20 Best ATARI 2600 Games Still Fun to Play Today
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- With hundreds of games for the Atari 2600 it's hard to tell where to start! Here are the 20 BEST games for the Atari 2600. Did your favorite make the list?
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10 BEST games for Sega Genesis - czcams.com/video/0nAKj1AQ4rM/video.html
NES games that you didn't know were also Atari 2600 games
part 1 czcams.com/video/5nYZHzgerRU/video.html and part 2 czcams.com/video/UtWSz7oYtcY/video.html
I must give my contribution for your list :)
Beamrider
Keystone Capers
Laser Gates
Pole Position
River Raid
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron
These are very good!
"2600", hi Riggs, the old Atari great system did you ever pick up the Atari VCS the new one?
I loved the video, except for that it is lacking 60 fps, that hurts a lot for 2600 games.
@@IuriFiedoruk can i download atari 2600 games on a Xbox One or do you know i bet it would have 60 fps then
@@rioncitylife1917 it is a matter more of video encoding than where the games was running.
If you hold down the reset button when powering up the system with Space Invaders, you can double fire.
PFFT; **NOW** you tell me!! Where were you 40 years ago?? lol
I heard the FF1 save music in my head when I read this comment.
Exactly the same as cuphead rapid fire glitch
I didn't need it.
Im going to try this right now
Update: it works 😏
Moon patrol was one of my favorite games for the 2600
That is hands down my favorite game for the 2600.
Another great one! He could have done a Top 50 list, probably. heh :-)
Never played it on the 2600, but I still play it to this day at a local arcade.
I almost forgot about Moon Patrol. Another great one!
I was looking for that one guy who would say Moon Patrol, and, lo and behold!
When people complain about flicker or frame rate or graphics in modern games I immediately know they didn't grow up playing an Atari 2600.
I got Asteroids for Christmas one year. Opened the present weeks early, played the heck out of it and rewrapped it every night before the parents got home from work. Good times!
Just because modern game consoles are many thousands of times more powerful than a 2600, it doesn't mean the games themselves are thousands of times more fun. Someone playing Space Invaders back in the day was having as much fun as someone playing the latest Battlefield game today. They are very different experiences, but the overall fun is the same.
We did this with our Nintendo we played Pro Wrestling and Zelda weeks before Christmas.
Who cares about them? Atari 2600 is the best
Asteroids was the best. I remember when that came out for the Atari, it was almost like a rumor. Someone at school said that so-and-so had a copy. "No way! Really? It really exists?" Not sure why we didn't know it was coming, but sure enough, it was real. Yeah, we needed to all have it after that. :-) If I was to own one old-school arcade cabinet, it would be an Asteroids cab.
My kids complain when Netflix has to buffer... I try to tell them about having to hope the TV was free at a particular time and day so I didn't miss my favorite cartoons! Haha... such basic times
My all time favorite 2600 jams:
1) Jungle Hunt
2) Dark Cavern
3) Keystone Capers
4) Berzerk
5) Plaque Attack
6) River Raid
7) Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes
8) Amidar
9) Missile Command
10) Haunted House
omg keystone capers, i forgot all about that one. great freakin game - the AI cheated so much though
Juding by that list you would also like Megalomania and Demon Attack.
Excellent choice!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Missile Command and Plaque Attack. Spent a lot of time on those
The version on 2600 wasn't called "Frog Bog", that name was used for the Intellivision version. The 2600 version, same developer and basic gameplay, was called Frogs & Flies.
I thought that sounded off!
I wrote the same response - but deleted after I saw you beat me to the punch!
OHH i remember that i played that a good bit pretty simple but still fun
The strange black cartridges
5 Retro Geek Demerits for Riggs
The inclusion of Frostbite made this list legit, well done! Far too many forget about or don't even know about it. My all time favorite.
Pitfall has an end. Just like Pitfall 2.
Yep, I believe it's collecting 20 golden bricks
@granderwishes Pitfall ends when the 20 minute timer runs out. 2 ends when you find the cat thing.
