I remember I got a score of like 3500 on Kaboom. My mon took a Polaroid and sent it into Atari. Few weeks later I received in the mail a package from Atari. It was a patch confirming I was in the Kaboom high score club. My mom sewed it onto my denim jacket and overnight I became the coolest kid in my hood. At least in my eyes. 😁
@@1q34w can't tell if you are trolling or what. The year right now is twenty twenty-one. Same exact concept. Just line 1984 is nineteen eighty-four. Added the hyphen to twenty-six if that's what you are confused about.
@@1q34w uh what? Military time isn't five digits. Twenty six hundred or 2600 is correct. If it were 2,600 then yes, two thousand six hundred would be the verbage.
Solaris is still one of my favorites from the 2600 days. It pushed the stock system to the limit, doing the seemingly impossible for such humble hardware, with a huge amount of gameplay to boot! Pitfall II was a good one as well, though it used a custom chip for some of its tricks. That did allow for one of the best soundtracks for the system. Too bad something like it wasn't included in the 7800. it sorely needed a better sound chip.
Great list, some games I never heard about, and some I have totally forgotten. I recall playing Kangaroo and Crystal Castles for weeks. And also recall how watching that enduro stage where "cars" drove at night blew my mind. Other honorable mentions I think should go to moon patrol and taz.
Great list. I agree Dig Dug was a great port. River Raid had always amazed me, so perfectly nuanced, so smooth, still so great to play now. I would definitely have Atlantis on my list, I've also discovered Fast Eddie recently, great game. So many excellent ones on the VCS.
Some good choices here. If you haven't done so already, I also recommend checking out "Pigs in Space". It may be a Muppets game, but the graphics are good, the gameplay is fun and varied, and it has a silly tongue-in-cheek vibe to it.
GREAT list, MUCH better than most I've seen. My personal list is VERY similar to yours. I'd work in Activision's Megamania and Chopper Command, Atari's Vanguard, Galaxian, Battlezone, and Pac-Man Jr (even better than his Mom). Especially pleased to see your list include the inexplicably often ignored Enduro, a GREAT game, and the visually stunning Defender II, SO much better than the original 2600 Defender, and which I NEVER SEE on lists like this. It was downright PREPOSTEROUS that they did such a creditable port of THAT game. I'd also work in Jungle Hunt, Mario Brothers, and Joust. Startling how many GOOD arcade ports it has, particularly late in the console's life. Maybe they learned a lesson when Pac-Man was such a critical debacle.
I know it's a year old. Pac-Man/ET debacle was just a symptom of a company that thought it had no competition. Pac-Man was coded in something like four weeks, in fact all those 1983/84 games were rushed garbage. Then atari lost all of it's software engineers in a mass walkout to form activision. Atari was never the same after that.
One cool trick to River Raid was flying over the fuel while slowing down... you were able to fill up a little more. It had the same look as Spy Hunter, but without the cool music.
I had an Atari 2600 and ColecoVision as a Kid. Had friends with Intellivision and Oddessey. Some games I have picked up in the last several years that I did not have as a kid and enjoy include: Spider Fighter, Frankenstein’s Monster and PacMan, Jr. SW-Empire Strikes Back IMO is a top 30 game.
You hit the mark on each and every one of these games, my friend! I may have changed the order a bit, but your choices are perfect! Great video as always.
The Atari came out more than 40 years ago. This is the first time I've ever heard it called the two thousand six hundred rather than the twenty six hundred. Cool video though :)
Asteroids was my first favorite game, so I was thrilled to get it for my Atari for Christmas. Later on, my favorite became Defender. I find Atari 2600 to be the best version for me out of the six versions I've played. I never played HERO until this year. It's really growing on me. I heard of Pitfall II for years, but didn't get it until this year. It's incredible for this system. I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I love Empire Strikes Back and consider it the best movie based game.
On Circus Atari; if the seesaw is on the far left or far right in the wrong position; you can change the position by pressing the red button on the paddle control. That will allow you to play longer and get a higher score.
This is probably the one early-game (pre-1981) that I should have gotten, instead of Canyon Bomber. I played it at another kid's home and liked it but didn't buy it. I did get _Clowns_ or something for my VIC-20 when I got that computer.
These are all great games. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed most. 1. Space Invaders 2. Star Ship 3. Asteroids 4. Air Sea Battle 5. Yars Revenge 6. Surround (has the grafiti on games 13 and 14 for endless designs). 7. Sky Diver 8. Kamboom 9. Laser Blast 10. Combat 11. Breakout 12. Black Jack 13. Human Cannonball 14. Slot Racer 15. Cosmic Arc 16. Stampede 17. Freeway 18. Enduro 19. Video Olymics 20. Circus Atari 21. Indy 500 (used special steering controls). 22. Minature Golf 23. Donkey Kong 24. Frogger These are some of the games I would play from my personal collection. There are probably more but can't think of them off hand.
Good list, lots of Activision classics on there. They really did push the system to its limits. I would have Chopper Command, Indy 500 and Dragonfire in my favourites list for sure, and maybe Pressure Cooker and Empire Strikes Back. Definitely check those games out if you haven't played them 🙂
My very first playing machine. :-D My first Game was Frogger. How many Hours i used to Play with it before the C64 enters my room. Thanks Mr. OSG for the memories. :-)))))
Glad to see your selection. Atari 2600 is so underrated and has many hidden gems. You have to play stampede and empire strikes back. Those 2 are amazing. I also felt that a few 2 player games could be in the list (hockey, boxing,etc).
