I love how many call the 2600 a weak console. From a certain point of view, this is not true. At the time, this console that was made for Pong was considerably overbuilt. The longevity of the console as supporter by so many games that are so much more sophisticated prove it. 🥳
I totally agree, just look at later games like Solaris, California Games, Kung Fu Master, Super Football and Double Dragon - it's incredible what they achieved.
Thanks for including my quote! However, while I feel Phoenix has the most and best variety of stages for a “death from above” shmup, the ‘most challenging enemy patterns’ portion of the quote actually referred to Megamania. (I listed both Phoenix and Megamania in a tie for my favorite Space Invaders-style shooter.) Anyway, just fyi.
Awww, only one Imagic game? Was hoping to see Riddle of the Sphinx on there given it's extremely experimental gameplay and ideas. Also glad to see you and I share the same Solaris love :) Game still holds up pretty well today.
Great choices. Back in the day I played a lot of Defender, Frogger, Joust, Asteroids, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. More recently I've discovered Spider Fighter and Yar's Revenge. I'm sure those titles would be in my top 20 (along with many on your list).
Nice selection, some true classics in there. "It's one of the best selling console of all time" made me smile. It's only true when taking the statement very broadly (because since then videogames popularity become more widespread). The list of the very best selling game systems of all time is filled with consoles from Nintendo and Sony. Anyway the Atari VCS is extremely important for its seminal role as the very first mainstream game console with interchangeable software.
I recently found in my storage I have a copy of "StarGate" ! With the new 2600+ I will be able to play it. I can't recall how I got it. The photo on the box looks amazing.
I know it's always been popular to s--- on E.T. but I have *always* unironically considered that game to be in the 2600's top 3 ever. It's an adventure game (a *TRUE* rarity on that limited platform, even after the obvious success of Adventure). It has an ending. It's challenging but not excessively so. The ending sequence, a race against time and your pursuers, can be truly nerve-wracking. It gives you almost unlimited potential for achieving a better score upon completion. It has music-also a 2600 rarity. It's the first and one of the only Atari games with a proper title screen. Some of the sound effects are so good that no modern emulator can yet reproduce them. It has hidden secrets. It has programmer's easter eggs. It truly makes the short list of greats.
True. I rented the E.T. cartridge as a kid and didn't hate it at all. I rented _far_ worse cartridges than E.T. :) I remember being quite impressed with little touches like the graphical title screen, and the way some of the characters even had multi-coloured clothes! It was a bit like Game 3 on Adventure, in that you could replay it over and over. I certainly liked it more than Haunted House, which had far less going on :) It's just that annoying collision-detection on the pits that takes a big runny dump on what would otherwise be a fondly-remembered little game ... the way the collision-detection doesn't take the perspective into account, so you fall down a pit even if a single pixel of E.T.'s head touches one and his feet were nowhere near it. Some romhacker fixed the problem, though, and apparently it was a fairly easy fix to implement. No doubt the original developer would've fixed it himself ... if he'd been allowed more than (what was it?) 2 weeks to make the game, or something ridiculous like that. Heck, it would just be a Day 1 patch these days :)
Really glad and pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite games on Atari 2600 earning the the 2nd place and with my comment, Yars' Revenge! Thanks, Laird! Great to see this ranking, and I am wondering why I didn't remember the amazing Solaris! All the 3 first places are really the most impressive games for the platform. But I really have to mention Atari 2600's incredible version for the arcade classic Kung Fu Master, which is a later game, during the Trammel era...! I wonder if it was remembered and placed in the top 40...
You might have heard me mention in the intro that only 2 Tramiel era games made the Top 40, one in each half. Well, you'll be pleased to hear that the other one was Kung Fu Master! California Games, another amazing late game, was 41 unfortunately . . .
@@TheLairdsLair That's really nice that it was remembered, even being in the 40th place on the ranking! I've never tried the version of California Games for the console, but I will, for sure!
Nice good list, nothing I can really point at and say “that doesn’t belong.” The only thing that disappoints me a bit is a lack of Starpath Supercharger games like Phaser Patrol, but that was a very obscure add-on at the time. Key members of that team later joined Epyx and were responsible for the Summer Games series amongst other titles. And in general, Activision likely deserves their own list. The number of misfires by them tends to be pretty low compared to the classics Crane and company turned out.
