The Ultimate Activision/Atari 2600 Tier List - ALL 44 GAMES RANKED - Part Two
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Join us for the conclusion of a captivating journey back to the golden era of gaming as we rank all 44 Activision games released for the Atari 2600, organizing them into tiers based on their quality and impact. In this exciting video, we delve into the archives of gaming history, exploring the groundbreaking titles that defined a generation.
Relive the nostalgia of the Atari 2600 as we meticulously analyze and evaluate each Activision game, placing them into tiers based on gameplay, graphics, sound, and overall significance. From the legendary classics like "Pitfall!" and "River Raid" to the hidden gems such as "Megamania" and "H.E.R.O.", we leave no stone unturned as we examine each game's unique features, gameplay mechanics, and its place in the wider gaming landscape.
Witness the evolution of game design as we compare early Activision releases to the later ones, discussing the advancements and innovations that occurred within the Atari 2600 library. Experience the joy and challenges faced by gamers of that era, and gain a newfound appreciation for the ingenuity and limitations of the time.
Whether you're a devoted Atari enthusiast or a curious gamer interested in the history of video games, this video provides an engaging and informative experience. Join us as we embark on this epic journey to rank all 44 Activision games for the Atari 2600, carefully placing them into tiers that reflect their quality and significance.
Don't miss out on this incredible exploration of gaming history! Hit that subscribe button and prepare to take a trip down memory lane with us as we celebrate the iconic Activision games that left an indelible mark on the Atari 2600 era. Get ready to discover which games earn the highest honors and which ones find their place in the lower tiers.
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00:00 Rankings So Far
00:57 The Exercise
09:09 Three-Quarter Point
16:52 Summary - Zábava
Giving Stampede a D? We would not have been 10 year old friends.
Haha
Maybe you would have been friends and traded one of the carts you were bored with for his _Stampede_ and both been happier for it?
I absolutely think that River Raid is one of best Atari 2600 games. Played it with 2600, C64, Colecovision and Atari 5200. Carol Shaw was one of first woman game programmers and she made just amazing game.
If I had select two flying games of that age those would be River Raid (Any version) and Blue Max C64.❤
that game was insane
I had the River Raid app on my tablet for years but it just ended I guess
Totally agree. I also love Blue Max and it was one of only a few games I play on the C64.
River Raid made Carol Shaw an extremely wealthy person. Great game.
River raid….S…..it also destroyed controllers in my house!! Great video!!
Really enjoyed this list, that is some true nostalgia. My only gripe is that Pitfall 2 was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen on the Atari, how they could fit so enormous a world into that little cartridge. Took many days to even figure out that map or how to solve the overall puzzle, it was a new level of immersion.
That said, yes, why-oh-why couldn't they let us turn off the music, maybe just flick the difficulty button or something..
Couldn't agree more! Thank you for watching.
I almost gave up on this game back in the 80s. I got lucky when I stopped moving on a cliff and a balloon showed up. It was like Raiders of the Lost Ark, you had to figure it out on your own or share tips with kids at school. I think it even had a special chip inside for music.
I found out about the balloon in a similar way, got to that ledge, noticed that the jump worked a little different, sat there looking at it for a second wondering what I was supposed to do there. Had to be something because the jump was different, right? So the balloon showed up, I figured they just put in a different treasure, jumped to hit it expecting to just get some points, turn around and find another way. Instead I was surprised with a change of music and a way that Harry moved. Blew my mind back then.
I still have my 2600 & 2 dozen games (I think) Pitfall II is one of them.
I played it when it came out and couldn't figure it out, so I gave up on it, and it fell out of my mind for 30 years or so. My nephew is playing a fairly recent game, cant remember the name, but he walks through an arcade, and goddam, there is a Pitfall 2 cabinet. Finally beat that shit. He got mad I hijacked his game from him for a couple hours
I agree with most of your rankings. I would give Keystone Kappers an S as it is one of my all-time favorite games.
Keystone is definitely and S, I could play it for hours and is far superior to Frostbite and Crackpots..
Yes S for sure. My favorite 2600 game
I played Keystone Kapers on the Atari 5200, but based on what I saw of it on the 2600 I would agree. It's S tier all the way.
