Tendo City

I'd never owned an Atari system before, and had barely ever played one, but that changed when I got an Atari 7800 back in April. It's an interesting system to have... and yes, I do like some of the games. The Atari 2600 is a true classic, certainly one of the most important videogame consoles ever. The games are generally EXTREMELY simple, as was true in all consoles up until about 1984. Think basic cellphone-game level stuff, only often with even less variety. Prices are similar too, though... most 2600 games cost between $0.50 and $5 for the slightly pricier ones. More than that is only for the true rarities. 7800 games cost a bit more; it's maybe $3-5 for the cheaper games, $30-50 for the rarer ones. There are hundreds of 2600 games, but only about 65 for the 7800, which is about the same number as the system Atari had in between those two, the Atari 5200.

On that note, Wikipedia and GameFAQs may call the 5200 a "second gen" console, but the non-NES new systems of 1982-1983, including the 5200, Colecovision, Sega SG-1000, and Vectrex, came 2 1/2 to 3 years after the last system released, and were called "next-gen" at the time. They clearly should be considered third generation, along with the NES, 7800, and Sega Master System. Yes, Sega and Atari both had multiple third gen consoles, one early and the other later. Atari did that because of the crash, Sega because they liked releasing new hardware at an unhealthily steady pace.

The Atari 2600 was one of the most important consoles ever. Released in 1977, the system was the first console to be a huge hit, and it won its generation (the second) by a huge margin. I didn't play the 2600 during its life, though; the NES was the first console I knew. It actually wasn't until I bought this system that I owned an Atari console. I had played some emulated Atari games before, but that's not like the real thing, and I had spent almost no time with 2600 games, even there. So yeah, a lot of this is new to me. The first 2nd gen console I got was the Odyssey 2, which I got last year. See my thread on that system for my thoughts on that console; I like it. O2 graphics are in some ways better than the 2600, but they are more limited. The 2600 can be pushed in all kinds of crazy ways, while the O2 runs faster and more smoothly, but with extremely limited graphical variety (I don't know if it can even do curves at all, for example, beyond round sprites and the like...). It's interesting to compare the two; the 2600 can put more colors on screen and has been hacked to the base of the hardware in many ways, while the O2 is much less alterable (in addition to being pretty much all lines for environments, you also see the same sprites a lot across games, and can't really do behind-the-character/vehicle games either), but is faster and doesn't flicker, which can be a major problem in many 2600 games. I like 2600 games which do stuff like bright shaded color palettes, because that stuff looks great.

On that note, my 7800 doesn't display properly on my HD television. I have to use the system on my SD CRT. The O2 works on the HDTV; colors are slightly off, but it's entirely playable. The 7800, though? Nope. Not playable at all. Ah well. The 2600 has several kinds of controllers, including regular joysticks, which have a stick and a single button (I have several of these), paddle controllers, which are a rotating dial with a button, and have two on each wire so that you can play four players on a single system with these (I have one pair of paddles, which do work), the racing controller, which is similar to the paddle but spins all the way around (and works only with one game; I don't have this), and the keypad, which is used by Star Raiders and a few other things (I don't have this either yet). The paddle controller is fantastic; it's really too bad that newer systems haven othing like it! The regular controllers, or 7800 controllers, are stiff digital sticks, but the paddles give you extremely smooth analog control. It really needs to be experienced to be understood; I'd heard before about how much Atari fans like paddle controllers, but until I actually used it myself, in a game, I didn't get it. Well, now I do. Paddle controllers are really great.



The Atari 7800 was originally designed in 1984, as the 5200, and the rest of the industry, collapsed. The system has solid graphics for the time, which are better than the NES in some respects and worse in others, but very poor audio; it only has the 2600's audio chip for sound. The excuse was that games would have sound chips in the carts, but that was a questionable idea. GCC, who designed the system, should have designed it better -- the audio is simply awful. Only two games ended up using that audio chip. The graphics are solid, though. Games generally are small, for reasons explained below (almost no games make use of anything beyond the smallest cart sizes available), but look decent enough for their size. As with the Sega Master System, the system is poorly designed and has the Pause button on the console, instead of on the controllers. That was a terrible idea on both systems; I know the 2600 had the access buttons on the system, but the 5200 had had a pause button on the controller! Dropping that was stupid. At least it really is only used for pausing here; it's not like the SMS, where some games use it as an essential options selection button.

The Atari 7800 system feels a bit cheap. Buttons are squishy. It does still work, but this isn't exactly the best build quality externally. It also doesn't have a color/B&W switch, so some 2600 games are not properly playable, and is incompatible with a few 2600 games (including one I have). Some 7800s work better than others, compatibility-wise; there's really no way to know if you have a good one or not without trying the games. Weird. Some have an expansion port on the side, others don't. Mine does have the port. It's not used by any official accessories, though some homebrew ones that use it may be coming.

I've mostly been playing everything with the regular US 7800 controllers. They are two button joysticks, with a long and narrow design, two buttons, one on each side, and a stick in the middle. I know 2600 games, and 1-button 7800 games, can work with Genesis controllers, and I tried that too, but the 7800 stick's not so awful that I want to switch controllers all the time just to use a better one (since 2-button 7800 games require 7800 controllers, Genesis controllers only work with 1-button games or 2600 games). Maybe sometime I'll get one of those gamepad-style controllers they released in Europe. The US stick 7800 controllers are moderately uncomfortable, and the buttons are squishy, but there's worse out there. At least they work.

Atari built some and test-marketed them in one city, with a handful of games (~9), all arcade ports. Releasing a new system just two years after their last one was a stupid idea, but Atari was going to do it. However, Warner Bros., who owned Atari at the time, decided to get out as the crash got worse, and the system went into legal limbo. Finally, Jack Tramiel bought Atari Consumer in late 1984. Atari Games, the arcade branch, was separated out into an independent studio. Atari Games would go on to form Tengen as their home division, would get bought by Warner again, and then got sold to Midway (before getting shut down in 2004, some time after which Warner once again bought up those rights by buying Midway's remnants.). Tramiel got the home computer and console side of the company, which lasted until its shutdown in early 1996. Tramiel was focused on making a profit more than anything; Atari was losing a lot of money when he bought it in 1984, and he turned things around by being incredibly cheap. Tramiel's Atari never had much in the way of internal game development, quite unlike the Atari of old. He also couldn't get the rights to many of the major arcade games, because of course Nintendo had their illegal monopoly going. He eventually sued Nintendo and won, but that didn't help sell systems. Anyway, 7800 games were mostly all outsourced. Many are from different studios, as Tramiel always searched around for the lowest bidder. Few push the system well; the 7800 graphically actually is as good or better than the NES, but few games show that off. Blame that on Tramiel's cheapness in not allowing larger cartridge sizes, spending to build up internal development teams or fund enough development in a timely manner, those onboard audio chips, and also not releasing the system's high score backup passthrough cartridge that GCC had designed (nice idea!).