I think some of the classics deserved to rate higher - "Space Invaders" is really No 1 as it was the first big hit in many ways. Then the likes of "Defender", "Missile Command", "Centipede" etc should follow as they were also some of the early classics.
Most of these games are the ones I ignored because I thought they were boring. Seriously not enough paddle games included here - they were hands-down the most fun.
I'm a California Games kind of guy. I really liked hacky sack and the bike racing. I wasn't very good at surfing, but I think I was too young to understand how to score.
Some of my favourites are not on this list but it's perfectly fine, because the 2600 got a huge library of games: some of my favourites not featured here are Kangaroo, Starmaster, Dig Dug, Jungle Hunt and Stargate/Defender II (this last one in particular is another miracle for the machine, because it's so frantic and smooth that feels like almost-arcade perfect).
As with all your videos, great work on putting this together. I can't really argue too much at all about what made the top-20: these are all great games. However, besides the games you mentioned not making the top-40, I am surprised to not see Galaxian in the top-20. Like their ports of Phoenix, Moon Patrol, and Ms. Pac-Man that did make the top-20, GCC did an amazing job with their Galaxian port given the hardware. I would probably, personally, drop Megamania down into the top-40 and swap Galaxian into its place, not because Megamania is a worse game but because I have no nostalgia for it. It's fun, but we didn't have it nor did I play it at anyone else's house.
IMHO we need to separate this into 2 lists "best 1 player games" and "best 2 player games" as the system had some terrific 2 player games that were terrible or impossible with only 1 player
I played every 2600 game and made my own list for reference, but my list is so wildly different than most of the common consensus games that I feel like it would start some great conversations. Some of these games may have been important at one point in time, but are just boring now. Most have clones that have done the same thing a lot better, too. Surprised not to see Frostbite, Dig Dug, and Haunted House on this list. I see Pitfall 2 far too often, and I don’t think people really sit down and play it they just vote for it because they see it on most everyone else’s list. It’s boring as hell compared to the first one despite it being a marvel of engineering, and the way dying works makes you want to turn it off after a while. Spider Fighter kicks Megamania’s ass, too.
Not sure of the methodology of translating lots of top 5's into one top 20. And I think a lot is due to people not having played games that were better. Anyway, seems mostly right, but a bit too many vertical shooters IMO. I'd give Pitfall 2 a miss in favor of either Asteroids or Kaboom, and honestly it's hard to convince me that Combat is better than Air Sea Battle.
You posed the question, "What are your top Atari 2600 games and why?" You DID NOT ask, what are the greatest Atari 2600 games of all time. There is a difference! I picked my PRESENT top 5, and not my NOSTALGIC top 5. Therefore, my list did not include epic titles such as Pitfall, Space Invaders, Asteroids or even Donkey Kong. The reason these were not included on my list, is because I burned out on them, due to playing repetitively for years on end! So let's be honest, Pitfall has to be #1. Space Invaders and Asteroids makes the list too. Also, whether you love or hate it, Pac-Man is top 5. The final game could be Kaboom! or Megamania, or Yar's Revenge, or Ms. Pac-Man - maybe Defender or Super Breakout. Everyone had most of these games back during Atari's heyday! EDIT: I went back to review my choices. I see my comment was deleted for some reason. I believe I picked: Megamania, Pac-Man, Super Breakout, Q*bert and Laser Gates. These have been my favorites for quite a few years now.
On one of the other videos two people complained that I used the word greatest, saying that people will just pick their own favourites anyway and I should use different wording when asking people - seems I can't win either way! I can tell you that almost nobody voted Pac-Man, points in single digits, likewise Defender and Donkey Kong, although they got a lot more votes. I was absolutely shocked that only 2 people even mentioned Kaboom! as I expected it to rank very highly. I haven't deleted any comments, but the question was posted more than once, so you might be looking at the wrong post.