Pitfall 2 was way better for me.
I was dazzled on how the levels were..
AND YOU COULD SWIM?!
@Steven Wheat the game play in Pitfall 2 was a huge step forward for that platform. Even now, my teen daughters play Pitfall 2 on my original 2600 and they consider it one of their all-time favorites.
@@granderwishes you had to collect all 20 treasures (5 Gold Bars, 5 Silver Bars, 5 Diamond Rings, and 5 Money Bags (which looked very similar to the snake when you were moving fast...)
44 years after it came out they are still selling Atari 2600 consoles in the form of the retron 77, and people still make games for it.
Excellent list! I grew up with Atari. You have to respect the programmers for delivering so much with so many limitations, most of the Atari box art was amazing, and you can't go wrong with Activision games.
Pitfall 2 was easily the best game for the 2600. Also very good were Starmaster and Enduro
It's amazing that they were able to create something like Pitfall 2 on the 2600.
Phoenix was better on the 2600 than the arcade
Exactly!!! 😃
Keystone Kapers is my all time favorite!
Mine too!
Same here!!
Yes i hsve it on my phone to ...yars revenge is awesome to
Totally agree! Awesome game!!!!!
I was just about to say that when I saw you're comment haha. Also, I really like Phoenix.
John, this is SUCH a great list, and judging by your entries here we're obviously very close in age. I could write paragraphs about my memories of each game, but I'll spare you the details! Thanks for the nostalgia kick! Also, I hadn't seen or thought about Dragon Fire since about 1984, so that was definitely a treat.
Great list! Berzerk is one of my favorites.
I was always in awe of Evil Otto, fascinating every time he popped up on the screen and started chasing you :O
I wanna remake it in Game Builder Garage for Switch.
Beamrider is tops on my list
Obviously one of my faves!! See my name?
I made my own text alert it says, “Intruder Alert”.
I recently got an Atari and I appreciate the video.
Long live the king of game consoles!!!
If you arw just getting into ut I can strongly recommend getting a Plus Cart - best purchase of 2021 for me.
@@Zaphod-ef9yz Can ya explain what a plus cart is for me?
Cool thing is that most of the great games are cheap to pick up ;-)
@@misterkumquat7911 Oh it's amazing. It's a cartridge that connects the 2600 to the internet (seriously) and you can go on a server and literally play hundreds and hundreds of games. All the popular ones , rare ones and the homebrew scene has a lot on there too.
Great list. You're giving me great ideas on games to look for!
The Cannibals from Jungle Hunt and Evil Otto in Berserk used to scare the bejesus out of me. Two of my favorite games along with Defender and Demon Attack.
What I love about classic games is that graphics couldn't be a reason to like them. They had to be fun to play and they are! Even today I still play Atari. H. E. R. O is number 1 for me!
Yippee!
No Combat!? That was such a good multi player.
I just made a version of this on game builder garage. My kids have a blast playing it
@@dokka3785 I'm planning on getting GBG this weekend and have been thinking about remaking some 2600 games.
Great list John so many great memories so much of my childhood was spent on the 2600 playing ghostbusters mario bros and jungle hunt.
Joust was a pretty incredible port. Mario Bros was a lot of fun and decent too. Moon Patrol, Warlords, Star Raiders would have been on my list. Combat was a blast but you needed two people.
Joust was a game we played all the time as well as California Games (Motorcross)
Warlords! Best party game on the Atari 2600
Bobby is Going Home is also great
Warlords with two sets of paddles and four people is still a blast.
Absolutely, also the paddle game Demons to Diamond was the only game me and my siblings literally played it until it burnt out.
Pitfall 2 is the best platformer on the system, plus it has bgm, ahead of its time. Cosmic ark, Congo bongo, xevious, I could go on but it's been awhile.. Riggs, you're the best, man!!
How, how, how is Pitfall 2 not on this list. Makes no sense.