Overall, the Atari 7800 is an okay system hamstrung by poor decisions. The system could have been interesting, but instead, it's a system with a small library heavy on last-gen ports. The popular 7800 games are mostly ports of old arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong (since Atari had DK, DK Jr., and Mario Bros. rights, they did 7800 versions), and the like. The system has some later titles which push it more, such as Commando or Ninja Golf, but few were released; Atari didn't seem to get significant resources aimed at the system until 1989, and then stopped developing for it by the beginning of 1991. It really was a failure of leadership, I think. I mean, there was a legal battle over the 7800's rights that delayed Tramiel from starting plans to release it until May 1985, but after that, what did he do? Well, he released the system sometime in 1986, with those games that had been made back in 1984 by GCC available at launch. But as for new games... those took quite a while. The original 1984 games were re-released again in 1987, this time with cheaper cartridges (the sliding cartridge pin connecter that the 1986 editions have was removed; I have only one 1986-edition cart, Galaga) and 1987 license dates, but as for new games... uh, wait for 1987, it took that long until new games started appearing. Why didn't he immediately start developing games for it as soon as he had the system rights in May 1985? Pure cheapness, I assume, but trying to run a console without putting any money into making first party studios was a very bad idea. Atari may have managed to succeed despite that with the 7800, but the Lynx and Jaguar's failures were in large part to the paucity of first-party output, as well as Atari's consistent failure to get many third parties on board, even after the Nintendo monopoly was broken down. If you can spend less for something Tramiel may not have really cared about about as a core element of his business anyway, why not do it? He seems to have thought of the 7800 as a system to make a cheap buck off of, not as something that should be a great videogame console. Too bad. And so, the 7800 was aimed at the budget market, for people who wanted to spend less to get a console. For people who wanted to spend more, Atari later released a THIRD third-gen console, the Atari XE, which is a consolized Atari 8-bit (Atari 400/800) computer. Yeah, that's way, way too much competing against yourself there. Choose one system, and stick to it.

Despite the dated, thin library, though, the Atari 7800 sold decently in the US and Europe. The system sold 3.9 million systems in the US, and is said to have sold that much or better in Europe. Not bad, considering all its limitations. I'm not sure if it deserved that level of success or not, but I will admit that it does have some pretty solid ports of classics. However, so does the NES... they just weren't focused on as much as they were on the 7800. Atari almost completely missed most of the stuff that made the NES a hit, such as Super Mario Bros., only edging into making some slightly larger games in 1989-1990. There is only one true Super Mario-esque platformer on the system, for example, Scrapyard Dog, and it was a late release. As some people have said before, where was, for example, the Bentley Bear (Crystal Castles) platformer, earlier on in the system's life? That kind of thing could have sold more consoles. Their sales show that some people were interested in this more 2nd-gen-esque game selection, though, so it worked out. Despite the tiny budgets, the 7800 was profitable for Atari. That would not continue with their next two systems, the Lynx and Jaguar, thuogh, of course; both bombed hard at retail, and also had very little software. What had worked on the 7800 didn't continue to, and once again, Atari's failure to build up a better first party studio, and make third party relationships, hurt it badly.

Still though, yeah, the 7800 is a decent system. It's a single system that plays both the 7800 games, which are interesting to see, and also most 2600 games, and that 2600 has a massive library. It's worth having, I think, though probably more so for the 2600 than the 7800 part, though the 7800 has a few good exclusives, anyway. Just make sure to keep a notebook handy, because 2600 and 7800 games are very frequently score-focused games where the only thing that matters is how many points you got, because you can't actually win. Since the games don't keep track of your score, you will have to do so yourself, at least when you get a good score, or else there isn't much point to playing.


I have not had the system long enough yet to say for sure what a top 5 or top 10 or something are, but I will list some games that I particularly like here (in no order).

Atari 7800
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Desert Falcon
Galaga
Pole Position II

Honorable Mentions: Centipede, Asteroids

Atari 2600
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Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom!
Enduro
Megamania
Dodger Cars (Dodge 'em)
Warlords

Honorable Mentions: Dragonfire, Amidar, Astroblast, Commando Raid, Pheonix, Demon Attack, Space Invaders, Demons to Diamonds, Moonsweeper, Kangaroo, Turmoil


I will say a little bit about each 2600 and 7800 game that I have. I say how many players each game supports, and if they support the save cart.

Atari 7800 games frequently have four difficulty settings, and have an ingame menu to choose the options. There's a pause button on the console, as in the Sega Master System. It only works with 7800 games, not 2600, and, well, pauses the game. The other buttons on the system are generally not used by 7800 games; they're for the 2600.

Atari 7800
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Asteroids - 1-2 player simultaneous or alternating, supports score save cart. Asteroids on the 7800, part of the original 1984 library, is an enhanced remake of Atari's classic single-screen rock-shooting game. The game has a graphical overhaul and looks pretty nice. The gameplay is the same as ever, as it's still an endless game you just play for score. The controls work well, and one button fires while the other warps you to a random point on the screeen. As ever, the controls are momentum-based, so you'll keep moving in the direction you're pointing; there's no gravity in space, after all. To slow down you have to turn and move in another direction. Left and right rotate, and up turns on the thrusters. Asteroids' controls take a lot of getting used to, and I've never liked them all that much; it's fine while you aren't moving, but once you start moving, it gets difficult. It works with practice, but isn't natural. This version has several exclusive multiplayer modes, including a versus mode where the two players shoot at eachother while also dodging asteroids, and another where the two players work cooperatively to see how far they can get. Pretty cool stuff, those modes make this version worth owning for sure. The game also has four difficulty levels to choose from, a common theme in 7800 games from Atari. Overall, I may be a bit of a skeptic of Asteroids, but I will admit that this is a quite good version of the game. I like the colorful graphics, and the gameplay is about as good as it gets for Asteroids. They probably should have added some kind of campaign game with an ending, in addition to the endless main game, but this is pretty good as it is. Nice added content.