@@TheLairdsLair Sorry, I certainly don't want you to feel like I am criticizing or being a jerk. Rather, two friends sharing the love of Atari! I really appreciate, and enjoy, your work! I am a pre-crash Atari 'kid'. I fondly remember when Atari was on top of the world! I thought Pac-Man was awful - but everyone had it - and played it incessantly! My mother adored Pac-Man.. I knew families that thought the world of it. Plus, Pac-Man far outsold any Atari game title This is why I placed it in the top 5. Funny thing...today I love Atari 2600 Pac-Man. Once I was able to overlook the disparity between it and the arcade ( took 30 years 😆), I found I actually love it! Btw: I didn't intend to suggest that you deleted my comment. I usually edit a comment like 25 times, so it was more-than-likely my fault. Again, thank you for being part of my love of all things Atari! Take care!
It's ok, I took it in the spirit intended. One of my closest friends back in the day had Pac-Man and another had Ms. Pac-Man (I actually had neither!) and I actually played the latter one first, so then playing the original made it seem absolutely terrible. My friend Abdul absolutely loved the game though and wouldn't hear anything bad about it!
"Circus Convoy"* is a brand new commercial Atari 2600 game by David Crane ("Pitfall!") and Gerry Kitchen ("Keystone Kapers") and looks and plays amazing. I would say that "Yars' Revenge" is the my personal favorite 2600 game. The sound effects are the best of any game for the system, IMO. "Pitfall!" rightly deserves its spot at number one for squeezing over 200 screens into only 4K of ROM space.^ By the way, that kid in the commercial for "Pitfall!" at 15:23 is Jack Black. Yes, _that_ Jack Black. * Circus Convoy: th-cam.com/video/cnW2fgBZAvE/w-d-xo.html This game is 32K, making it about 4 times larger than even the largest commercial game ever released for the system. ^ David Crane explaining how he squeezed over 200 screens into 4K (genius!): th-cam.com/video/MBT1OK6VAIU/w-d-xo.html
Well technically speaking, Circus Convoy is a finished version of the Keystone Kapers II prototype - both Garry and Dan Kitchen were involved in it along with David Crane. As soon as I started planning this video I fully intended to include that Jack Black advert, even before I knew Pitfall! was in first place!
@@TheLairdsLair I had no idea that Circus Convoy was based on that. Interesting. Their next game for the 2600, Casey's Gold, should be coming out next, but I haven't heard anything about it in a long time. They are also supposedly planning on supporting other classic retro systems as well, like the C64 etc. I hope Circus Convoy was financially successful enough to keep them going. There is still quite a big market for new retro stuff as those young kids are now fully grown adults with money to spend.
Afraid I have a blind spot for atari vcs games, they always seemed comically expensive and looked dreadful. Guess it was just old 70s tech by the time i got into owning a 'modern" early 80s computer
When I had my 2600 in 1989 I could get new games like Solaris, Defender II, California Games, Kung Fu Master and Ghostbusters for £10 and they looked much better than the games I had for my Spectrum.
It's not review text, it's comments from the people who voted for these games and it's only on screen while I am talking, after that you get gameplay footage with sound.
Yar's Revenge - I loved this game, but eventually I stopped playing it. Why? Became of Warshaw's stupid "Easter egg". I have nothing against programmers including Easter eggs, or putting their name in a game, but WTF was he thinking just ending a player's game to display his initials? I never figured out what triggered it, so I'd be playing the game, and suddenly I get a black screen with HSWWSH and that's the end of my game. It doesn't even display my final score! He couldn't have made the game continue when you pressed the button? Or automatically gone back to the game after a few seconds? Really dick move that ruined my love of an otherwise great game.
I think this is a solid list overall. I also loved the Centipede commercial
Omg you have the 8 bit guy as a patron I'm impressed though I can't say I'm surprised your content is ace keep up the great work
I love how many call the 2600 a weak console. From a certain point of view, this is not true. At the time, this console that was made for Pong was considerably overbuilt. The longevity of the console as supporter by so many games that are so much more sophisticated prove it. 🥳
I totally agree, just look at later games like Solaris, California Games, Kung Fu Master, Super Football and Double Dragon - it's incredible what they achieved.