@@LoroTalby It came out in 1984, and not many people bought it. So if he doesn't have it....
I liked Cosmic Ark, but whether I can beat my high score is another matter, as it was pretty fast at that level.
Thanks for this! I forgot about most of these. Going to look for Dragonfire.
Superman was my all time favorite Atari 2600 game. I still have the cart today. Great video sir!
Superman was my favorite N64 game. Look how far they came from the 2600 Superman to the N64 Superman. Tremendous improvement.
Great list. I still have most of those games. A couple of my other favorites were Shark Attack, Entombed and Quick Step.
Frog bog was also called frogs and flies. I loved the setting where you could free jump and land in the water..
Oh yeah, I remember it now, it was one of those weird "chisel tip" shaped cartridges.
Yup I have it as the frogs and flies version. Great game
I love Frogs and Flies, never heard it called Frog Bog before.
It was called Frog Bog on the Intellivision
@@bonemasterd1 an Intellivision game on an Atari 2600 video?!?! The nerve! 😝
Love these old atari 2600 games John I play them still on my 7800 once in awhile and bought the carts 1 and 2 for my Evercade hand held system
John I;m a big fan, keep up the good work, I started following you after I saw you in some Metal Jesus videos
Pitfall, in fact, has an end, when you collect all the treasures in time, which is really challenging.
There's guides on the web telling you to go left or right up or down to collect them all in 20 minutes, but you have to jump like 19 scorpions. Too bad there's no reward fanfare for winning like Adventure and Haunted House. I've won it twice, once 40 years ago, and once a few years ago, so no need to play it again today. I never got Pitfall! 2.
Two games that are still so much fun with 2 players are Combat and Freeway. Racing game that I loved also was Enduro. Most people think Pole Position with racing on the 2600, but Enduro was great at the time with the sky changing colors, and even a snow level. Still have a 2600 hooked up and ready to play on a moments notice. Priceless!
Air Sea Battle was also a blast with two players. I owned the Sears Tele-Games version of the cartridge, which they re-titled to Target Fun for some reason. lol
@@KabukiKid Agreed! Atlantis was fun too. So many games that could make a top 20 list.
My favorite two player games are slot racers and outlaw.
Excellent run down! I loved playing those games and more back in the day.
Thanks for showing this classic console some love.
One of my earliest and favorite memories is, watching my mom and grandma (both who are not gamers) playing Kaboom together, having a blast, yelling and laughing their heads off. Great time.
I have similar memories lol so cool
This is a pretty solid list. Glad to see some Maze Craze love. I would add Pitfall II and Keystone Kapers as honorable mentions.
Pitfall II pushes the 2600 so hard, it doesn't feel like it even belongs on that console.
Good list. I didn't grow up with the Atari but I've grown to like it over the years and even have a collection of my own. Fun fact, a friend of mine broke his arm a couple of months ago which rendered him unable to play most games. So I brought over my Atari 7800, paddle controllers and paddle games and we had fun playing some Warlords. He's a few years younger than me so he didn't grow up with Atari either but he enjoyed it
So many memories,thanks for the video
Loved the Atari! Brought back some great memories
Darn right John.. My experience with gaming in the 80's was about the same brother 😎
Love this - thanks for the great memories
Nice list few of my favs and some I need to try out. For 2 player fun, I always enjoyed combat (so many options), armor ambush, and artillery duel.
Vanguard was also one of my top favorites. Good call on Yar's Revenge, too. I loved the super grim sound effects on that one as a young kid.
I don't think I ever got to the third Gond, it was just too fast to maneuver by the third level. I did see the arcade game once at a pizzeria, where the paths were diagonal.
The last time I played Yars' Revenge to beat the logbook challenge high score (game 6a: 100K, 230K, 500K), I hit the line that gives the programmers initials and froze the game.
2:09 Grandma's Boy 🤘🤯
I used to spend hours playing Kangaroo at the arcade punching the monkeys always made me laugh
Nice to see vanguard get some love.
Wow Hero looks awesome. So bummed I missed this back in the day!