Centipede - 1-2 player simultaneous or alternating, supports score save cart. As with Asteroids, Centipede is a part of the original 1984 library, and it's a nicely enhanced remake of a true Atari classic. The arcade game of Centipede used a trackball, but here you have to make do with a digital pad. It works decently well, though it's not quite trackball smooth. It's unfortunate that the 7800 never got a version of Millipede, but it did get this game, and it's a great version of this great classic shooter. The game has co-op and versus modes, and is a quite good port of Centipede all around. Centipede is a classic single-screen shooter where you can move around the bottom part of the screen, while shooting up at mushrooms, centipedes which break apart as you shoot their segments (which then sometimes turn into mushrooms after being shot), and tricky-moving spiders. Yes, the bugs are out to get you! Shoot them down. It's a good version of an addicitive, very good game. Oh, and yes, there are four difficulty levels, on top of the very cool exclusive co-op and versus modes. This is a game to definitely play.

Choplifter - 1 player. Choplifter is a mediocre port of an Apple II classic. The game is a scrolling shooting/rescue game, where you control a helicopter and have to rescue people taken prisoner in some bases. You can shoot angled at the ground, or straight down to hit tanks, which can't be hit with the angled fire. Your goal is to rescue as many of the hostages and get back alive. It's a fun game with solid controls, mediocre graphics (seriously, the tanks look pretty bad...), and poor audio. Despite those issues, Choplifter is a fun game, and series, so this is fun to play. However, the game has a crippling flaw. As with most versions of Choplifter, this game is based on the Apple II original. That means that it has only one level, period. So, win or lose, Choplifter will be over in minutes. Very disappointing. Sega expanded on the game in Choplifter for the Master System, which is a fantastic game, but this game pales badly in comparison. I like Choplifter a lot, which is why I got this game anyway, but overall, I can't recommend it; just get the great Master System game. Also on Apple II, other computers, Atari 5200, etc. etc.

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Desert Falcon - 1-2 player alternating. In Desert Falcon, you play as a falcon soaring over the Egyptian landscape. There are a bunch of different enemy types to shoot, obstacles such as obelisks and pyramids to avoid, and at the end of each level, a sphinx boss to defeat. After each level, there's a short bonus area where you collect powerups, and then the screen theme color changes for the next stage. Levels are long and get tough, and there are no continues of course, so I don't know if the game has an ending or not; it gets very difficult. It goes on for a while, at least. Desert Falcon's development was started in 1984, but says 1987 on the title screen, so they must have added something to it later. Unlike the other 1984 games, this one's an original game. The game was inspired by Sega's classic arcade hit Zaxxon, and is an isometric shooter with depth which plays very similarly to that classic, but it has its own unique elements, and is a quite good game overall. This and Galaga are my favorite 7800 games so far for sure. Once I got the 7800 I knew I had to have this game -- I mean, it's a game where you play as a falcon! Come on. My username may refer to the legos, but falcons, the birds, are awesome too. This falcon is kind of cute, too. If you land on the ground, it hops along (aww!), and you have to press for each hop (or stroke through the water); in the air, however, you automatically fly forward. Good stuff. You'll want to land for a few reasons. First, it's much easier to actually hit things on the ground (in the air, lining up shots is hard), second, some obstacles are hard to avoid while flying, and last, you can only collect the powerups if you land. On that note, the powerup system is maybe the game's most unique element, other than playing as a falcon (that's rare in games!). On the ground, there are various hieroglyph tiles. If you land and walk over tiles, the tile will appear in part of the status bar on the bottom of the screen. Once you get three tiles, something happens. Each different hieroglyph combination does a different thing, so if you don't want it to all just be guesswork, either get a complete copy or print out the list of combinations from a scan of the manual (on AtariAge, for instance); knowing what the hieroglyphic combinations are makes the game more fun for sure. The game is fun even without paying attention to that, but paying attention to the combinations does make the game even more interesting and fun. Desert Falcon is, as with most 7800 games, a simple game. It has little variety, and hitting enemies in the air can be tricky, due to perspective issues. But the great graphical style, good gameplay, and interesting powerup system carry it through. Recommended, if you have a 7800 anyway. I just wonder if it has an ending or not...

Dig Dug - 1 player, supports score save cart. Dig Dug is another one of the 1984-original 7800 games. It's a port of Namco's popular game Dig Dug, the game where you go around a side-view underground screen shooting enemies with this odd pump weapon. YOu have to inflate and then pop all of the enemies. Once only one is left it'll try to run away, so you'll have to be positioned to be able to cut it off. Simple concept, and the port is good. However, while Dig Dug is an okay game, I find it gets boring quickly. The game just doesn't have enough variety, and it kind of wastes its underground setting since you rarely have to make many tunnels. I think that Mr. Do (Colecovision/Arcade/SNES) is a much improved version of a similar concept. It's too bad that that game isn't on 7800, or NES either for that matter. Dig Dug's just a bit too repetitve and simplistic; all you do is kill the enemies, there's nothing to collect or anything. You can dig around underground, but the only reason to do so is to get to enemies. It's okay, but is kind of boring compared to Mr. Do!. Also in the arcades, on the Atari 2600, and on many, many other platforms. The game has sequels as well, including Dig Dug 2 (NES) and Mr. Driller (franchise).

Galaga - 1 player. Galaga is another one of the early 7800 games, and it's a very good port of a true arcade classic. Galaga is a single-screen shooter from Namco. The game was clearly inspired by Space Invaders, but has some unique elements like how you can get two ships (by letting one get captured and then rescuing it); at the time, that kind of firepower enhancement was revolutionary, and even now it adds a strong risk-reward element to the game. Do you go for teh two ships, knowing that if one gets hit you lose a life, or do you stick with one, and not risk that life, but have a harder time shooting the enemies? The enemy patterns, which zoom into the screen, are fun to look at and shoot, too. This game has four difficulties, as expected, but I recommend the highest one; the other three run slowly, but on the top speed, this game is fast and challenging, just like the arcade game. The music is good for the system, and the spritework is good too. Galaga is also on the NES, and many collections, but still, this is one of the best 7800 games that I have, and is fun to play. This really is a great, classic shooter, one of the best single-screen shooters ever. Also in the arcades, on NES, and in many Namco Museum collections, though the difficulty level choices are 7800-exclusive.