@@TheLairdsLairI agree with the exception of California Games- isn't it just a hacky sack demo? Or am I missing the other events?
Nope, it has 4 events and the BMX is the best one.
Yeah and Vader murdered Luke's father, from a certain point of view
Thanks for including my quote! However, while I feel Phoenix has the most and best variety of stages for a “death from above” shmup, the ‘most challenging enemy patterns’ portion of the quote actually referred to Megamania. (I listed both Phoenix and Megamania in a tie for my favorite Space Invaders-style shooter.) Anyway, just fyi.
Sorry, I obviously misread that then!
Dig Dug was my favourite Atari game.
I'm a big fan too, shame it didn't make it.
Awww, only one Imagic game? Was hoping to see Riddle of the Sphinx on there given it's extremely experimental gameplay and ideas. Also glad to see you and I share the same Solaris love :) Game still holds up pretty well today.
I still play Solaris regularly, not just technically impressive but an awesome game too.
@@TheLairdsLaircan this be played well in emulation?
Yes
Great video !!! Awesome Centipede commercial !! Would love to see River Rsid redone with modern day graphics
River Raid yes! Forgot about Pole Position but my favourite was Vanguard.
Great choices. Back in the day I played a lot of Defender, Frogger, Joust, Asteroids, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. More recently I've discovered Spider Fighter and Yar's Revenge. I'm sure those titles would be in my top 20 (along with many on your list).
Nice selection, some true classics in there.
"It's one of the best selling console of all time" made me smile. It's only true when taking the statement very broadly (because since then videogames popularity become more widespread). The list of the very best selling game systems of all time is filled with consoles from Nintendo and Sony.
Anyway the Atari VCS is extremely important for its seminal role as the very first mainstream game console with interchangeable software.
As always I appreciate the work you put in and the nostalgia you brought back thank you
I recently found in my storage I have a copy of "StarGate" ! With the new 2600+ I will be able to play it. I can't recall how I got it. The photo on the box looks amazing.
Best arcade port on the 2600 in my opinion.
Enjoyable video. I'd definitely have included Activision Robot Tank and Atari Super Man in there. Activision Star Master is good too.
California Games is my #1.
One of my top 2600 games too, amazing conversion.
This is a cool list of games for the 2600. The system has so many great games that coming up with any top list is hard!
That's why getting the community to vote is the fairest and most sensible way to do it. My own top 20 would look quite different.
Great vid! No breakout? Mind blown (at least in my book) as it was the first video game I ever saw
Not one person voted for Breakout, although Super Breakout made the Top 40.
NIce to see games I had forgotten (Moon Patrol!). Jungle Hunt and Decathlon are on my top 10 list
I know it's always been popular to s--- on E.T. but I have *always* unironically considered that game to be in the 2600's top 3 ever. It's an adventure game (a *TRUE* rarity on that limited platform, even after the obvious success of Adventure). It has an ending. It's challenging but not excessively so. The ending sequence, a race against time and your pursuers, can be truly nerve-wracking. It gives you almost unlimited potential for achieving a better score upon completion. It has music-also a 2600 rarity. It's the first and one of the only Atari games with a proper title screen. Some of the sound effects are so good that no modern emulator can yet reproduce them. It has hidden secrets. It has programmer's easter eggs. It truly makes the short list of greats.
You'll be pleased to hear that E.T. only narrowly missed out on the Top 20!
True. I rented the E.T. cartridge as a kid and didn't hate it at all. I rented _far_ worse cartridges than E.T. :) I remember being quite impressed with little touches like the graphical title screen, and the way some of the characters even had multi-coloured clothes! It was a bit like Game 3 on Adventure, in that you could replay it over and over. I certainly liked it more than Haunted House, which had far less going on :)
It's just that annoying collision-detection on the pits that takes a big runny dump on what would otherwise be a fondly-remembered little game ... the way the collision-detection doesn't take the perspective into account, so you fall down a pit even if a single pixel of E.T.'s head touches one and his feet were nowhere near it.
Some romhacker fixed the problem, though, and apparently it was a fairly easy fix to implement. No doubt the original developer would've fixed it himself ... if he'd been allowed more than (what was it?) 2 weeks to make the game, or something ridiculous like that.