River Raid is possibly the best VCS game of all time. Giving it an A instead of an S is a travesty.
I beg your forgiveness.
I agree, that game is still challenging to this day.
later
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ne gative1
A fine example of expert-tier programming: using procedural generation to create an enormous number of levels within the tiny amount of available memory.
River Raid is overrated.
@@GenXGrownUp You can't see the downvote, but I'm giving you a downvote until you redo that part of the vid. :)
Well done!!! I 99.9 % agree!!! Only game I would have ranked higher was Stampede, maybe 1 more tier... :)
Wow! So happy to see my all time fave 2600 title Megamania make it to S tier...such a fun game and the reason I still have a OG 2600 and my Megamania cartridge and STILL play it to this day. Classics just don't go away.
Pitfall II is a transcendent masterpiece that is the God of all Activision titles for the Atari. It is analogous to Super Mario Bros. being compared to Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong. The first true modern adventure game.
I guess it’s only “A” rank to demonstrate God’s humility to associate His divinity with His creation. And why would you ever want to turn DOWN the music!?
2 is far superior to 1 and should be in a list above S. And to say it didn't innovate? HUH? The game was far larger than the first, had your family from the TV show in it and I think it was the first game to have CHECKPOINTS if you died.
If there were only two Atari VCS games left on the planet, I would be happy if they were H.E.R.O. and Pitfall II.
This was definitely a miss. Pitfall 1 is classic but Pitfall 2 is more replayable. I was blown away by the music and visuals when we fired it up for Christmas. Top 10 best vcs games of all time.
@@JGreen-le8xx Pitfall 2 is so high above the others that it needs a Unicode character or a kanji to represent its superiority. I suggest 完, perfection. I also want to point out that Pitfall 2 (technically Roman numeral II) even has an optional sidequest of saving the pet rat - a full decade before Super Metroid’s “save the animals” secret sidequest.
I beat pitfall 2 and my friends wouldn't believe me
I got every treasure and u just jump up and down bunch times when u win.
Outside of Stampede most of my picks were the same, or one above or one below. I give Stampede an A though. That was my first patch though, so that may have influenced my opinion.
I never got a patch back in the day. Took a lot of pictures, but didn't follow through & mail them off once the film was developed. Still regret it!
I agree. Bob Whitehead did a great job with Stampede. The concept with the different cattle makes this a much more highly ranked game -- I'd give it an "A".
I found that _Stampede_ is a game I still wanted to play during the Pandemic, like _Frogger_ and _Q-bert,_ even after scoring 3,000, the "emblem" score to beat.
I can't find figures, but it looks like it didn't sell over 1 million like Freeway, Kaboom!, Laser Blast, Megamania, Pitfall!_ (4M!) and _River Raid_ did. They also ported it to the Intellivision, but didn't enhance it for the better system like Imagic did for its games (maybe because they were Atari programmers?).
Seaquest was one of my favorites at age 4 and is still in my top 5 as I close in on 44.
I also really loved Seaquest. While maybe not as innovative as something like Pitfall or River Raid, the fun part to me is if you stay under water and safe as many divers as you can, you get a massive points bonus when you surface. And that makes dealing with the oxygen meter mean a lot more.
As others have said, River Raid should be S tier. I didnt not know a single Atari 2600 owner that didnt own the game; and they all loved it. I played it a ton on my C64 as well. I still fire it up on Stella/Retroarch every once in a while as well.
Another accurate list with only a minor blemish 👍
River Raid is an example of one of the earliest Procedurally Generated games. There is a video somewhere here on YT about how it was done but it was a masterpiece in coding.
Love both these videos: some ranks I don't agree with, some games I've not played and now will, but all really informative. The pace and content was just perfect! Cheers!
Glad you like them!
I'm glad we agree on MegaMania. I consider it the best game on the system.