One-On-One Basketball with Larry Bird and Dr. J - 1-2 player simultaneous. This is a port of a PC game that also had been on Colecovision. The game is a half-court 1-on-1 basketball game, and the two players in the title are the only two you can play as. Audio is awful as expected, but the graphics are good and gameplay okay. It's a decent game for its time and genre. I don't know how interesting it is today though; this doesn't hold my interest for long. Still, it could be worse. The players look decent as they run around the court, and you can shoot easily. It's better than some basketball games, for sure. Also on computers and Colecovision.

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Pole Position II - 1 player. Pole Position II was the 7800's packin title. It is a port of Namco's racing game of the same name, and it's pretty good! I like this game for sure. As with the first Pole Position, this is a behind-the-car racing game. The fake scaling is competently done, the engine noise is about as "good" as you could expect from the 2600 sound chip (even if Pole Position 1 for the 5200 does sound a lot nicer, since that system has a better sound chip in it, at least this one has better graphics), and the graphics look pretty good. There are four tracks in this game, as in the arcade version. First you choose a track. Then, you run a qualifying lap. If you do well enough to qualify, you then race a full 4-lap race. You have a tight timer running, which is extended after each lap with just enough time to get around if you have no mistakes, so you'll only finish races if you run very cleanly, with few mistakes. Remember, as a Pole Position here, the timer is the real enemy; you may start in a starting grid, but there are no actual cars to race against, and the only thing you get at the end is a finishing time. It'd have been nice to see a mode where you race against other cars, I think. Ah well, it's still a good game. The game is quite challenging, but fun. I like this game quite a bit. It's also too bad that it has only single races and doesn't have a championship mode (even just with going through the four tracks would be a real challenge...), but what it has it does well. I like this game more than any behind-the-car style racing games I've played on the NES; honestly, as much as some people like it, Rad Racer is no match for Pole Position II. Console-exclusive at the time, but later the game has been in many Namco Museum collections.

RealSports Baseball - 1-2 player simultaneous. RealSports Baseball is a pretty terrible baseball game. This game is an "enhanced" port of a gmae also available on the Atari 2600 and 5200, but going by reviews, the 5200 version is actually better! Ouch. That version had better field graphics and speech, which of course is absent here. As with the previous versions, RealSports Baseball is a single-screen baseball game with small, poor graphics, a very abstract style, poor controls, and questionable fun value. This game was probably fine in 1982 or 1983, but in 1988, when this released, it was unacceptable. At least the game has AI to play against, unlike most 2600 sports games, but the 2600 and 5200 versions of this game had that as well. In a game like Hardball III being able to see to the outfield on a single screen (well, several screens, for left/center/right view, but there was no scrolling around) worked well, and I've never liked the "way zoomed in top-down" view most NES and SNES baseball games that aren't Hardball games use, but this game, with such a tiny little single-screen field, it just feels cramped and dated. The game has extremely limited options, too. The teams are made up of course, and thre isn't any kind of season mode either. Disappointing. People must have expected better than this pretty awful effort. The controls are confusing and hard to get used to, as throwing the ball and swinging the bat are not nearly as simple as you'd think they would be. Even just pitching the ball is kind of a chore. And after the ball is hit, the game automatically selects the player nearest the ball, without any control on your part. This is frustrating and very hard to get used to; the computer will get a lot of hits in this one, I think. If you actually keep playing, that is. I'd recommend against it. There were only two 7800 baseball games, and I did only pay $2 for this... but even so, it's bad. Baseball is my favorite sport, but this is not a good baseball game. Also on Atari 2600 and Atari 5200.


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Atari 2600
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A few notes:

-Unless I say otherwise, games use the standard joystick controller. Also, I do not list when games are in modern collections. Some games are in various retro collections or download services for the PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP, and others. Maybe I'll specify exactly which eventually.

-If I don't say who the publisher was, it's almost certainly Atari.

-If you're buying loose Atari games, look up the manuals on Atari Age. Atari 2600 games almost always put vital information you must know in the manual, such as what the game variations do or, in more complex games, how to play, period.

-The Atari 7800, and 2600, have several buttons on it. There's Pause, which is for 7800 games only, and for 2600 games, Reset, Select, and A-B difficulty (and, on 2600s, Color/B&W TV). Select changes game mode selection, and Reset, in most games, starts the game with the selected mode. Yeah, it's kind of odd. Some games, mostly third party, allow you to start wit hthe stick or button, but most require you to push a button on the system every time. It's kind of annoying. The difficulty switch is odd too; "B" is easy, and "A" hard. B is the usual setting, A is for if you want to make games harder, usually. I won't mention what the difficulty switch does, usually, but it works in almost all games, giving you an easier or harder option. I've mostly played with it on side "B".

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Air Raiders - 1 player. Air Raiders is a first person flight combat game from Mattel. The graphics are basic of course, and the game has no variety, but 2600 games almost never do. In the game, you fly around and shoot enemies until you run out of ammo. At that point, you can try to land and refill your ammo. Otherwise, you'll get shot down. It's an alright game, but the game doesn't hold my interest much. The 2600 isn't powerful enough to do a great flying game, it just isn't. There are a bunch of games sort of like this on the 2600, but I haven't bought any of the others yet.

Air-Sea-Battle - 2 players required. Air-Sea Battle is one of the two player only versus games, so I haven't played it because I haven't played any 2600 multiplayer yet. The game has quite a few game modes, including plane v. plane, plane v. ship, and ship/sub v. ship/sub.

Amidar - 1 player. Amidar is an interesting maze game which created a small subgenre. The game was somewhat inspired by Pac-Man, in that you move around a maze dodging enemies, but instead of grabbing dots, in Amidar you have to walk over all territory in each level in order to move on to the next one. There is only one maze, unfortunately, but there are two different graphical modes, which alternate between levels. In one you play as a gorilla, and in the other as a paint roller. Yeah, it's random stuff. I like this kind of silly setting, 2600 games had some great game concepts. The game is very slow paced and is quite challenging, but I like it. Some later games that use this same concept, including Crush Roller, Amazing Penguin, and Zoom!, are better than this game, but it's quite interesting to see what I think is the first game to work on this concept. The slow pace can make enemies hard to avoid, but you can "jump" several times per level by pressing the button, which makes you invincible for a few seconds. It's important to strategically use each one of those. Overall, Amidar is an interesting piece of history, and I do enjoy playing it once in a while, but the game has been exceeded by later titles in its subgenre. Arcade port.