Heck, it would just be a Day 1 patch these days :)
Great video as always and thanks for including my centipede comment in the video!!!! :)
Really glad and pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite games on Atari 2600 earning the the 2nd place and with my comment, Yars' Revenge! Thanks, Laird!
Great to see this ranking, and I am wondering why I didn't remember the amazing Solaris! All the 3 first places are really the most impressive games for the platform. But I really have to mention Atari 2600's incredible version for the arcade classic Kung Fu Master, which is a later game, during the Trammel era...! I wonder if it was remembered and placed in the top 40...
You might have heard me mention in the intro that only 2 Tramiel era games made the Top 40, one in each half. Well, you'll be pleased to hear that the other one was Kung Fu Master! California Games, another amazing late game, was 41 unfortunately . . .
@@TheLairdsLair That's really nice that it was remembered, even being in the 40th place on the ranking! I've never tried the version of California Games for the console, but I will, for sure!
2600 California Games has the best version of the BMX event in my opinion, it's so much fun!
Nice good list, nothing I can really point at and say “that doesn’t belong.”
The only thing that disappoints me a bit is a lack of Starpath Supercharger games like Phaser Patrol, but that was a very obscure add-on at the time. Key members of that team later joined Epyx and were responsible for the Summer Games series amongst other titles.
And in general, Activision likely deserves their own list. The number of misfires by them tends to be pretty low compared to the classics Crane and company turned out.
Well, Starpath and Epyx merged and the prototype of Sweat for the Supercharger was developed further to become Summer Games.
Starpath Frogger is the best arcade port on the system.
Spider fighter was my all time favorite
It was a great list, but I sure would have liked to see Wizard or Wor. My very favorite. I have this game on multiple platforms.
That's awesome Roger , I Frickin love Wizard of Work, maybe not quite as much as you,but I have 🐝 a big fan since I first played it in the arcades.
Wor not work, silly auto correct
Some of these games had story books based on them. Yars Revenge in particular told the origin of the insectoid warrior you play as.
You can turn on background music on Moon Patrol (iirc with one of the difficulty switches)
it is a mortal sin to play it with the music off!
Great work as always, K!
Centipede is awesome with the trackball control. Bring back the trackball control.
I think some of the classics deserved to rate higher - "Space Invaders" is really No 1 as it was the first big hit in many ways. Then the likes of "Defender", "Missile Command", "Centipede" etc should follow as they were also some of the early classics.
I thought Space Invaders would and should have been a lot higher - but can't argue with a democratic vote!
I was a little disappointed that Berzerk didn't make the list, but at least my favorite game HERO was on there. Still, good choices overall.
Berzerk is right there in 16th place!!!!
@@TheLairdsLair Oops my bad
Most of these games are the ones I ignored because I thought they were boring. Seriously not enough paddle games included here - they were hands-down the most fun.
I wanted frogger my aunt got me freeway. Both pitfalls are great.
I'm a California Games kind of guy. I really liked hacky sack and the bike racing. I wasn't very good at surfing, but I think I was too young to understand how to score.
That's one of my top 2600 games too, especially the BMX event. It finished in 41st place overall sadly.
Missile Command
Some of my favourites are not on this list but it's perfectly fine, because the 2600 got a huge library of games: some of my favourites not featured here are Kangaroo, Starmaster, Dig Dug, Jungle Hunt and Stargate/Defender II (this last one in particular is another miracle for the machine, because it's so frantic and smooth that feels like almost-arcade perfect).
lots of classics here!
I really liked frostbite.
As with all your videos, great work on putting this together. I can't really argue too much at all about what made the top-20: these are all great games. However, besides the games you mentioned not making the top-40, I am surprised to not see Galaxian in the top-20. Like their ports of Phoenix, Moon Patrol, and Ms. Pac-Man that did make the top-20, GCC did an amazing job with their Galaxian port given the hardware. I would probably, personally, drop Megamania down into the top-40 and swap Galaxian into its place, not because Megamania is a worse game but because I have no nostalgia for it. It's fun, but we didn't have it nor did I play it at anyone else's house.
