2600 and a 7800 was like the difference between a 2600 and a Colecovision – in other words, massive. :)
Plus, I didn’t know anybody who had a 7800 back in the day. Or a 5200, for that matter, though I always lusted after both.
Yar’s Revenge had an accompanying comic book pack-in right? I got some Atari Force one too that came with a game and I don’t know how it ended. Or am I imagining things?
I played a lot of Yar’s Revenge and even did well enough to roll over the score counter - but I still don’t think I actually understand it.
Had a 5200 and it was awesome, except for the soft buttons that went bad.
I played Star Raiders on it first and loved it. Then I tried it on my friends 2600…lololol…just no.
2600 wise its mostly the ones already mentioned, but the ones I played the most were prob Adventure, Asteroids, Missile Command, River Raid, and even a few of the later Real Sports games were ok, soccer being the best I think.
Oh man, GREAT topic bringing back lots of memories.
Among those I recall, mostly with fondness:
- Pitfall…like someone upthread said…Duh!
- Kaboom…I can still remember the sound effect when you missed…sht sht sht sht sht sht BOOM!
- Pole Position…I loved Loved LOVED the arcade version, and the 2600 version might have been my most played game.
- Battlezone…I loved Loved LOVED the arcade version…the 2600 version, not so much.
- Laserblast…the 1st and only Activision game where I took a picture of the “winning” screen (scores all turned to !'s) and sent to Activision to get the badge…Never got the badge :(
- Chopper Command…if not Pole Position, then this was most played. The sequence of enemy choppers was the same each level, just faster. I got to the point where I memorized the sequence and several times shot down all enemies before they ever appeared on the screen.
- Breakout…the only game I could ever get my Mom to play.
Tony
I just remembered Robot Tank. If I had my list to do over, I’d probably swap something else (maybe Armor Ambush) for it.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Combat.
Probably played that more than any other game.
I mentioned it (indirectly via my Armor Ambush selection) and so did Pyperkub!