S- H.E.R.O. (‘84), Kaboom (‘81), River Raid (‘82), Star Master (‘82), Robot Tank (‘83)
A- Dolphin (‘83), Enduro (‘83), Keystone Kapers (‘83), Megamania (‘82), Spider Fighter (‘83), Pitfall (‘82)
B- Chopper Command (‘82), Crackpots (‘83), Decathlon (Aug’83), Frostbite (‘83), Pitfall II (‘84), Stampede (‘81), Seaquest (‘83), Tennis (‘81)
C- Beamrider (‘84), Boxing (Jul‘80), Bridge (Dec‘80), Cosmic Commuter (‘85), Freeway (‘81), Fishing Derby (‘80), Grand Prix (‘82), Kung Fu Master (‘87), Laser Blast (‘81), Oink (‘83), Plaque Attack (‘83), Pressure Cooker (‘83), Private Eye (‘84), Ice Hockey (‘81), Skiing (‘80), Sky Jinks (‘82)
D- Barnstorming (Mar‘82), Commando (Jun’88), Double Dragon (‘89), Dragster (‘80), Ghostbusters (‘85), River Raid II (‘88), Space Shuttle (‘83), Rampage (‘89)
F- Checkers (Jul’80)
Good video overall. Disregarding any games that are +/- 1 tier, these are the only titles I differ with your “how 10yo me would have ranked these.”
Cosmic Commuter (‘85) - (A vs C)
Fishing Derby (‘80) - (A vs C)
Plaque Attack (‘83) - (A vs C)
Private Eye (‘84) - (A vs C)
Robot Tank (‘83) - (B vs S)
Dolphin (‘83) - (D vs A)
Stampede (‘81) - (D vs B)
Kung Fu Master (‘87) (F vs C)
Of these above, I haven’t put much time into playing Cosmic Commuter / Plaque Attack, other than the High Score Club challenges from AtariAge. The game seemed fine, except for the touchiness of the landing, but it wouldn’t be a S/A tier go-to-game I would recommend people play for the 2600.
I am probably being too hard on Fishing Derby. When it came out in ‘80 it looked amazing and like Tennis is one of the few dozen simultaneous multiplayer games on VCS.
I cannot say that Private Eye grabbed me the way Raiders of the Lost Ark did. Maybe I just didn’t like it because I only played Haunted House bitd and didn’t have Superman / Adventure until I discovered emulation.
I love Robot Tank, the deaths didn’t seem as cheap as in Battlezone. I might be rating this too high though due to playing it so much and being able to get the highest patch (72 enemy tanks).
I think you are being too hard on Dolphin / Stampede. Like Kaboom, you can get into a zen state while playing them. They are both great looking Activision games, and the gameplay is good as well, once you learn the techniques.
Kung Fu Master is also under rated. It doesn’t play badly like Double Dragon or Rampage, but does suffer from the lack of 2-buttons. I prefer the NES version over it (or even the Arcade), but it is an impressive looking game that plays well with controls it was saddled with.
Activision has a good reputation on the 2600 because as seen in the tier list, it has more hits than misses, and has quite a few of the top S tier games on the system.
You're gonna catch hell for not S-ing Beamrider - I have! 😜 Thanks for watching!
LoL! Pretty sure he only rated Oink B for Bacon. Stampede is more dynamic than explained in this video, it's really decent. I think your tier list is a bit closer to my own, however, Laser Blast seemed cool af at first, but it becomes monotonous once you lose the ability to move vertically in later levels, I played it until I got bored and had to die on purpose. Spider Fighter was one of only a couple games where your weapon gets upgraded (at the banana level, it shoots faster, gotta love that sound!) The flashing colors of the enemies were top tier for the time. They should have at least made the top cards look like actual cards in bridge... it's not asking much 🤣
I liked your comment! ☺️
I remember calling Service Merchandise every day asking if Activision Decathlon was in stock. I had tried it once and couldn’t wait to get it. Of course now, I don’t want to break my joysticks, so it rarely gets played. Love all of the Activision games I have and still play them today!
Star Master is probably my favorite Atari 2600 game of all time. Its honestly amazing all they were able to do with that game. Probably one of the more complex games on the system. I was lucky to have it as a kid although back then i didnt quite understand what to do haha.
I'd suggest Starmaster to be the greatest game released for the system. Alan Miller is nothing less than stupendous!
@@michaelrichardson4995 you're probably right about that. There's not another game like it.
Starmaster is still one of the absolute best Activision VCS games. It's remarkably close to Phaser Patrol that came bundled with the Arcadia/Starpath Supercharger without the extra hardware.