Yeah I thought Galaxian would make it, probably a top 10 game for me, absolutely incredible port.
IMHO we need to separate this into 2 lists "best 1 player games" and "best 2 player games" as the system had some terrific 2 player games that were terrible or impossible with only 1 player
I played every 2600 game and made my own list for reference, but my list is so wildly different than most of the common consensus games that I feel like it would start some great conversations. Some of these games may have been important at one point in time, but are just boring now. Most have clones that have done the same thing a lot better, too. Surprised not to see Frostbite, Dig Dug, and Haunted House on this list. I see Pitfall 2 far too often, and I don’t think people really sit down and play it they just vote for it because they see it on most everyone else’s list. It’s boring as hell compared to the first one despite it being a marvel of engineering, and the way dying works makes you want to turn it off after a while. Spider Fighter kicks Megamania’s ass, too.
Frostbite only just missed out, that and Dig Dug are certainly 2 of my own favourites. And yes, Spider Fighter is much better than Megamania!
No Warlords? I used to beat my older brother at Warlords every time, it was a great game for a group.
It also surprised me not to see it make the list, big favourite of mine too.
HERO and Pitfall II are the only games worth playing on the 2600
Erm, no.
I'm sorry but those are 2 of them, and there's arguably 20-30 more depending on what you like
Adventure , still play
My very first gaming console was the 5200 but the vast majority of the kids I knew still had the 2600.
Anyone buying the recently announced 2600+?
I have one pre-ordered!
@@TheLairdsLair Nice! Same.
Does anyone else think the Pitfall II theme sounds like the Balloon Fight theme?
Only 2 of my top 10 games made the list, how sad.
If it's any consolation very few of mine made the top 20 and I produced the video!
Not sure of the methodology of translating lots of top 5's into one top 20. And I think a lot is due to people not having played games that were better. Anyway, seems mostly right, but a bit too many vertical shooters IMO. I'd give Pitfall 2 a miss in favor of either Asteroids or Kaboom, and honestly it's hard to convince me that Combat is better than Air Sea Battle.
Empire strikes back was the best
Frostbite!
Pitfall is great, but Adventure will always be my #1.
Welcome Don Lemon?
Eh?
Pitfall II is fine and all but the original is the superior Pitfall. I'd have swapped it for a paddle game, like Kaboom or Warlords.
You posed the question, "What are your top Atari 2600 games and why?"
You DID NOT ask, what are the greatest Atari 2600 games of all time. There is a difference!
I picked my PRESENT top 5, and not my NOSTALGIC top 5. Therefore, my list did not include epic titles such as Pitfall, Space Invaders, Asteroids or even Donkey Kong. The reason these were not included on my list, is because I burned out on them, due to playing repetitively for years on end!
So let's be honest, Pitfall has to be #1. Space Invaders and Asteroids makes the list too. Also, whether you love or hate it, Pac-Man is top 5. The final game could be Kaboom! or Megamania, or Yar's Revenge, or Ms. Pac-Man - maybe Defender or Super Breakout. Everyone had most of these games back during Atari's heyday!
EDIT: I went back to review my choices. I see my comment was deleted for some reason.
I believe I picked: Megamania, Pac-Man, Super Breakout, Q*bert and Laser Gates. These have been my favorites for quite a few years now.
On one of the other videos two people complained that I used the word greatest, saying that people will just pick their own favourites anyway and I should use different wording when asking people - seems I can't win either way!
I can tell you that almost nobody voted Pac-Man, points in single digits, likewise Defender and Donkey Kong, although they got a lot more votes. I was absolutely shocked that only 2 people even mentioned Kaboom! as I expected it to rank very highly.
I haven't deleted any comments, but the question was posted more than once, so you might be looking at the wrong post.
@@TheLairdsLair Sorry, I certainly don't want you to feel like I am criticizing or being a jerk. Rather, two friends sharing the love of Atari! I really appreciate, and enjoy, your work!
I am a pre-crash Atari 'kid'. I fondly remember when Atari was on top of the world!
I thought Pac-Man was awful - but everyone had it - and played it incessantly! My mother adored Pac-Man.. I knew families that thought the world of it. Plus, Pac-Man far outsold any Atari game title This is why I placed it in the top 5.