Astroblast - 1 player, Paddle Controller supported as well as the regular Joystick. Astroblast is a Mattel game, and it's similar to Astrosmash on the Intellivision. While the graphics of this version aren't as good of course, the gameplay holds up well, particularly with the paddle controller. This game is really good with the paddle controller, that much is for sure. You move left and right along the ground by rotating the paddle, and shoot up at the descending rocks with the button. Every rock that hits the ground reduces your score, so the game has a classic 2600-style risk-reward design, where you want to get in the way of those rocks to shoot them, but someimes that will lead to you losing a life. You get ~9 lives per game, but you can lose them quickly. Yeah, it's a fairly frenetic game. The game is alright with the joysticks, but the paddles are the real reason to get the 2600 version of this game. Atari paddle controllers are awesome, and this is a good paddle controller game. The graphics are basic, with rocks that break apart into smaller rocks and a simple ground and vehicle, but they're enough, and the extremely fast pace of the action keeps games short but exciting (if frustrating, but that happens in these games).

Atlantis - 1 player. Atlantis is a popular game from Imagic, which was a popular developer of Atari games that sadly only lasted a few years before being taken down by the video game crash. Imagic the Atari developer has no relation to the later PC strategy game developer Interactive Magic, which also sometimes was called imagic. Imagic games have cool silver cartridges, though they do seem to be a bit harder to fit into the 7800's cartridge port than the other games I have. They do fit, though, just not all that well. Atlantis is a game where you control some bases on the ground and shoot up at descending aliens, so it's sort of like Space Invaders crossed with Missile Command. Atlantis isn't as complex a game as those in some ways, though. The graphics are great, with a highly detailed underwater city to defend made up of many levels and bases, but all you do is fire three cannons, each of which has a preset firing angle. One fires diagonally left from one side, the second diagonally right from the other side, and in the center there's a cannon which shoots straight up, but can be destroyed by enemy fire (the side cannons cannot). You can't win of course, as usual in 2nd gen games that last more than a couple of minutes. You can just try to keep poor doomed Atlantis alive for a few minutes more. Who knew that it was actually aliens who took out Atlantis? There are various types of enemy ships, and each one moves at different speeds and patterns. There are several modes, including some with the center cannon removed (for greater challenge). The game gets tough quickly, but is quite fun for a few plays at a time. Once you lose a small ship escapes from Atlantis; this was one of the first games with an "ending scene" like that. That set up for the games' sequel, Cosmic Ark (below). Overal, I can see why Atlantis was popular. It's a very simple game, as was often true with Imagic, and I do wish that it had more depth or variety (again often true with Imagic...), but what's here is great, and anyway, depth and variety, from the 2600? Yeah, that's uncommon. Good game for sure. Atlantis had ports on many platforms, including the Intellivision and Odyssey 2, but each is slightly different; the O2 has only two cannons for instance, and a much more basic city, while the Intellivision lets you fly around in the air in a little ship, shooting at the baddies, as well as controlling the cannons. I don't have those versions; sadly the O2 version is pricey, and I don't have an Intellivision (yet).

Berzerk - 1 player. Berzerk is an extremely popular game that Atari fans usually seem to absolutely love. The game is a topdown shooting game. This is another endless game; you are trying to escape from a planet full of killer robots, but sadly you are doomed. The game has a bunch of game modes that vary the difficulty and settings. I wish you could win this game, I think it would help it. I also wish that the game had twinstick shooting controls, but those hadn't been invented yet when Berzerk came around. Still, by 1981-1982 games like UFO! and then Robotron came up with better ways than this game, which merely allows you to fire in the direction that you are facing. It's kind of an issue at times; it's easy to die because of only being able to shoot forwards. Both you, and the robots, die if you touch any walls, so you can sometimes lure them into walls, which is interesting. There's also a bouncing smilie face which chases you around. In some game modes he's invincible, while in others you can kill him, until he comes back of course. You can avoid him by going into any exit. There isn't any kind of maze here, though, so it doesn't matter which route you take; all just send you through a pretty much random assortment of screens. Later, more complex games like Robotron in some ways, or Shamus in others, make things more interesting, but this game is one of the orignators of the genre. Still though, this game does not hold my interest. It's just not all that fun to play; I'd much rather play something newer that has better controls and an actual objective. Make it into an actual maze, for example! Even so, Berzerk is alright. The game is an arcade port and has a Colecovision/Arcade-exclusive sequel, Frenzy.

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Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom! - 1 player. Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom!, by Sega, is a port of the Sega arcade game of the same name, known in Japan as Zoom 909. The game was Sega's first-ever scaler arcade game, so it is a very important game. The game is a space shooter, as you fly a ship through various different scenes, shooting baddies. It's a rail shooter, essentially. There's a great article on Hardcore Gaming 101 about the game. Go and read it, now! This version of the game is the most simplistic one that exists, but it still tries to look "3d" at least in style. As with many console ports there are only a few different environments, including flying through gates over planets, flying through gates while also shooting at enemies, and shooting waves of enemies that fly out on a curving path on a black screen. There's a boss at the end of each round, though it's just another wave of enemies, essentially; you have to shoot both halves of the boss ship before it leaves the screen, that's it. You have to finish each planet before your fuel gauge runs out, or you lose a life and have to start it over. Unlike all of the other versions, 2600 Buck Rogers is a flat, 2d-plane game. All you can do is move left and right and fire; there is no height component. This simplification makes hitting the enemies easier, and considering the hardwares' limited power, was surely a good decision. Buck Rogers is a fast-paced, fun game. The game has little variety, of course, but it's got a soundtrack of sorts, with this pulsing noise that it makes while you're playing, and the shooting action is lots of fun. I really like this game, actually; it's one of my favorite 2600 games so far. I really wanted to play some of Sega's 2600 games, and this is the first one that I have. It's the most expensive 2600 game I have (I paid $6.50 for it), but it was worth it; this game is pretty good. Sega's 2600 carts are pretty cool, too -- they have the word "SEGA" embossed into the plastic on the back. Pretty nice. Buck Rogers is a simple game, but I, at least, think it's a good simple game. Move back and forth, go through the gates, get better a t your aim, and try to get farther each time! I love that music too; it's this weird, simple pulsing beeping noise with a grindey engine sound running over it, but it's great. The solid tone that plays over the title screen is strange as well, as is the odd layout of that screen. What happened there... Oh, and I don't know if epileptics should play this game. Beyond the fact that pretty much every sprite is flickering at all times while it's on screen (that software scaling takes hardware power to pull off after all!), the screen also flashes for quite a while after you beat each boss. Yeah. It was the 2nd gen, they did stuff like that. This game has versions on many platforms, though this one is a bit different from the others. The best home console version is the Colecovision release, apparently. This one is unique and great, though.