Some absolute classics there mate, love kaboom, hero and river raid. I always liked ice hockey, boxing, mouse trap and warlords Was surprised you didn’t have E.T on the list😂
Erm....ET is the game that has been credited for the video game crash...haha ...after having the Spectrum in the wrong place on my last video I was never gonna be so stupid as to include that ...I was gonna use it in the thumbnail though as clickbait lol
@@MrDogmeatman There are games that are unplayable. _E.T._ vies with _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and _Donkey Kong_ and _Pac-Man_ as a best-selling (1 million+) game that was most disappointing.
i recover Atari console and games only last month after 45 yrs of desire and i bought most of the cart on the video with the beautiful "Laser Gates" a great shooter in space game, you have to add on this video is really great game.... thanks!
Looking back, I would probably remove Pole Position and include Gyruss and Moon Patrol in my top 30. Gyruss especially is a fantastic arcade conversion that almost never gets the recognition it deserves.
Was big in to Activision and Parker Bros. games in the 2600 era, myself. I would have included The Empire Strikes Back, and Q-Bert in this list myself, but............ certainly not knocking the list. Those are 30 pretty awesome 2600 games. Some absolute "must haves" in there, like Yar's Revenge, Frostbite, and River Raid. Nicely done.
"Best Atari games" is highly subjective. You have the best-sellers that might not be the best as _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial_ and _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ sold over 2 million and 1 million, respectively but weren't fun for a lot of kids. _Pac-Man_ was the best seller (8 million sold + 1-2 million included with consoles in 1983) and _Donkey Kong_ was the 3rd-best seller, but both were disappointing. Still, Pac-Man fever made kids want to play it and any clone, while Donkey-Kong was a must-have game at the end of 1982, too. Then you have games that you played a lot as a kid. So many said they liked Combat, and other 2-player games. One-player games like _Space Invaders_ with 6 million sold was the must-have game that made Atari and delivered! _Missile Command_ and _Asteroids_ followed up in 1981 and sold 2 and 3 million, respectively. Finally there are games that were good, I played for hours but I'm done with now, like _Adventure_ and _Pitfall!_ If you were to play Atari 2600 games now, you might pick different ones. I would play _Q-Bert, The Empire Strikes Back, Frogger_ which I didn't have back in 1983, and a few others that I got on the cheap later.
So many great games that didn't make the list. The Official Frogger (a Starpath Supercharger game), Communist Mutants from Space (ditto), Star Wars Arcade, Stampede, Maze Craze, Dodge 'Em, Jr. Pac-Man, Ice Hockey, Super Football, Astro Blast, Q*Bert, Crazy Climber, Gremlins, Haunted House, Star Voyager, Skiing, Crystal Castles, Track & Field, Defender II/Stargate (much more faithful to the arcade game than the original Defender), Chopper Command, Dark Chambers, Secret Quest, Desert Falcon, Starmaster, Megamania, River Raid II (not much different gameplay than the original, but much better graphics), Commando, Beamrider, Private Eye, Montezuma's Revenge, Zaxxon, BurgerTime, Moonsweeper, Dragonfire, Tomcat F-14, BMX Airmaster, London Blitz, Spitfire Attack, Winter Games, Summer Games, Mogul Maniac, RealSports Boxing, Double Dunk, I could go on and on...
Loved tanks, air and sea battle, keystone Kapers, pitfall, cosmic ark, frogs, one where you're a fireman putting fires out and rescuing people, bezerk.... so many were great.
Selecting the 30 Best Atari games is no simple task! I've selected, a solid, 16 best that I would take with me in case I had to "bug out" 😦. The reason it's the 16 best, is due to the size of the box - it holds exactly 16 cartridges. Selecting an additional 16 (box) is very problematic for me - so many great/fun games!!
I never had a 2600, but I played most of these games either on the arcade or in my MSX. The Pitfall II music from the arcade is still engraved in my mind. Can I ask you where your accent is from? I am spanish working everyday with people from the UK and many other countries but I can't guess it.
I played it a lot. I'd win and then play it again. I realized in game 3 the black key is never in the white castle which limits the random options. Also sometimes the gold key is in the gold castle so you can't win (1/29 chance=3%) and sometimes the keys are mutually locked. But putting it on difficulty A can be a good challenge.
very much enjoyed this. I loved M Network Baseball, made by Mattel for the 2600, as it was the closest to a real game, and was so much better than either of the Atari games. I loved Combat, Warlords, Maze Craze, Space Invaders, Keystone Kapers, as well as some others. I never understood why everyone loved Yar's Revenge. However, it was so popular, it must have just been me that didn't get it.
M-Network _Super-Challenge Baseball_ was good, but the "super-challenge" was to find opponents who'd be willing to learn the controls to get good; same with _Armor Ambush_ and probably _Super-Challenge Football_ if I'd gotten that M-Network game too.
Yars is easily #1 -- Of course maybe if I had played Pitfall 2 originally, I might would think different. Younger generations won't be able to ever experience what we did back in the day. Kind of a shame really, because it was like magic :-)
Nostalgia overload deffo! The Atari was a big step up from the B+W pong 'TV games' that was around at the time. The console and cartridge prices was way out my parents budget. My only chance to play on it was the display models in Dixons/Debs and round a friends at weekends. Loved Asteroids, Frogger and Warlords. Pitfall 2 was great, spent hours on that, deserves top spot. I vaguely remember a Star Wars game with ATATs in it?
One of my all-time favorites was Chopper Command. I see it on most "top __" lists so I'm a bit surprised it wasn't on this one. I didn't have River Raid as a child but I recently got it for my 2600+ and it really is addictive! The only thing that forces me to quit is that my hand hurts after a while from the joystick.