When I played Starmaster I would be in a chair with the Atari at my feet and then I would operate the difficulty switches with my big toe to get to and from the map screen. It gave me an extra second or two each time I moved to a different quadrant.
I was little Johnny and I played Stampede endlessly. I always recognized that there was a pattern, but I didn’t figure it out completely until much later which made it much harder and gave me a lot of pride when I earned the patch. Now, like anything else from that era, it seems simple, but even knowing the pattern it remains difficult when things get faster and playing with the short rope. 40 years later I still enjoy it.
I can relate. Fun is not directly connected to complexity - some of the earliest & simplest games can still be a blast decades later. I give your fond Stampede memories an S. 😁
I really like Robot Tank, Keystone Cops ( I didn’t recognize the box art) and Starmaster
River Raid for the S or we riot.
Oooh, the gauntlet has been thrown! 😀
Absolutely. You just upset group of official River raiders…
@@Mika73x2 Boy, you'd think a A rating was a kick in the teeth! 😆
I am OK with your list with one exception. River Raid - My young self loved this game and played the you-know-what out of it. My old self still plays it once in a while and I have a hard time putting the joystick down. Nostalgia brings me to the game, but the game is still great fun to play today.
I have a large 2600 game collection, and try not to horde games so others can collect and enjoy them. River Raid is one of about five games that I have a second copy of just in case something happens to the other. I can't have my 2600 and not be able to play River Raid.
If I was forced to give up every game except one, regardless of who made it, River Raid would be my keeper.
Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, I'd give it an S.
Thanks for the video.
I have to disagree with you. When little Andy got Pitfall II home he was VERY happy. He was older than you, but he was still VERY happy. There is a lot of innovation in Pitfall II, you have the bats, condors, frogs, eels, you have to find Rhonda, the Raj Diamond, Quickclaw, the Rat, and as many gold bars as you can all in a maze of caverns that takes a long time to explore and learn. They even added a swimming mechanic that was not in the original. You have the healing crosses that act as checkpoints, you even have to take a balloon ride to find Rhonda. Decades later I still can't do a perfect run of this game. I know where EVERYTHING is, but I always flub up somewhere so to this day there is still replay value here. I also would have put River Raid, Keystone Kapers, and Robot Tank as "S" tier. And Pressure Cooker as "A" tier. All-in-all, little Andy was VERY happy when he brought home a new Activision game for the Atari 2600 back in the day.
True enough. We often forget how seemingly small incremental steps were huge back in the day. Annoying music? We had it cranked back then, to the great pain of our parents.
I think little Andy and I would've been friends. 😁
@@GenXGrownUp Think you've an open revolt over Pitfall 2 and I must agree with them. Steller achievement by David Crane which exceeds his prior masterpiece in a myriad of ways. Eminently more playable since you don't have to start over from scratch if you die. So much more depth and levels to explore. So what if it doesn't innovate from the basic concept?
@@RagShop1 Haha! It's not a hill I'm willing to die on, and I certainly understand all the love for P2. I acknowledge that P2 did innovate in terms of game design (checkpoints, etc.), but it didn't wow me the way Pitfall! did. I appreciate your passion!
I absolutely loves Space Shuttle. My dad would laugh when I would play and simulate mission control during the game. I could never watch a shuttle launch on TV or in the news and think of the many hours I enjoyed playing that game. It'll gets a Superb from me! 👍🏼👍🏼
One of my most frustrating Atari experiences back in the day was obtaining a used copy of Space Shuttle without the Instructions. The game seemed so cool, but I was just so lost when it came to knowing what to do. Years later, I finally tracked down a copy of the manual online and realized how hopeless the situation really was.
Hahaha! I can relate!
It took me years of going through trying and frustratingly quitting over and over again until I finally followed the manual to a T and finished the mission. Can say it was memorable, but I can't say it was enjoyable.
Just yesterday, I achieved the Space Shuttle Commander rank. It was one of the best gaming accomplishments in my 40-plus years of gaming.