Dude how could you not include Enduro. It had to be the best racing game on the Atari 2600.
He could probably make a list just from Activision games. (Back when Activision was a game-changing, innovative company!)
Technically Indy 500 is the only "racing" game; the others are just passing-traffic games. But because it came with Steering Controllers, no one ever made another game with those controllers, like a sequel or Tempest.
I got to show some love for Dig Dug and Galaxian. Spent a lot of time with those two. When it comes to fun 2 player vs the ultimate classic was Combat. For it’s time you had so many options of game play. Many’s the hours we spent on that one!
Dig Dug is a top 20 Atari game for sure 👍
Playing Combat with anyone in my family was great fun, It was my free game that I got with the console and there were SO many options..........
Great list! I also loved Missile Command, Fast Food, and Coconuts.
Nice video. Really enjoying all your videos. Riverraid is the Atari game that is most playable today. Perfect game back then and still is.
Star Master was always one of my favorites. I think it holds up really well today. It was really ahead of it's time when it came out. I would have to say it really stretched the Ataris hardware for all that you could do in that game.
Some interesting choices. Others that I've enjoyed were BMX Air Master, Dig Dug, Keystone Kapers, Missile Command, Moon Patrol, RealSports Volleyball, Secret Quest, Solaris, Tennis, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes, Venture, and Warlords. Some of them can have limited replayability, but they're fairly fun for awhile. BTW, Pitfall has an ending: get all of the treasure before the time runs out. I doubt that very many have manged to do it. I certainly never did. Never beat Solaris either.
Great list! One I love that I don't hear talked about enough is Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator (great name, I know). I have a complete copy that even has the controller overlay! Pretty fun and has two different ship perspectives at the same time. Still visit that game quite a bit.
Thanks for this!
Excellent choice of Atari 2600 games. Chopper Command, Dodge 'em and Carnival are 3 of my favorites for that system.
For Dodge 'Em I beat the logbook challenge on difficulty b, scoring perfect game of 1080 and didn't need to play again. A few years ago I realized I'd never won the game on difficulty a's! So I did that on slow-random and fast, but haven't done it on both fast and random positions of enemy cars (both difficulty a). So I think that one's worth still playing to learn the patterns to win.
Good list. My sister and I would play Frogs and Flies all the time. I would have exchanged Phoenix for Demon Attack. Didn't care for Vanguard and I'm stunned Missile Command didn't make the list. Along with Yars' Revenge & Frostbite, Missile Command was my favourite.
Phoenix was really easy. Demon Attack however…
Glad you mentioned Hero and Berzerk. I spent so much time as a kid playing those.
Good morning watching the video while driving on the highway to work 💪have a great weekend Mr Riggs
hope you're watching AND driving o_O
Tac-Scan is really fun and unique for a vertical shooter. You control a squad of 5 ships and can lose/regain them as you go. It also uses the paddle controllers.
Pretty nice, I didn't know a bunch of those. My favorites are there though. There was also a really cool and addictive shooter called Spider Fighter, probably one of the few I'd still play to be honest.
That game is hella fast!!
Solid list! And most of them can be found for cheap! These are my 2 favorite "new" releases: Space Rocks (Asteroids with option to play 2-player simul), Medieval Mayhem (easy to play 4-player simul). Basically Darrell Spice Jr. makes top-notch games.
Great list! I didn't know most of these due to being the only Colecovision kid in the neighborhood.
But... you could play VCS games on the ColecoVision with the Expansion Module #1.
Man, I almost forgot about these great games! But for my personal list, Joust is definately missing! It made so much fun flying around with these birds by flapping the wings while fighting against a friend trying to hit them from above. So easy gameplay but so great.
Seaquest would be in my top 5.
Heck yeah man I loved that game too! An absolute classic! That game never gets the recognition it deserves.
I still play that one to this day. It is amazing in every way.
That game and Moon Patrol.
Nice list! One game that i played the heck out of was Phoenix. Loved that one. Missle Command also comes to mind.