Great list! Loved Yar's Revenge (a great take on the arcade game Star Castle by Cinematronics), Pitfall, River Raid, Demon Attack, Keystone Kapers, and many others you noted. Some of my other faves are shooters lol. Atari's port of the Vanguard arcade game is really good... one of the best arcade ports for the 2600 I think. And 3 Activision shooters. Spider Fighter, Megamania (a ripoff of Sega's Astro Blaster), and Chopper Command (a ripoff of Defender).
If you want to get better at Circus Atari there's one technique that'll make the most difference: If you press the button while your clown is in the air the see-saw will flip. Once you master that, the closer to the edge you land the more power will be transferred to your other clown. Landing a clown towards the middle is a great way to slow down. If you land beyond the middle you'll lose a clown. It's also possible to change the angle at which the clown is sent upward by controlling where the clown lands.
The games you mentioned that I have played are Circus Atari Enduro Sea Quest Frogger Ms Pac-Man Asteroids Space Invaders Hero Kerboom River Raid Adventure Pitfall Yar’s Revenge My children grew up with Atari but I had very limited money to spend on games so I think we only had about 30-40 games. My favourite games were River Raid and Bowling.
Those games were a breakthrough. Before my time but I got my own breakthrough with the jump to 3-D in the 90's. There were no other big breakthroughs besides those two so young people now can't relate. Any new game you can find it in the 90's. Crude and clunky and possibly unplayable today but it's still there. I doubt another breakthrough will happen with the shape of the technology we got. Next breakthrough will probably be virtual reality or holograms or something.
what about Joust, that was ace! I always used to play Battle zone, Chopper command, and Commando!! I still have Double Dragon for 2600 Boxed but its garbage lol
So many great games for this system, played Demon Attack so much, possibly most played, I certainly don't disagree with numbers/ order in anyway, all great games. I do have a real liking for: Stampede, Plaque Attack both by Activision; Cosmic Corridor, by ZiMag, and Reactor by Parker Bros,. Whilst I do have an Atari flashback, sadly I struggle to use that joystick but I do have a set of original and working paddles, for that. I play more via emulation, I will specifically recommend a complete but non-released to market prototype game called Meltdown, I find the gameplay is very addictive, and it gets very intense, especially when the grid gets close to becoming critical.
It would be interesting and frustrating if someone made a list of the best Atari 2600/vcs games and all were from 1984 onward. After the crash of '83, I don't think I bought any new games made in '84 onward. Heck, I never got a new catalog after '82. So, if I was making a best of it would be through '83, even though I played a couple after that.
Back when it was called "playing video games".... something you did for fun when you weren't playing sports, watching sports, or riding your bike, building a fort, watching wrestling, or playing with Star Wars, GI Joe, LEGO, Transformers, He-Man, RISK, Stratego, Battleship, Life, Monopoly, listening to records/tapes, reading comics, drawing pictures, etc... Now "gaming" is an entire identity, a lifestyle.
Very good list. I would probably include in it Battlezone, Joust, Chopper Command, Pole Position, Combat, Super Breakout, Qbert instead of some of the titles in this list such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Circus, Kaboom, Frostbite, California Games, Defender 2. But hey, that's my humble opinion.
I am horrified... horrified, I say! You don't have Escape From The Mindmaster on your list. It was a multi-load cassette game for the Arcadia/Starpath Supercharger cartridge for the 2600, which added more memory to the system. The Arcadia games (or Starpath after a lawsuit over the name) were mostly really good - Survival Island was surprisingly deep. And look how drastic a difference there was between the Parker Brothers version of Frogger and theirs (done through a legal loophole). I could never get all the way through Dragonstomper. Communist Mutants From Space is a great little shooter in the vein of Galaxian, and Suicide Mission is a solid Asteroids riff. All really push what the Atari 2600 could do, and Escape From The Mindmaster is the pinnacle as far as I'm concerned. I even have a prototype reproduction of it for the Colecovision.
I know this should be obvious, but with Missile Command, you don't kick ass by aiming at where the warheads are. You aim at where they are going to be.
Missile Command - Shoot in front of the missiles! Asteroids - If I put it on the game variation that has slow asteroids and the flip option, I can play this forever. Warlords - There a homebrew clone of this for the C64 called Space Lords that is excellent. There's also an Amiga game called Lords of War that is also very good. Much better graphics and spells. Yar's Revenge - I loved this game, but hated the programmer for putting in an "Easter egg" that would end the game. I never knew what triggered it, so I'd be playing, have a pretty good score and suddenly I'd get a black screen with HSWWSH and that was the end of the game! Eventually I stopped playing because I didn't want to have my game ended by this crap. I'm not against programmers putting Easter eggs in games, or getting credit for their work, but WTF? Why in hell would someone put in an Easter egg that ends the game??? Would it really have been too much trouble to let the player press the button to continue???
That happened to me the last time I played 3 years ago, when going for a high score in the logbook challenge, and that was my feeling so I stopped playing it. Missile Command (game 6, difficulty B): 90,000 then 160,000 then 200,000 (I only did the first) Asteroids (game 8, difficulty A): 50,000 then 75,000 then 90,000 (I only did the first) Warlords (game 14, difficulty B): win 3, then win 4, then win 5 (I did them all) Yars' Revenge (game 6 difficulty A): 100,000 then 230,000 then 500,000 (I only did the first)
Nice list, but where is Astroblast, Plaque Attack, Kangaroo, Empire Strikes Back? There are more that I can’t think of at the moment. Lots of bangers are missing.
Congratulations on your selection. Most Game to this day! I have many games that I consider my favorites, and for me they are timeless... I'm going to mention 10 of my TOP 100 from atari lol... - BOXING - CHOPPER COMMAND - ENDURO - FREEWAY - FROGGER - FROSTBITE - KABOOM! - MEGAMANY - SEAQUEST - TENNIS so what did you think of my list? by the end of the year I will record a video with all 100 games I like. #Atari2600 #OldStyleGaming #PaisEfilhosRetroGames
The only nostalgia I got from this console was my dad sending this console back to the shop 'FIVE TIMES' saying "It's broken". When the real problem was my dad had no clue how to tune it into a TV.