@@jeremiahthomas8140 It's amazing how some of the most obscure accomplishments in retrogaming can give the greatest pleasure. Only last year I FINALLY obtained a God Sword, the rarest drop from the most powerful optional boss, Zeus, in the classic CRPG Phantasie on the C64. I've been trying to win one since 1985. Here's how you do it: You have to enter an optional dungeon that you cannot even do unless you have a character with the rare optional race of minotaur in your party (thankfully they make great fighters) and then deface a statue of the God Zeus to have the REAL Zeus attack you, who is even more powerful then the end boss of the game, and should you be lucky enough to win, the odds of him dropping a God Sword instead of a God Knife or God Axe was 1%. It was like a mental orgasm on hold for 35 years finally busting off. 🙂 SO I feel your pride, brother. Grats.
@@exidy-yt Dang, that is a major time commitment. You know some people have done that fight and got the sword on the first try.
Thanks for putting this list together. I still love Robot Tank. It's my all-time favorite Activision title for the Atari VCS. My teenage daughter? Her favorite is Keystone Kapers. My family loves to play Fishing Derby and Tennis together.
Cool I was waiting for this. I actually loved Laser Blast back in the day. But I agree with your take on it from my perspective today. It's almost like the challenge is to see how long you can keep up the firing pattern without dying. I'd probably put it at about a C instead of a D. I'd probably rank River Raid an S. I think it's in my Top 10 Atari of all time. And Starmaster was so awesome back in the day. Still one of my favorites. Definitely deserves an S. Nice roundup here! Of the 10 tracks I have finished for my soundtracks project I did music for Enduro, River Raid, and Megamania. So you know I love me some Activision.
Excellent video as always John. Thank you for making these videos.
Fantastic video Jon and really enjoyed reliving a lot of these truly classic games. Great job!
Glad you enjoyed!
Very nice ranking. Some of those I had never heard of. The ones I am familiar with would rank pretty solid with what you chose. Excellent excellent video. Thanks, Jon. Very entertaining.
I fondly remember the Tennis game. I always liked how where you hit the ball on the racket determined the trajectory of the shot. Doing so was a way to trick the computer AI as well. If you just hit the ball straight back every time, you'd never score any points against the computer.
Pretty spot on. You had logical justifications for all and the ones I consider the best were unsurprisingly at the top of your list. Enjoyable 2 part episode.
In River Raid, the map is actually randomly generated on the fly. However with old computers, the random numbers are generated by a formula with a 'seed' value . Every time you start the game, the formula gets reset to the original seed value (and get the same random numbers). So whenever you play the game, you also get the same map. This is also true for Pitfall as well.
Pitfall was a predictable map, as I recall. I read a article where Crane explained how it worked.
Maybe you should rank all the 2600 games ? Loved your video, as the Atari was the home console I played I would like to see more content on the 2600.
Looking forward to M-Network games. But since most of them are 2-player games without a 1-player version with A.I. people haven't been rating or ranking them. Maybe two brothers need to do videos of all the Atari games they competed with each other and friends.
cool video as usual..keep up..i played plaque attack and river raid in the 90ies....cool stuff
I recently learned one of the most expensive carts to collect was a similar game to _Plaque Attack_ called _Tooth Protectors,_ a mail-order game from Johnson and Johnson.
Great series of ranking videos! Very much enjoyed them. I was with you 90% of the time. All in all very good analysis and rankings.
Much appreciated!
I was fan of Seaquest and River Raid for sure. I played many of these games but do not remember them all.
i liked cosmic ark and enduro
Good ones. Cosmic Ark was an Imagic title, though, so it won't be covered in this series.
@@GenXGrownUp Imagic would be a great follow up ranking video! And the "silver label" Atari games, too!
It took me over 30 years before I learned that Riddle of the Sphinx required 2 controllers at all times 🤣
I'm the kind of person who never pays more than 20$ for a game with one major exception; Space Shuttle. I have so much respect for it that I forked out 80$... in 2017. The programmer was truly passionate and talented and created a quality product. Hats off.
Hi there! Recently found your channel, and as a GenX gamer, I just HAD to sub. I grew up playing these games, so it's a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Welcome aboard!
You couldn't be more wrong with Boxing. This is one of the best 1-1 Atari games. It's simple to learn, hard to master. We used to have battles in boxing, and it was one of the first 2600 games I introduced to my kids.