Casino - 1-4 players, requires Paddle controllers. Casino is a card game collection. It's got Blackjack, Poker, and one other game. The game has four player play with the paddle controllers, which is surely why it uses them. Controls are simple; rotate the paddle to select an option, and click the button to choose the current choice. I'm no good at poker, but blackjack here is fun enough. The game does have AI to oppose you if you don't have humans to play against, which is good. That was not a given in the second generation. This is a simple game, but it's probably the card game to get on the 2600. There's also a standalone Blackjack cartridge, but if you have this, there's little reason to get that one.

Centipede - 1 player. Centipede is a port of one of Atari's great classic arcade games. While in the arcades the game used a trackball, the 2600 doesn't have a trackball (well, there is one, but it's actually just a dpad replacement; the 2600 "trackball" actually does not support analog proportional controls, oddly enough), so this game is digital. The controls do work. The graphics here are basic, of course. The game is a single-screen shooter, where you control a ship at the bottom part of the screen (you can move around, but only in the bottom area; still, it's not a left/right only game), shooting at a giant centipede descending down at you. The screen is full of mushrooms, though here they just look like squares. There are also spiders to try to avoid or shoot. Centipede sections turn into mushrooms after you shoot them. Centipede is a true classic, and this is a fine version of the game for its time. There is no real reason to play this on a 7800, as the 7800 version of Centipede looks and plays better and even has some exclusive multiplayer modes, but still, this game is extremely cheap and common, and is fun, so it's worth a look anyway. Versions of Centipede are in innumerable platforms.

Circus Atari - 1-2 player alternating, requires Paddle controllers. Circus Atari is Atari's version of the Exidy arcade game Circus. It's essentially Breakout, except you have a teeter-totter for a "paddle". Basically, it's the Atari games that Magnavox based Acrobats! on the O2 on. I liked that game quite a bit (see my review in my O2 thread), and paddle controllers are awesome, so I was hoping that this game would also be good. Well, it is, but I think I might actually like the O2 game more, paddles or no. Circus Atari is a great game, though. Anyone with paddles should consider this a must have. In the game, you have to bounce two guys off of the swinging board at the bottom in order to try to break three rows of square "balloons" up on the top of the screen. One guy is on one end, so you have to have the falling person land on the free side. The "paddle" is much larger than that in Acrobats, so the game is in some ways a bit more forgiving, but still, this is a very hard game, and you get fewer lives than you do in Acrobats, too. There are also a lot more blocks on screen, and they feel a bit farther away, which can be frustrating. Still, at least the guys to bounce off of the blocks that they hit, which is fantastic; Breakout and Super Breakout are sleep-inducingly boring because of how the ball can only bounce off of one block each time, then must hit the paddle or a wall before it can hit another one. That's just awful design, but Circus Atari does not share it. Best Breakout-style game on the 2600? Well, no, Warlords is better, but this is probably second. Anyway, in both Circus Atari and Acrobats!, sometimes you'll get situations where the only blocks left are very hard to reach. At least in this game you can switch the direction of the paddle by pressing the button -- that is, you reverse the free side. This is a really, really nice feature, because it allows you to bounce a guy the other way, for when you're kind of stuck on the other side. Very nice. In Acrobats you only have one guy, and have to bounce off of the indicated side each time, so you can get "stuck" in one part of the screen at times. The paddle controls are extremely precise, but the guys are small, so missing them, and losing a life, is very easy. This is a hard game. Hitting the ball up to the top row of blocks can be tricky, too, and requires either luck (with the guy bouncing around up in the air) or a hit right off the end of the paddle. As in Acrobats, when a row is destroyed, it respawns, so the game keeps going. The balls jitter around a bit in this game, unlike that one, so they're not exactly static. Circus Atari has eight variations, including some with shields, which in this game are a row of moving shields right under the bottom row of balloons, so it works differently from the shield in Acrobats. Keeping the guy bouncing around in the air is hard, but with great controls -- paddle controllers really are fantastic -- and decent gameplay, Circus Atari is a fairly good game. The graphics are ugly, though, and it's unfortunate that the balloons aren't round. The game also can have a high frustration factor as you just miss the falling guy yet again. Still, this is a pretty good game overall, well worth playing. It's challenging, fun, and well designed. The rough graphics and tough gameplay hold it back a bit, but still, play it. Arcade port.

Combat - 2 players required. Combat is one of the most common Atari games; it seems to show up with several copies per system sold, for whatever reason. The game is a two player game where you control various vehicles, most commonly tanks, shooting at eachother. I haven't played it, as I haven't played 2600 multiplayer yet. The game does have a bunch of different modes and stuff, which is cool. All are single-screen two-things-shooting-at-eachother variants, of course. Based on an arcade game.

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Commando Raid - 1 player. Commando Raid is a game from US Games somewhat inspired by Missile Command, but with its own twist. The early '90s DOS PC game Night Raid is very much like an improved version of this game; I liked that game quite a bit as a kid, so once I got the 7800 and heard about this game, I wanted it, and found a copy around here. In the game, you control a turret in the center of the screen, and have to shoot down an endless stream of helicopters and parachute soldiers, as well as the occasional bomber and bomb. You only get one life in this game; if a bomb hits you, or if too many paratroopers land, you lose. The paratroopers fall in four specific paths, so it's not random; Night Raid has more variety on that front. In this game, they only drop over the four buildings that they are trying to capture. If you shoot helicopters before they drop people, you'll get a moment of breathing room. Unfortunately the helicopters don't fall to the ground and take out paratroopers either in the air or on the ground, unlike Night Raid, but ah well; it's still fun. This game has an interesting element, in that a certain number can be allowed to be missed on each of the four paths, but once each one of those four buildings have been fully captured, further paratroopers landing on those spots make permanent tunnels in the ground under your base. Once those tunnels get under the turret, a guy goes down and blows you up, and it's game over. At certain score intervals you will get your most-damaged building restored, but the tunnels cannot be filled in. Commando Raid is a simple game, and US Games has a poor reputation, but I quite like this game. The game has some good graphics, with a very colorful background and fun action. This is a pretty good turret-shooting game. Try it. Also try Night Raid for DOS.