Great list! Phoenix was one of my favorites!
I agree with Pitfall being the best. I love maze craze too. It’s rarely mentioned but I love Bowling too. It’s so simple but so much fun
Maze Craze was fun back in the day and still is. I played it a few weeks ago on my Atari VCS I think.
I love you for making this video. 2600 Empire Strikes Back and Pitfall for life!!!
Nice video, and nice list John! Liked, and subscribed.
My favorite has to be Megamania. Still enjoy playing it today!
Great choice
Activision had so many great games, glad to see you include River Raid! One of my favorites that I had as a kid was Chopper Command, played so much of that game back then.
Chopper Command, Barnstorming, and Stampede.
I think I prefer The Empire Strikes Back to Chopper Command the last time I played Atari.
Totally forgot about Vanguard. Loved it. Great list! I would have Warlords and Missle Command on mine.
Cool video Riggs. I didn't grow up with the Atari 2600 but I do own a raspberry pi with tons of games on it. and it does have the Atari 2600 emulation i might just give it a try.
This is a great list. QBert is my favorite game that you didn't mention.
I had a Q-bert watch, I forgot all about that until now. Lol
That's still worth playing today.
The main 2600 game that I enjoy is River Raid.
Love the 2600! And some of those games will always be favorites of mine. Cheers!
"Frogger," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Centipede" (with the Trackball), "River Raid," "Joust"... loved all of them and still have them in my collection, today.
I still get the music from "Vanguard" and "Moon Patrol" stuck in my head. =)
I've always been disappointed that people don't seem to remember really cool systems like the 2600, 7800, Colecovision and Vectrex. They had great games!
I used to love Plaque Attack for the 2600
Great list! Kudos for mentioning Kangaroo, Space Invaders, Frogger, Vanguard, H.E.R.O.and Jungle Hunt. I would also add Ms. Pac-Man, Pitfall II, Circus Atari, and Q-bert. Now, if you were to include homebrews made over the last 20 years, the list would be very different because there are so many great homebrews as good as or better than the ones from back in the day!
This is exactly the video I need
Great video. Kaboom with paddles is the best! Tough to argue with the list. There are some other Activision games I played a lot: Seaquest, Pressure Cooker, Crackpots, Decathlon, Keystone Kapers. I also enjoyed Millipede, Phoenix, Ms. Pac Man. So many good ones.
Phoenix and Ms. Pac-Man are still worth playing today. I didn't get any games after 1983, but Centipede is still good.
My favorite game was "Starmaster" by Activision. I still have it including the original box & booklet. It was way ahead of it's time in gaming, tactics & design.
Played for hours, loved it!
Activision made a lot of great games for the Atari 2600.
For the best top score game its Tapper!
I can’t believe you left the most enjoyable game of all time for the 2600-E.T.!! Seriously though, I’m glad I discovered your channel. As a kid in the 80s, you can def appreciate how far we’ve come! As someone else mentioned, I absolutely loved Warlords with the paddle controllers, Combat for 2-player tank battles, and Activision’s Defender knock-off: Chopper Command. Keep up the great work!
Last time I played E.T. I won 5 times before running out of energy on hard. The thing with Atari (and its competitors) was that it was designed for 2-player games from 1977-1979, like Combat. By 1981 it became a 1-player game system with hits like Space Invaders, Missile Command and Asteroids.
Warlords was the multi-player exception, and probably the last 4-player game released. Even though I got M-Network's Baseball and Armor Ambush in 1982, they didn't have 1-player options (the Intellivision versions didn't either, I'm told!), and other kids didn't want to learn the control, or even buy their own copies to get proficient.
E.T. is a lot more fun than some 2600 games.
I love that you mentioned vanguard I still play a lot of that today! Two I would have mentioned is millipede and centipede, love those! Great list John! Never played hero but that looks awesome! Great video!
Definitely Centipede. That was fun to play either as the Atari version or the original arcade for Playstation!