Mum and dad has the 2600 before I was born ... must of heard space invaders going on from the inside ... mum sold the Atari to her brother when I had the spectrum and master system ask him if he still had it about 5 years ago but he sold it off years ago .night rider a driving game which you used the paddles I spent many hours playing .. one of my 1st system I picked up the joystick when I could sit up proper nostalgia didn’t get on with yers revenge quite similar to return of the Jedi from memory.. empire strikes back blowing them atcs atcs up frogger superman combat space invaders astroid’s never know what to do with E.T really enjoyed this Paul cheers
At the time the best thing to do with ET was put it in the bin...now though worth some wonga I think. I have an Atari Vader that was mine then my sisters...then they have me it back a few month ago :-) thanks for watching mate :-)
we had the heavy sixer woody of the 2600 .....but least you still got your orginal ;) I managed to get another around 22 years ago from a carboot think for £1 gave it back to my mum and got back again with a bundle of games paddles and joystciks .. just the socket at the back for the power is a little faulty which I need to fix .. would'nt mind a composite mod on the juinor which I got from my cousin instead using the woodys on rf
7:30 is _Defender II,_ or _Star Gate_ a 1984 game that I wanted but still haven't gotten though I put a bid on Ebay about 3 years ago. I learned that you can use the 2nd controller to make up for only having one button, unlike _Defender_ where you have to go off the screen to use a smart bomb or teleport. _Defender_ was fun for a little while, but had some issues, and didn't make this list.
Galaxian and Demon Attack (Imagic) were better than Phoenix. Glad you included Cosmic Ark. The IMAGIC games looked good. I only had a few of them Cosmic Ark, Demon Attack, Star Voyager, Dragonfire and Riddle Of The Sphinx.
I remember I got a score of like 3500 on Kaboom. My mon took a Polaroid and sent it into Atari. Few weeks later I received in the mail a package from Atari. It was a patch confirming I was in the Kaboom high score club. My mom sewed it onto my denim jacket and overnight I became the coolest kid in my hood. At least in my eyes. 😁
Sent it to Activision. It was their program. I had the ones for Pitfall, River Raid, and Robot Tank.
woa thats cool. thanks for the story (: .
Come Lord Jesus
Romans 10:9
Adventure will always be #1. It was the first free roam game. It was the introduction of fantasy/adventure to video games. Pitfall was circular.
It's really astounding what they were able to do with the 2600.
Two thousand six hundred. I've never heard it called that. I grew up with one. Twenty-six hundred. Nice list of games.
How do you get twenty six hundred from 2600? Where is that twenty?
@@1q34w can't tell if you are trolling or what. The year right now is twenty twenty-one. Same exact concept. Just line 1984 is nineteen eighty-four. Added the hyphen to twenty-six if that's what you are confused about.
@@jtsdeals Like military time. I just imagined 20600
@@1q34w uh what? Military time isn't five digits. Twenty six hundred or 2600 is correct. If it were 2,600 then yes, two thousand six hundred would be the verbage.
Yeah JT, I grew up in Australia, then lived in America for 17 years, never ever heard it called anything other than an Atari 2600 myself.
I never forgot the awesomesauce of Pitfall 2's BGM... :)
Solaris is still one of my favorites from the 2600 days. It pushed the stock system to the limit, doing the seemingly impossible for such humble hardware, with a huge amount of gameplay to boot! Pitfall II was a good one as well, though it used a custom chip for some of its tricks. That did allow for one of the best soundtracks for the system. Too bad something like it wasn't included in the 7800. it sorely needed a better sound chip.
River Raid was my number 1.
Also, Jungle Hunt, Battlezone, Galaxian, Decathlon and Joust, they were all awesome too!
Finally some love for seaquest! That was one of my favorite games as a kid. Also really loved starmaster. Definitely in my top 10.
Thats the sacred place where my youth goes time to time
Star Raiders, Asteroids, and Pole Position were the games I played the most. Heck, I even kept notebooks of my scores for each game!
Great list, some games I never heard about, and some I have totally forgotten. I recall playing Kangaroo and Crystal Castles for weeks. And also recall how watching that enduro stage where "cars" drove at night blew my mind. Other honorable mentions I think should go to moon patrol and taz.
Great list. I agree Dig Dug was a great port. River Raid had always amazed me, so perfectly nuanced, so smooth, still so great to play now. I would definitely have Atlantis on my list, I've also discovered Fast Eddie recently, great game. So many excellent ones on the VCS.
Some good choices here. If you haven't done so already, I also recommend checking out "Pigs in Space". It may be a Muppets game, but the graphics are good, the gameplay is fun and varied, and it has a silly tongue-in-cheek vibe to it.
GREAT list, MUCH better than most I've seen. My personal list is VERY similar to yours. I'd work in Activision's Megamania and Chopper Command, Atari's Vanguard, Galaxian, Battlezone, and Pac-Man Jr (even better than his Mom). Especially pleased to see your list include the inexplicably often ignored Enduro, a GREAT game, and the visually stunning Defender II, SO much better than the original 2600 Defender, and which I NEVER SEE on lists like this. It was downright PREPOSTEROUS that they did such a creditable port of THAT game.
I'd also work in Jungle Hunt, Mario Brothers, and Joust. Startling how many GOOD arcade ports it has, particularly late in the console's life. Maybe they learned a lesson when Pac-Man was such a critical debacle.