Funny thing...today I love Atari 2600 Pac-Man. Once I was able to overlook the disparity between it and the arcade ( took 30 years 😆), I found I actually love it!
Btw: I didn't intend to suggest that you deleted my comment. I usually edit a comment like 25 times, so it was more-than-likely my fault.
Again, thank you for being part of my love of all things Atari! Take care!
It's ok, I took it in the spirit intended. One of my closest friends back in the day had Pac-Man and another had Ms. Pac-Man (I actually had neither!) and I actually played the latter one first, so then playing the original made it seem absolutely terrible. My friend Abdul absolutely loved the game though and wouldn't hear anything bad about it!
Atlantis centipede star raiders
Fun list. Surprisingly, to myself, the only one of theses I don’t own is Star Wars TESB. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"Circus Convoy"* is a brand new commercial Atari 2600 game by David Crane ("Pitfall!") and Gerry Kitchen ("Keystone Kapers") and looks and plays amazing. I would say that "Yars' Revenge" is the my personal favorite 2600 game. The sound effects are the best of any game for the system, IMO. "Pitfall!" rightly deserves its spot at number one for squeezing over 200 screens into only 4K of ROM space.^
By the way, that kid in the commercial for "Pitfall!" at 15:23 is Jack Black. Yes, _that_ Jack Black.
* Circus Convoy: th-cam.com/video/cnW2fgBZAvE/w-d-xo.html This game is 32K, making it about 4 times larger than even the largest commercial game ever released for the system.
^ David Crane explaining how he squeezed over 200 screens into 4K (genius!): th-cam.com/video/MBT1OK6VAIU/w-d-xo.html
Well technically speaking, Circus Convoy is a finished version of the Keystone Kapers II prototype - both Garry and Dan Kitchen were involved in it along with David Crane.
As soon as I started planning this video I fully intended to include that Jack Black advert, even before I knew Pitfall! was in first place!
@@TheLairdsLair I had no idea that Circus Convoy was based on that. Interesting. Their next game for the 2600, Casey's Gold, should be coming out next, but I haven't heard anything about it in a long time. They are also supposedly planning on supporting other classic retro systems as well, like the C64 etc. I hope Circus Convoy was financially successful enough to keep them going. There is still quite a big market for new retro stuff as those young kids are now fully grown adults with money to spend.
Afraid I have a blind spot for atari vcs games, they always seemed comically expensive and looked dreadful. Guess it was just old 70s tech by the time i got into owning a 'modern" early 80s computer
When I had my 2600 in 1989 I could get new games like Solaris, Defender II, California Games, Kung Fu Master and Ghostbusters for £10 and they looked much better than the games I had for my Spectrum.
I liked the video, but I'm not sure why you put the review text over the game play footage???
It's not review text, it's comments from the people who voted for these games and it's only on screen while I am talking, after that you get gameplay footage with sound.
Why were you shooting the fuel in river raid
I wasn't, it's a Hyperspin clip
H.E.R.O. and Solaris should have been #1, and #2 respectively.
Yar's Revenge - I loved this game, but eventually I stopped playing it. Why? Became of Warshaw's stupid "Easter egg". I have nothing against programmers including Easter eggs, or putting their name in a game, but WTF was he thinking just ending a player's game to display his initials? I never figured out what triggered it, so I'd be playing the game, and suddenly I get a black screen with HSWWSH and that's the end of my game. It doesn't even display my final score! He couldn't have made the game continue when you pressed the button? Or automatically gone back to the game after a few seconds? Really dick move that ruined my love of an otherwise great game.
I had it back in the day and never triggered it once, strange.
@@TheLairdsLair If you get 4-5 extra lives in a row it does.
This happened to me once, some weeks ago, and I thought it was a bug. I don't know what triggered it either
I guess wasn't good enough to get it!!!!!
@@TheLairdsLair It happens if you destroy a swirl in mid-air and your Yar is on the vertical line as the explosion winds down.
Empire Strikes back and Star wars are the best all the others where not that good.
Does anyone else think the Pitfall II theme sounds like the Balloon Fight theme?