Cosmic Ark - 1 player. Cosmic Ark is, story-wise, the sequel to Atlantis. In terms of gameplay, though, it's completely different; this is not a target shooting game, but instead is its own thing. Cosmic Ark has two gameplay styles, each on a static screen. In one screen you are in space, and have to shoot down asteroids coming at your ship, the Cosmic Ark (alien abduction ship!). The asteroids, conveniently, only approach you from the four cardinal directions. Press the direction plus fire to shoot. It's sort of like the '70s arcade/Bally Astrocade game Star Castle, I think. This is simple, but in the later, faster sequences, it can get tough. In the second screen, you hover over a planet, and have to abduct some ... specimens. You control a small flying saucer which descends out of the large mothership. By pressing the button, a beam goes down to the surface. This tractor beam will pull up the required people, animals, whatever. Once you have two captured, return to your ship and move on to the next asteroid screen. The game stars out very easy, but gets tougher once the planets have laser towers to avoid, and the asteroids get fast. Cosmic Ark is an okay game, but I don't love it; I haven't played it much since getting it. The space mode is too simple, and the planet part, while fun, isn't the best. Still, it's a good enough game, well worth getting considering its low price and somewhat fun gameplay. It's probably not one of Imagic's best, but it's solid. It would be better with more variety and challenge.

Crystal Castles - 1 player. Crystal Castles, from Atari, is essentially an isometric 3d take on Pac-Man. As you might expect, the transition to the 2600 is... rough. Isometric 3d, on the 2600? Yes, Crystal Castles technically pulls it off, but I don't know if it SHOULD have. This game has incredibly blocky graphics and frustrating gameplay; I'd recommend playing something better instead of this. It is interesting to see how an isometric 3d game works on the 2600, but... yeah. This is one of those "it's ambitious, but the hardware just isn't good enough to do this well" titles. There are three or four screens, which is nice; more than average on the 2600, particularly with how each one really is very different. As in Pac-Man, you have to collect all of the items on each screen. In this game you're Bentley Bear, and have to collect all the honey, of course. The "honey" blocks can be frustrating to pick up, as they're kind of small and are easy to walk past while you go around the screen. Pac-Man-like railed paths have some definite advantages. The arcade version had a trackball, apparently, but no luck here. There are also multiple levels, and you can get between them with stairs or elevator platforms, depending on the stage. I like the stage layouts, and after you get used to the controls and graphics this game is alright and is quite playable, but still, this really is something which needs better hardware than the 2600. There have been many comments about how Bentley Bear should have had a platformer series, on the 7800 and such, as Atari's answer to Mario; I agree, that would have been a good idea for sure. He was finally brought back as the only classic Atari character in Atari Karts for the Jaguar, but that was far too late to make a difference. Crystal Castles also has an arcade version, and there's a cancelled, but leaked and complete, 5200 version. It was also on some computers.

Defender - 1 player. Defender is a remake of Williams' exceptional classic arcade game of the same name. The arcade game Defender was Eugene Jarvis's first game, and Williams' first arcade game (they did pinball only before Defender), and it's one of the greatest arcade games ever made, no question. Jarvis would go on to make Robotron, Cruis'n USA, and others, but his first game might be his best. This Atari game isn't by Eugene Jarvis, though, it was done by Atari. The game redesigns the concept; instead of being in space, this game is set on land, over a city. You still fly both directions, trying to save the people from aliens who are trying to abduct them to power up their ships, but it's all blockier and simplified. The blocky buildings are easier for the 2600 to draw than that angular space-ground design was in the arcade game. Enemies are much blockier too, of course. The arcade version also used a button to reverse direction, instead of a two-way stick; here; you have to turn around by pushing the stick the other way. It's a bit odd, compared to ports of the arcade machine (the arcade game had a two-way joystick and 5 buttons, fitting it onto the 1-button-and-4-way-stick 2600 took modification). There is still a radar on top of the screen, because this game does still scroll. The radar shows all enemy locations in the level, though there's not as much to it as the arcade game. This 2600 version of Defender is decently fun, but I can't help but think that I'd rather play the arcade game... arcade Defender really is one of those exceptional all-time classics. For the time this was surely a quite good game... but it's not quite on arcade Defender's level. The worse graphics, simpler controls, less interesting gameplay, and more all take their toll. 2600 Defender is probably worth having, for a dollar or two, but don't go in expecting something the equal of the arcade game. It isn't; it's decent, but it isn't DEFENDER.

Demon Attack - 1 player. Demon Attack is a popular Imagic single-screen shooter. The game was somewhat inspired by Atari's Phoenix, and actually Atari sued Imagic and Imagic settled. The games aren't the same, though. They have definite similarities, but aren't identical. Demon Attack is a very simple shooter. You move left and right, and shoot at the flyng "demons" as they appear in waves of three. The graphics are quite nice, and the effects as the demons come onto the screen look great. Very cool effect there. Demons have a central part and, sometimes, two wings. You can shoot the wings off, but they will regrow; to kill them, you have to shoot them in the center. Some waves have only wingless demons, but the actual target is the same size; those wings don't get you anything if you hit them. Demon Attack apparently crashes after wave 84 or something, but I haven't gotten nearly that far. This is a very simple game, but it's fun. The visuals are good, and the gameplay simplistic but solid. Demon Attack was ported to a bunch of other platforms, but the 2600 version came first.

Demons to Diamonds - 1-2 player simultaneous, Paddle Controller required. Demons to Diamonds is a fairly ugly looking, but decently playing, shooter. In the game, you move left and right with the paddle, and fire your beam with the button. Instead of shooting bullets, you shoot a solid beam which extends into the field. In one player you're on the bottom, but in two player there's also a player on the top of the screen. Enemies appear in the middle, passing from one side to the other along several paths. Enemies come in two colors, white and red. You want to avoid the red ones, though; shoot them and they turn into turrets which shoot at you. Enemies can change color after passing across and moving to another level of the field. You can't kill turrets and just have to wait until they time out and disappear. After shooting a white enemy, it turns into a diamond which will then quickly fly across the screen to the other side. Shooting the diamonds gives you bonus points. So, as the name suggests, in this game you shoot demons, turn them into diamonds, and then shoot the diamonds. Yeah, the name is silly, but it's descriptive... :) Demons to Diamonds has basic, early-looking graphics, but the controls are good (the paddle is good for shooting games!), and the gameplay is quite good too. Fun game.