I know it's a year old. Pac-Man/ET debacle was just a symptom of a company that thought it had no competition. Pac-Man was coded in something like four weeks, in fact all those 1983/84 games were rushed garbage. Then atari lost all of it's software engineers in a mass walkout to form activision. Atari was never the same after that.
Grew up with the 2600!! Good list of games!!! And I still have all my games,,at least 100.
they worth a bit money now... get them wrapped up and dont let them get broken :-)
Do you still have the console?
I was born in 83 I had the pleasure of owning this growing up, good memories 👍
One cool trick to River Raid was flying over the fuel while slowing down... you were able to fill up a little more. It had the same look as Spy Hunter, but without the cool music.
I had an Atari 2600 and ColecoVision as a Kid. Had friends with Intellivision and Oddessey. Some games I have picked up in the last several years that I did not have as a kid and enjoy include: Spider Fighter, Frankenstein’s Monster and PacMan, Jr. SW-Empire Strikes Back IMO is a top 30 game.
You hit the mark on each and every one of these games, my friend! I may have changed the order a bit, but your choices are perfect! Great video as always.
The Atari came out more than 40 years ago. This is the first time I've ever heard it called the two thousand six hundred rather than the twenty six hundred. Cool video though :)
We all called it 2 thousand 600 round our way
2 thousands 600 all over Europe too
2 milles 6 cents dans ma région 😂
Asteroids was my first favorite game, so I was thrilled to get it for my Atari for Christmas. Later on, my favorite became Defender. I find Atari 2600 to be the best version for me out of the six versions I've played. I never played HERO until this year. It's really growing on me. I heard of Pitfall II for years, but didn't get it until this year. It's incredible for this system. I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I love Empire Strikes Back and consider it the best movie based game.
On Circus Atari; if the seesaw is on the far left or far right in the wrong position; you can change the position by pressing the red button on the paddle control. That will allow you to play longer and get a higher score.
This is probably the one early-game (pre-1981) that I should have gotten, instead of Canyon Bomber. I played it at another kid's home and liked it but didn't buy it. I did get _Clowns_ or something for my VIC-20 when I got that computer.
My entire family loves Circus Atari. When you miss and goes splat with his legs in the air, we would howl with laughter.
My #1 nostalgic Atari games: Kaboom for Paddles, Galaxian for Joystick.
jungle hunt, that final boss music is so worth the wait getting there :)
once i get there, i put the remote down and dance along :)
These are all great games. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed most.
1. Space Invaders 2. Star Ship 3. Asteroids 4. Air Sea Battle 5. Yars Revenge 6. Surround (has the grafiti on games 13 and 14 for endless designs). 7. Sky Diver 8. Kamboom 9. Laser Blast 10. Combat 11. Breakout 12. Black Jack 13. Human Cannonball 14. Slot Racer 15. Cosmic Arc 16. Stampede 17. Freeway 18. Enduro 19. Video Olymics 20. Circus Atari 21. Indy 500 (used special steering controls). 22. Minature Golf 23. Donkey Kong 24. Frogger
These are some of the games I would play from my personal collection. There are probably more but can't think of them off hand.
I'm glad that Solaris and Pitfall! made it into the list as they are my favourite Atari 2600 games.
Good list, lots of Activision classics on there. They really did push the system to its limits. I would have Chopper Command, Indy 500 and Dragonfire in my favourites list for sure, and maybe Pressure Cooker and Empire Strikes Back. Definitely check those games out if you haven't played them 🙂
Excellent video! Concise and to the point!
My very first playing machine. :-D
My first Game was Frogger.
How many Hours i used to Play with it before the C64 enters my room.
Thanks Mr. OSG for the memories. :-)))))
Wyvern for me it was the 2600, then ColecoVision, then the mighty c64.....
Thanks for watching mate as usual...yeah this console is all about the memories
Wow, flash back to my youth. Never had it but played lots of those games. Thanks.
I have zero idea why Pitfall was so amazing to me when I was five...but it was.
Pitfall was always fun- even as an adult.
I still play Pitfall II regularly!
A hidden gem is Flash Gordon, a space shooter of course and based on a sci Fi movie from the time, but it's really well made and fun
Back in the day my grandpa used to ask me to play Circus Atari when he came over because he loved watching the little guys go splat
Glad to see your selection. Atari 2600 is so underrated and has many hidden gems. You have to play stampede and empire strikes back. Those 2 are amazing. I also felt that a few 2 player games could be in the list (hockey, boxing,etc).
2-player games are so different from solo that it needs its own category.
@@sandal_thong8631 agreed
Some absolute classics there mate, love kaboom, hero and river raid. I always liked ice hockey, boxing, mouse trap and warlords
Was surprised you didn’t have E.T on the list😂
Erm....ET is the game that has been credited for the video game crash...haha ...after having the Spectrum in the wrong place on my last video I was never gonna be so stupid as to include that ...I was gonna use it in the thumbnail though as clickbait lol
old style gaming 😂that’ll get people clicking
@@randylejeune yup, it definitely isn't even the worst game on the 2600 let alone of all time...
@@MrDogmeatman There are games that are unplayable. _E.T._ vies with _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and _Donkey Kong_ and _Pac-Man_ as a best-selling (1 million+) game that was most disappointing.
Excellent Job, thanks !!
Atari....warm remembrances from childhood....❤️❤️
Cheers from France.
i recover Atari console and games only last month after 45 yrs of desire and i bought most of the cart on the video with the beautiful "Laser Gates" a great shooter in space game, you have to add on this video is really great game.... thanks!
Great list and video thank you dude!
Lots of great games on this list! Personally, I would also include Fast Food, Jungle Hunt, Pole Position, and Galaxian.