I would put starmaster lower on the list. The programmers put epileptic like flashing lights everytime an enemy is destroyed. If they did not have those flashing lights all the time. I would agree with your ranking
Another Gen X adult here. I had lots of these games as a kid, and I think you did a more than fair job ranking them. Kaboom was my absolute favorite game growing up,. Thank for the trip down memory lane.
Thanks for watching. 😀
Andy Williams below mentioned my fav, the Space Shuttle game, it came with a expansion pack that increased the RAM of the system. It had much better graphics and more detailed action. It also had an additional keyboard type controller. I won a NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut patch as one of the first to manually fly it to orbit and back. It was hard, I could see pitch, yaw, and roll meters in my sleep by the end of that.
I wanted to see the full list on the screen a bit longer in the end but I guess that's what pause if for. Good job sir!
Thanks for checking it out, George! 😀
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it! 😀
Your list is very good, thank you for that.
Anyway, congrats for your excelent work, I'm a new subscriber.
Thanks and welcome! 😁
Great video, sure brings back memories.
I agree with others though, River Raid is an S. It was a go to for me that I came back to time after time.
You brought back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. I counted and had 16 of these. My favorites were Megamania, Keystone Kapers, Pitfall, and Chopper Command. I remember playing Decathalon with friends and loving that game, but hating to do the long distance running event.
Try using paddles as the buttons mimic left and right on the joystick.
Team *SPIDER FIGHTER!!!* 💪
(I like it more with the difficulty switch to disable the shot-following)
10 year old me would rate Keystone Capers, Pressure Cooker and River Raid as S. Many here that I didn't get to play so your video will be an invaluable reference when I crank up a VCS Emulator. Thank you.
I agree with many of your choices except for one. I loved pitfall when it first came out, but I soon found it monotonous. I mean, there’s never an end to the game! It just goes on and on forever with no real challenges. When the sequel came out I loved it so much that the first one seemed almost like a “proof of concept“ version which I never played again. I joined the pitfall harry club by getting over 10,000 points and I will never forget when I completed pitfall 2. It was amazing. Also, the music you complain about doesn’t always play throughout the entire adventure.
There is an end to the game. You had to map it out by going left and right as far as you could until you had locations for all 32 treasures. Then you had to find the fastest path using lower shortcuts and learn how to jump about 19 scorpions in order to collect all the treasures in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, there's no victory celebration, the game ends just as if you ran out of time. I didn't play it for 20 years after winning. But did win it again, after comparing my ancient map and route to the one online a few years ago.
Also you could get the patch if you scored at least 25,000 points. It was their top-selling game with 4 million sold, and they ported it to the Intellivision, apparently without enhancements, unlike Imagic which improved its Atari games for that system.
Can't argue with your rankings here overall, but I'm still charging you with a Bro-Code Violation for giving Bridge high marks in Part One! 😊
Of all the Atari games, Robot Tank gave me the most anxiety when you lost one, two, three of your systems and still had your turret. Being able to still destroy the enemy after that is something you remember well after the game is over. It deserves an A. P.S. Atari's 2600 version of Battlezone deserves an A as well. It's one of those games that actually improved what they released in the arcade.
Robot Tank was my favorite Activision game as a kid, and still is.
Glad that Space Shuttle got a decent shake! That one was created by Garry Kitchen's (of Keystone Kapers fame) brother Steve. He spent time in an actual NASA shuttle simulator to make the game, which I always thought was pretty awesome! Took me 35 years for me to score a single point in the game though 🤣
I spent HOURS trying to do anything other than blow up as soon as I left the ground 😂 Still have original game and overlays, so maybe one day ...
@@AnnieRat1 I've never seen the overlay for the game. I'd imagine it's for the 6-switch? I figured this game was probably a pain in the ass on the emaciated 4-switchers?
This game is literally an f'ing technical MARVEL as far as programming on the VCS goes...I mean, it is THAT crazy, from a strictly technical perspective.
@@KeithPhillipsThe game came with the deck card to sit on the console and two different switch overlays, one for a six switch and one for a four switch.
S-tier games: Pitfall 2, Pressure Cooker, Stampede, Kaboom!
Wow, most of my favorites made the S tier. Only one I didn't really agree with was Stampede. I loved that game and recall it being quite challenging at times. Pitfall and River Raid were all time favorites. Love the list.