Cosmic Ark (Imagic) is one I always play whenever I have the 2600 out.
Imagic turned out a bunch of Good to Great games.
I still remember seeing the commercial for this game when watching Saturday morning cartoons.
Adventure is my go to 2600 game. Glad to see it on the list. Surprised you didn’t mention the Easter egg.
The "transmolecular dot!" heh That is what everyone used to call it, at least.
@@KabukiKid oh funny, never heard that
Star Raiders, Warlords. Great vid! Thanks for this blast from the past.
Man..., I played so much River Raid, Moon Patrol and Frostbite when I was a child... I still love these games and play occasionaly using the Stella Emulator, but seeing how much games evolved in things like Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls (my new favorite games) is incredible.
I would have had combat, warlords, dark chambers, and surround on my list. I probably played more mulitplayer then single player games due to growing up in a large family and needing to share the only TV.
Out of your list, Hero was and still is absolutely incredible.
Thanks John for sharing Atari, you are 100% correct I have a hard time going past NES, I owe you! Love!
Quite a solid list, there. Two that I would have included, because they gave me a lot of fun as a kid, were Chopper Command and Wizard of Wor. Chopper Command was a lot like Defender but without all the flickering; it played well and looked good. Wizard of Wor was great with its simultaneous 2-player mode where you could co-operate or be treacherous :)
Love me some H.E.R.O.. Keystone Kapers, Megamania, Plaque Attack, and Moonsweeper are definitely up there for replayability. And Combat was great for 2 players.
I completely agree with you about Moonsweeper. It was one of my favorites.
John, good list...yet where's Private Eye, Warlords, Space Shuttle and Roc'n' Rope?
Great list. I started playing the 2600 in the early 80s at my cousins house and at my friends house. I eventually got a 7800 in 1988 and was able to get about a dozen 2600 games for that. Played it quite a bit until I ‘upgraded’ to the SNES (my favorite console of all time).
My top 20 would be:
20) Kaboom. A neighbor gave me this one along with the paddles and I was addicted.
19) Keystone Kapers. Another ACTIVISION gem.
18) Combat. Old school. Must play as 2P.
17) Defender. A lot of folks disparage this one, or prefer the second one, but I’m with you Riggs, I liked this defender. Had a lot of fun back in the day.
16) Dig Dug
15) Yars Return/Yars Revenge (yup, lumping both together)
14) Commando. This one got a huge boost with the 7800, but the 2600 one plays really well.
13) Galaxian. Honorable mention to Phoenix and Demons attack.
12) Dig Dug. Pretty solid port. Not nearly as good as the NES version, but was available well before.
11) Toyshop Trouble. Another great homebrew.
10) Space Invaders. It’s the killer app of the 2600.
9) Ms Pac-Man. Big boost when it went to 7800, but this is a solid port.
8) Berserk
7) Missile Command
6) River Raid
5) HERO
4) Frogger
3) Wizard of Wor. Huge fan of this game. Probably spent more time playing this with my friend in the early 80s than any other game
2) Pitfall/Pitfall 2 . I realize these are completely different games, but I wanted both on here...
1) Mario Bros.
Great list and some good titles. I had and played many of the ones on the list. My favorite was not on this list though. My favorite game was Activision's Sea Quest, That game was my favorite back in the day and I still play it today. Another few games I like not on the list were...
* Enduro
*Keystone Kapers
*Cosmic Arc
There is kind of an end to Pitfall. You have to take a certain path through all the screens utilizing both underground and above ground paths in order to get every treasure in the game. Personally, though, I never bothered with all that, and would always just run in a straight line to the right of the screen.
Yeah, there is definetely and ending, I watched a speedrun of it recently, you got to collect all gold treasures in the time limit
Once you collect all 32 treasures the game does end by freezing. Still an ending though.
I’m glad my two favourite 2600 games are included frogger and jungle hunt, definitely still fun to play. Along with most of the games on this list.
Very happy you included Yar's Revenge!