Dodger Cars (Dodge 'em) - 1-2 player simultaneous. Dodge 'em, or Dodger Cars in this Sears Tele-Games release, is a single screen maze/chase game. The game has basic graphics, but they're enough. As in Pac-Man, you have to collect all the dots on screen. However, you can't stop in this game; you move quickly at all times. You can go even faster by pressing the button, though. Also, the screen is broken into several different lanes, with passing areas on the top, bottom, left, and right. If you run into the computer car, you lose a life and have to try the stage over. Yeah, it's a tough, tough game. You have to try to predict where the computer is going to go in order to succeed. Even beating the first screen is tough. In the two player game, both try to collect the dots, while avoiding each other of course. Dodge 'em is a tough, fun game, and I like it. Games are very short, but fast and somewhat exciting while they last. Simple fun. Apparently this game crashes after only a few screens, but it's tough to get even that far.

Dragonfire - 1 player. Dragonfire is another Imagic game. The game has a pretty cool cover with a dragon on it. The game is, as expected, simple but good looking, as usual from Imagic. You play as a guy (a prince I think?) who's trying to retake treasures from dragons who have occupied the castle. Dragonfire has two screens. In the first, you run across the screen, dodging fireballs. You can duck and jump, and fireballs can come high or low. You'll only have to dodge a few each screen, but still, it can be a bit tricky. It's too bad that the platformer element of this game wasn't expanded on; it's good, but extremely limited. In the second screen, it's now top-down and you can run anywhere on the screen. Here you have to collect all of the treasures on screen while dodging fireballs from the dragon on the bottom of the screen. There are several different colors of dragons, and they get harder over time. You can't win the game, of course, so your quest for treasure is ultimately doomed. The game quickly gets frenetic, as you try to dodge the fireballs in each screen type while collecting those treasures. This is a popular game, and after playing it I can see why -- the game's got a great pick-up-and-play style, and is fun to play and tense. You can't fight back, so all you can do is dodge and collect. Good stuff.

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Enduro - 1 player. Enduro is a behind-the-car-style racing game, and it's a very good one. This is by far the best racing game I've played on 2600, and from what I've read, is one of the best for the platform overall as well. Really, the only big problem with Enduro is that after playing this game, going back to other 2600 racing games isn't easy. Ah well, that just shows how good this game is. Enduro is a very good looking game, and plays just as great as it looks. In the game, you have to pass a certain number of cars each day in order to keep driving. The first day has a low, easy-to-reach target, but after that the number goes up to 300 per day, and it will require skill and some luck to keep going. There is only one environment, and the cars that you have to dodge appear randomly, but you can control your speed, and there are four different parts of each day. First, there's daytime. This is the easiest part. Then, it gets cold, and the road ices over. Controls are slippery here. In the third part, it's night, and all you can see of the other cars is their taillights. And last, early morning fog rolls in and you'll have to slow down if you want to avoid crashing, as your view distance gets QUITE short. All four parts of each day look different, and it keeps the game interesting even if each day has the same four parts. The background graphics are bright and colorful, though cars are only one color each. Still, it works. The game has some nice sound too; the car engine noise has a nice grinding sound to it. Enduro doesn't really have variants, but surviving in this game for more than a couple of days is tough, and the game keeps me coming back wanting to get farther the next time. This is a fantastic game. It's fast, fun, challenging, and there's some nice variety in each day with the four different sections. Overall, Enduro is certainly one of the best 2600 games I've played.

Freeway - 2 players. Freeway, from Activision, is an extremely basic game based off of the first half of Frogger, except for two people. In the game, you run across a highway made up of 8+ lanes. You cannot move left or right in this game, only forward or back as you try to dodge the cars. You get a point each time you get across the screen. There's no AI, so there's no point to this game in single player, which is disappointing. This game is too simplistic, and needed more depth, both in single player, and in at least allowing you to move around the screen. Regardless though, even if Freeway is two player, just stick to Frogger. It's a much better, more varied game.

Grand Prix - 1 player. Grand Prix is a very basic racing game from Activision. The game has good, large graphics, but limited gameplay. This is a side-scrolling racing game -- you drive to the left, starting from the right. There are four courses, but all go left only, and each one is pretty much identical to the last, except longer. Essentially the course has four segments, and you can choose to not play all of them if you want. A narrow section separates each segment. Each one takes maybe a minute at most to get through, so this is a very short game -- once you reach the end, that's it, write down your time if you like it but otherwise it's over. The replay value is from trying to get a better time, as there are cars to dodge which affect your time. Still, this is an extremely bland game. This kind of "dodge the cars" racing game is common in the 2nd gen, and can be fun, but though the graphics are quite nice, and the cars look much more like cars than usual for 2600 games, the game just doesn't have enough to it to keep me playing for more than a few minutes. The cars are a bit too large on the screen, the game's too easy, and getting a good time is simple and won't take long at all. Games like Enduro or Speedway! keep me coming back, but so far this one doesn't at all. It's just too easy and simple. I think that they focused mostly on the graphics here, and not the gameplay, and it shows.

Haunted House - 1 player. Haunted House is an action-adventure game. In the game, you have to find some pieces of an urn scattered around a dark house at night. All you can see of your character is a pair of eyes, which you move around. You can't see the urn pieces, though, so you have to hold down the button in order to light a match, which lights up the area around you. If an enemy is near, the light will go out, so you have to dodge the enemies. You can't fight back in this game, so the enemies have to be avoided. You can see the enemies, at least, if not the things you're looking for. You can also pick up an item which wards away enemies, but you automatically put down any urn pieces you've gotten when you pick it up. Once the urn is together, go back to the lower right entrance on the first (blue) floor to exit and win the game. There are four main variations, and in three of them the walls are invisible too unless you have a match lit. Only the first one has walls visible all the time. The house has four floors, which all have the same layout, but some passages can have moving doors in them in higher difficulties, and there are of course the enemies. It's basically a proto-survival horror game. The fact that you can't see the items you're looking for i...