Thank you for watching!
Amazing series! Talk about a nostalgia flood! I agree with most of the rankings except for kung-fu master. I played the ever loving you know what out of that game and while yes, it wasn't as good as the arcade or the Nintendo version, it was pretty decent for the time considering the 1 button controller. I would have given it a solid C IMHO. I still have many patches for the games from mailing a polaroid of the screen which I believe is the original achievement list.
appreciate the list. unlike a couple of games in part 1, in part two I would rank these games more or less the same as you.
Pitfall 2 was so awesome! I couldn't believe there was a waterfall in the game
I agree with everything… Apart from Keystone Kapers should have been S tier. But I get what you are saying. 😊
I keep checking back to see how much longer I have to wait for this video 😂
Hahaha! And luckily, every time wait gets shorter! 😉
I watched part one yesterday so
I guess I got lucky 😂😂
Glad to see Megamania get its proper position. Was easily my favorite game as a kid and one of th best overall titles for the 2600 IMO.
That's one I never got, when I got so many others at the thrift store. But I'll have to put it on my wish list if I ever buy more carts on eBay.
We didn't have a ton of Atari games, but we definitely had River Raid and Chopper Command. I'm not surprised you ranked them high in your video. It's funny how all these Activision games have the same lovely art on the box but widely range in quality.
Two things - #1 Thanks for putting this 2-Part Series together, I found it interesting and fun to play the "Ranking Game" as you were going thru these. #2 The ATARI BASEBALL CAP --> Where did you get it?!?! I want one too!
#1 You're very welcome. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
#2 Just do an eBay search for "Atari Retro Snapback" - Several sellers have them. 😀
I'm curious to see where Pitfall II falls
Gotta be an F, right? 😉
@@GenXGrownUp
- Poor graphics
- Awful gameplay
- Too difficult
- Abysmal sales
- Unoriginal
*F!*
🙄
@@KeithPhillips I'm so afraid of blowback from part two! 😉 I recorded both before I published the first one to make sure I wasn't influenced by comments. Maybe that was a mistake...
@@GenXGrownUp We won't hold it against you...MAYBE 😋
That was the best idea though IMHO!
I loved Space Shuttle. I played it over and over for hours. Having to rendezvous with the satellite, then fire retros to deorbit and land as a sort-of-glider brick was, for me, a fun challenge.
Man, I love these 2 episodes. My personal ranking isn't that much different. One question though: where's the E in the ranking?
E? It's silly enough to have "S", this isn't Japan.
Atari 2600 is my 12 year old son's favorite game system. He is definitely an old soul!
Megamania was a favorite in our house. One of the few games everyone liked.
Jon thank you for this wonderful list it was a pleasure to watch both of these videos and I really enjoy your channel. I do have one disagreement. I would like you to reconsider Pitfall 2 for superb. We have to give it credit for one very impressive innovation for the time which was the ability to save progress. Also it just deserves to be there. How about the scene where he has to jump on the hot-air balloons and the music changes to the circus anthem? The graphics are noticeably improved with a gorgeous skyline. This was truly my favorite game. Just some thoughts thanks again for the great videos!
Thanks, Johnny. You're certainly not the first to disagree with my Pitfall 2 ranking. Not that A is in any way meant to be disrespectful, but P2 just never gave me the same type of fun I got with the original. I do acknowledge what things it did first (checkpoints, for instance), Little Jonny, though, only sees it as "A" material. 😀
God I have to get an Atari 2600. I recall and love many of these games.
I have fond memories of River Raid, Spider Fighter and Boxing
You should play River Raid on the Atari 8-bit or 5200. There’s detail along the river bed, there are additional enemies like helicopter gunners, balloons, tanks that will shoot at you from the river beds and tanks that are crossing the bridge, and since the game has more detail there are narrow passages that are more difficult to navigate.
Plus 8-bit/5200 Pitfall II has an additional quest after you beat the original game.
I look forward to a potential Atari 8-bit/5200 tier list video. If you want to do that sometime that is. 🙂
And Colecovision. One of best looking river Raid versions.
Keystone Kapers is my 2nd favorite 2600 game (#1 is Yars' Revenge). S teir no doubter. So is Enduro.