Galaxian just missed out in 31st and jungle hunt was a great game too
I liked Jungle Hunt as well, but personally I think it was more 'Top 50' then 'Top 30'...
Looking back, I would probably remove Pole Position and include Gyruss and Moon Patrol in my top 30. Gyruss especially is a fantastic arcade conversion that almost never gets the recognition it deserves.
Was big in to Activision and Parker Bros. games in the 2600 era, myself.
I would have included The Empire Strikes Back, and Q-Bert in this list myself, but............ certainly not knocking the list. Those are 30 pretty awesome 2600 games. Some absolute "must haves" in there, like Yar's Revenge, Frostbite, and River Raid. Nicely done.
"Best Atari games" is highly subjective. You have the best-sellers that might not be the best as _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial_ and _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ sold over 2 million and 1 million, respectively but weren't fun for a lot of kids. _Pac-Man_ was the best seller (8 million sold + 1-2 million included with consoles in 1983) and _Donkey Kong_ was the 3rd-best seller, but both were disappointing. Still, Pac-Man fever made kids want to play it and any clone, while Donkey-Kong was a must-have game at the end of 1982, too.
Then you have games that you played a lot as a kid. So many said they liked Combat, and other 2-player games. One-player games like _Space Invaders_ with 6 million sold was the must-have game that made Atari and delivered! _Missile Command_ and _Asteroids_ followed up in 1981 and sold 2 and 3 million, respectively.
Finally there are games that were good, I played for hours but I'm done with now, like _Adventure_ and _Pitfall!_ If you were to play Atari 2600 games now, you might pick different ones. I would play _Q-Bert, The Empire Strikes Back, Frogger_ which I didn't have back in 1983, and a few others that I got on the cheap later.
So many great games that didn't make the list. The Official Frogger (a Starpath Supercharger game), Communist Mutants from Space (ditto), Star Wars Arcade, Stampede, Maze Craze, Dodge 'Em, Jr. Pac-Man, Ice Hockey, Super Football, Astro Blast, Q*Bert, Crazy Climber, Gremlins, Haunted House, Star Voyager, Skiing, Crystal Castles, Track & Field, Defender II/Stargate (much more faithful to the arcade game than the original Defender), Chopper Command, Dark Chambers, Secret Quest, Desert Falcon, Starmaster, Megamania, River Raid II (not much different gameplay than the original, but much better graphics), Commando, Beamrider, Private Eye, Montezuma's Revenge, Zaxxon, BurgerTime, Moonsweeper, Dragonfire, Tomcat F-14, BMX Airmaster, London Blitz, Spitfire Attack, Winter Games, Summer Games, Mogul Maniac, RealSports Boxing, Double Dunk, I could go on and on...
Loved tanks, air and sea battle, keystone Kapers, pitfall, cosmic ark, frogs, one where you're a fireman putting fires out and rescuing people, bezerk.... so many were great.
Selecting the 30 Best Atari games is no simple task!
I've selected, a solid, 16 best that I would take with me in case I had to "bug out" 😦. The reason it's the 16 best, is due to the size of the box - it holds exactly 16 cartridges. Selecting an additional 16 (box) is very problematic for me - so many great/fun games!!
Great video!! I love tapper and dig dug especially dig dug 2
I never had a 2600, but I played most of these games either on the arcade or in my MSX. The Pitfall II music from the arcade is still engraved in my mind. Can I ask you where your accent is from? I am spanish working everyday with people from the UK and many other countries but I can't guess it.
Adventure is my #1 2600 game..first Easter egg..change level of difficulty..
I played it a lot. I'd win and then play it again. I realized in game 3 the black key is never in the white castle which limits the random options. Also sometimes the gold key is in the gold castle so you can't win (1/29 chance=3%) and sometimes the keys are mutually locked. But putting it on difficulty A can be a good challenge.
very much enjoyed this. I loved M Network Baseball, made by Mattel for the 2600, as it was the closest to a real game, and was so much better than either of the Atari games. I loved Combat, Warlords, Maze Craze, Space Invaders, Keystone Kapers, as well as some others. I never understood why everyone loved Yar's Revenge. However, it was so popular, it must have just been me that didn't get it.
M-Network _Super-Challenge Baseball_ was good, but the "super-challenge" was to find opponents who'd be willing to learn the controls to get good; same with _Armor Ambush_ and probably _Super-Challenge Football_ if I'd gotten that M-Network game too.
Yars is easily #1 -- Of course maybe if I had played Pitfall 2 originally, I might would think different. Younger generations won't be able to ever experience what we did back in the day. Kind of a shame really, because it was like magic :-)
One of my favorites is Boing! Nice list!
Nostalgia overload deffo! The Atari was a big step up from the B+W pong 'TV games' that was around at the time. The console and cartridge prices was way out my parents budget. My only chance to play on it was the display models in Dixons/Debs and round a friends at weekends. Loved Asteroids, Frogger and Warlords. Pitfall 2 was great, spent hours on that, deserves top spot. I vaguely remember a Star Wars game with ATATs in it?
Empire Strikes back?
@@oldstylegaming yeah, just checked ;)
i never really like the star wars games until Rogue Squadron ...i know you love the arcade cos i was watching you on it in Bury ;-)
@@oldstylegaming Man I love the SW arcade game. Yeah I remember that in Bury, the force was with me ;)
Pity ya can't make Blackpool m8. Xyphoe n Nova are on a panel :)
Great video dude
One of my all-time favorites was Chopper Command. I see it on most "top __" lists so I'm a bit surprised it wasn't on this one. I didn't have River Raid as a child but I recently got it for my 2600+ and it really is addictive! The only thing that forces me to quit is that my hand hurts after a while from the joystick.
Nice list of games, will have to play these games again too.
Pitfall was #1 to me, while Pitfall2 was #2. Great video.
thanks man for the kind words glad you enjoyed it :-)
Great list! Loved Yar's Revenge (a great take on the arcade game Star Castle by Cinematronics), Pitfall, River Raid, Demon Attack, Keystone Kapers, and many others you noted.
Some of my other faves are shooters lol. Atari's port of the Vanguard arcade game is really good... one of the best arcade ports for the 2600 I think. And 3 Activision shooters. Spider Fighter, Megamania (a ripoff of Sega's Astro Blaster), and Chopper Command (a ripoff of Defender).
Good list, though I would have also included Maze Craze, Montezuma's Revenge, Vanguard, and Tunnel Runner.
Another great vid. Loving your content :)
Good list . I enjoyed seaQuest and Keystone Capers, very underrated
If you want to get better at Circus Atari there's one technique that'll make the most difference:
If you press the button while your clown is in the air the see-saw will flip.
Once you master that, the closer to the edge you land the more power will be transferred to your other clown.
Landing a clown towards the middle is a great way to slow down.
If you land beyond the middle you'll lose a clown.
It's also possible to change the angle at which the clown is sent upward by controlling where the clown lands.
The games you mentioned that I have played are
Circus Atari
Enduro
Sea Quest
Frogger
Ms Pac-Man
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Hero
Kerboom
River Raid
Adventure
Pitfall
Yar’s Revenge
My children grew up with Atari but I had very limited money to spend on games so I think we only had about 30-40 games. My favourite games were River Raid and Bowling.
TWO WORDS... TUNNEL RUNNER... BEST. GAME. EVER
Those games were a breakthrough. Before my time but I got my own breakthrough with the jump to 3-D in the 90's. There were no other big breakthroughs besides those two so young people now can't relate. Any new game you can find it in the 90's. Crude and clunky and possibly unplayable today but it's still there. I doubt another breakthrough will happen with the shape of the technology we got. Next breakthrough will probably be virtual reality or holograms or something.
what about Joust, that was ace! I always used to play Battle zone, Chopper command, and Commando!! I still have Double Dragon for 2600 Boxed but its garbage lol
Well, it is Double Dragon...for a system that came out in the 1970s and only had 128 BYTES of RAM....WTF were they thinking?
I Am The Greatest Man That Ever Lived They were thinking it would make them money. And it probably did!
So many great games for this system, played Demon Attack so much, possibly most played, I certainly don't disagree with numbers/ order in anyway, all great games. I do have a real liking for: Stampede, Plaque Attack both by Activision; Cosmic Corridor, by ZiMag, and Reactor by Parker Bros,. Whilst I do have an Atari flashback, sadly I struggle to use that joystick but I do have a set of original and working paddles, for that. I play more via emulation, I will specifically recommend a complete but non-released to market prototype game called Meltdown, I find the gameplay is very addictive, and it gets very intense, especially when the grid gets close to becoming critical.
Very solid list, sir!
Thanks!
I was there mate! Me and my brother had one of these wonderful machines......happy days! Cheers
It would be interesting and frustrating if someone made a list of the best Atari 2600/vcs games and all were from 1984 onward. After the crash of '83, I don't think I bought any new games made in '84 onward. Heck, I never got a new catalog after '82. So, if I was making a best of it would be through '83, even though I played a couple after that.
Cool list! :)
Personally I miss Front Line, but my memories of it atr probably very rose tinted :)
Aw man, just saw Frostbite in the list. The memories :) Quite the flashback :)
Back when it was called "playing video games".... something you did for fun when you weren't playing sports, watching sports, or riding your bike, building a fort, watching wrestling, or playing with Star Wars, GI Joe, LEGO, Transformers, He-Man, RISK, Stratego, Battleship, Life, Monopoly, listening to records/tapes, reading comics, drawing pictures, etc...
Now "gaming" is an entire identity, a lifestyle.
5:20 Cosmic Ark is the one I was hoping to see. Still fun, especially the asteroid reflex part.
I liked how the planetary defenses got more and more frantic.
It's weird that Atlantis wasn't mentioned.
The asteroid part was based on the arcade game _Space Zap!_ which I played next to the 7-Eleven.
My most favorite Atari 2600 game of all time is SPACE INVADERS 👍🕹️
Very good list. I would probably include in it Battlezone, Joust, Chopper Command, Pole Position, Combat, Super Breakout, Qbert instead of some of the titles in this list such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Circus, Kaboom, Frostbite, California Games, Defender 2. But hey, that's my humble opinion.
Awesome list, good to see River Raid in there
It had to be in mate its so good and timeless as i played it for ages the other day while sorting the order out
River Raid was among my most played back then... :)
What is the song in the back ground wat game
Thx for the great upload. Nice channel en vids.
Thanks mate
I am horrified... horrified, I say! You don't have Escape From The Mindmaster on your list. It was a multi-load cassette game for the Arcadia/Starpath Supercharger cartridge for the 2600, which added more memory to the system. The Arcadia games (or Starpath after a lawsuit over the name) were mostly really good - Survival Island was surprisingly deep. And look how drastic a difference there was between the Parker Brothers version of Frogger and theirs (done through a legal loophole). I could never get all the way through Dragonstomper. Communist Mutants From Space is a great little shooter in the vein of Galaxian, and Suicide Mission is a solid Asteroids riff. All really push what the Atari 2600 could do, and Escape From The Mindmaster is the pinnacle as far as I'm concerned. I even have a prototype reproduction of it for the Colecovision.
I chose not to invest in the Starpath Supercharger, and I'm guessing most Atari fans didn't either.
This! I had all of the Starpath games. Most were outstanding!
I know this should be obvious, but with Missile Command, you don't kick ass by aiming at where the warheads are. You aim at where they are going to be.
Lol at dumbas comment XD
I’ve never heard anybody call it the “Atari two thousand six hundred” before
Well now you have
but... why did you call it that?@@oldstylegaming
Missile Command - Shoot in front of the missiles!
Asteroids - If I put it on the game variation that has slow asteroids and the flip option, I can play this forever.
Warlords - There a homebrew clone of this for the C64 called Space Lords that is excellent. There's also an Amiga game called Lords of War that is also very good. Much better graphics and spells.
Yar's Revenge - I loved this game, but hated the programmer for putting in an "Easter egg" that would end the game. I never knew what triggered it, so I'd be playing, have a pretty good score and suddenly I'd get a black screen with HSWWSH and that was the end of the game! Eventually I stopped playing because I didn't want to have my game ended by this crap. I'm not against programmers putting Easter eggs in games, or getting credit for their work, but WTF? Why in hell would someone put in an Easter egg that ends the game??? Would it really have been too much trouble to let the player press the button to continue???
That happened to me the last time I played 3 years ago, when going for a high score in the logbook challenge, and that was my feeling so I stopped playing it.
Missile Command (game 6, difficulty B): 90,000 then 160,000 then 200,000 (I only did the first)
Asteroids (game 8, difficulty A): 50,000 then 75,000 then 90,000 (I only did the first)
Warlords (game 14, difficulty B): win 3, then win 4, then win 5 (I did them all)
Yars' Revenge (game 6 difficulty A): 100,000 then 230,000 then 500,000 (I only did the first)
Love that, thanx a lot.... I Play this Games at the moment on my raspberry
Jungle Hunt and Montezuma's Revenge are two of my favorites.
Glad Phoenix made the list.... one of the best arcade ports for the system for sure 😎
Nice list, but where is Astroblast, Plaque Attack, Kangaroo, Empire Strikes Back? There are more that I can’t think of at the moment. Lots of bangers are missing.
Good choice of games. There are a few of my favourites included.
there are some other good ones but i think these are the 30 best ...well for me anyway :-) thanks for watching
Pac-Man JR was really well done also.
Glad to see Yar's Revenge so high.
Yars Revenge is my favorite 2600 game. Solaris looks incredible for the 2600
Congratulations on your selection. Most Game to this day! I have many games that I consider my favorites, and for me they are timeless...
I'm going to mention 10 of my TOP 100 from atari lol...
- BOXING
- CHOPPER COMMAND
- ENDURO
- FREEWAY
- FROGGER
- FROSTBITE
- KABOOM!
- MEGAMANY
- SEAQUEST
- TENNIS
so what did you think of my list?
by the end of the year I will record a video with all 100 games I like.
#Atari2600 #OldStyleGaming #PaisEfilhosRetroGames
Wow that's an awesome list buddy 😁 I'd have to have super breakout. Jungle hunt and galaxian in my list 😁 I absolutely love yars and kaboom
hey mate long time no see...you ok?
@@oldstylegaming all good here buddy 😁 hows tricks?
@@steve36207 good mate just plodding along ;-)
We used to play superman endlessly...lol......cheers
Three years ago I was trying to see if I could shave a second or two off my best times for B, one A and both A difficulties.
The only nostalgia I got from this console was my dad sending this console back to the shop 'FIVE TIMES' saying "It's broken". When the real problem was my dad had no clue how to tune it into a TV.
Soooo many memories here. These games are far more fun then a lot of the garbage that gets made today. ;-)
Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back was great!
Probably my most played game.
Mum and dad has the 2600 before I was born ... must of heard space invaders going on from the inside ... mum sold the Atari to her brother when I had the spectrum and master system ask him if he still had it about 5 years ago but he sold it off years ago .night rider a driving game which you used the paddles I spent many hours playing .. one of my 1st system I picked up the joystick when I could sit up proper nostalgia didn’t get on with yers revenge quite similar to return of the Jedi from memory.. empire strikes back blowing them atcs atcs up frogger superman combat space invaders astroid’s never know what to do with E.T really enjoyed this Paul cheers
At the time the best thing to do with ET was put it in the bin...now though worth some wonga I think. I have an Atari Vader that was mine then my sisters...then they have me it back a few month ago :-) thanks for watching mate :-)
we had the heavy sixer woody of the 2600 .....but least you still got your orginal ;)
I managed to get another around 22 years ago from a carboot think for £1 gave it back to my mum and got back again with a bundle of games paddles and joystciks .. just the socket at the back for the power is a little faulty which I need to fix .. would'nt mind a composite mod on the juinor which I got from my cousin instead using the woodys on rf
Very good list
Berserk may be the game I played most?
such great sounds!
Joust didn't make the list?!
Battlezone.... Chopper Command.... Target Fun.... Decathlon... Joust...
The defender version you showed was much different from the one I had as a kid. I wonder if the north America version was different for some reason 🤔
7:30 is _Defender II,_ or _Star Gate_ a 1984 game that I wanted but still haven't gotten though I put a bid on Ebay about 3 years ago. I learned that you can use the 2nd controller to make up for only having one button, unlike _Defender_ where you have to go off the screen to use a smart bomb or teleport. _Defender_ was fun for a little while, but had some issues, and didn't make this list.
Galaxian and Demon Attack (Imagic) were better than Phoenix. Glad you included Cosmic Ark. The IMAGIC games looked good. I only had a few of them Cosmic Ark, Demon Attack, Star Voyager, Dragonfire and Riddle Of The Sphinx.
Pengo
Q-bert
Popeye
Real sport boxing
What a beautiful memories... I got the Atari 2600 in 1986, and still works!