Seaquest and Stampede are a A for me
Oh how I loved Seaquest. S
Seaquest is an A for me, maybe an S. Zooming in behind the enemy subs and blasting away at them never gets old.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Most of 10 year-old Mark's favorites are in your D category... O' well, still fun to see your rankings.
Sorry, Mark. Look at the bright side, Little Mark & Little Jonny may have varied tastes, but imagine the Atari cartridge trades we could've done and BOTH come out as winners! 😜
@@GenXGrownUp LOL, yes I still don't think you have returned my Adventure cartridge after all these years... now where did I leave your Warlord cartridge? :) Really enjoy your series, it was a marvelous time to grow up and I can't believe where we are today by comparison. I think about those simple space games, and now we can jump into Elite Dangerous in VR and actually feel like we are in space. And it all started with big pixels on an analog TV screen. Keep up the great work.
Great video and well put together. In my opinion, River Raid is absolutely an 'S' rating and I would give it to Keystone Kapers as well. Stampede was at least a 'C' to me.
Thank you, Ron. Lots of River Raid love in the comments, and I agree it's great. Just didn't quite make the very top tier for me. I'm kind of warming up to Stampede, so it might earn a bit higher if I were to re-make this video today. Appreciate you watching!
great vids, do you have any on colecovision?
I'm just getting into CV. My first video on the console was the Flashback unit - czcams.com/video/P0fnrlpQHdI/video.html - and I'm currnetly working on a larger piece testing & restoring my genuine console.
Your videos are always in depth and well crafted! I enjoy, thanks. I totally agree big time EXCEPT I would move up Pitfall 2 to superb! I would also move up Oink and Pressure Cooker one level to your ranking but yes this is subjective and understood! THANKS for your nice efforts! Appreciated. There were yes some duds like Dragster but I loved the box art!
Oh and yes River Raid is also top of the list!
Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed!
3:56 reminds me of Astro Blaster
What do you mean Pitfall II didn't innovate? It clearly innovated alot. David Crane pushed Pitfall Harry's adventure to the next level. Having multiple levels. New creatures like poiseness frogs hoping over a hole. The vultures. Having to ride a balloon to get over to the final section. I undetstand why you don't lose lives. At that time this was one of the biggest Activision games for the Atari ever made. I loved playing Pitfall II way more than the original. It took me awhile to beat it too. I mean now with my Retron 77 I can save where ever I want. But back then I had to float back to the last cross I walked over. I think David Crane might have been afraid to give limited lives fearing young kids would never finish it. We couldn't save games back then.
I hear ya! Pitfall II surely innovated on the Pitfall model, but it was evolutionary of the original. There's nothing shameful about an A rating!
@GenXGrownUp yeah I was happy with your A rating. Currently up to Space Shuttle. I loved playing this. It is more simulater than a game. But the fact an asteanaught was consulted to help with the games development is really cool. I mean I guess there was only so much they could do to simulate the actual space shuttles on the VCS. Star Master was one of my favorites though. It was Star Wars the Arcade Game before Parker Brothers released it for the VCS
Robot Tank was amazing and I don't know of any other game that played like it. Nevermind that this was an Atari title. Current titles have that jam covering your eyes healthbar and head-bobbing, but it isn't close.
How specifically is Robot Tank different from Battlezone that no other game is like also?
If you didn't give Pitfall an S rating I would have stopped the video and never watched anything from you ever again lol. J/K. I enjoy your videos and it gives me a trip down memory lane.
Spider Fighter is one of my fav Atari Games so that would have been ranked higher but other then that I like what you did.
Me too, I'd take Spider Fighter instead of almost any of these games. Also love Demon Attack and Communist Mutants from Outer Space. The 2600 is so limited but it does fixed shooters brilliantly - Yars Revenge for example.
I must admit that I'm a non guided bullet/shot player.
Be that on spider fighter or river raid ect.
PS, good call on frostbite, that is one of my favourite games 👍
Jon can you do a Neo Geo tier. Love those classic games and never did get a system but just got a mini and got a few games for my switch. Would love too see you break down these games. Thanks for the videos.
Lol think is gonna be a no one this. 🤣
Man, there are a LOT of Neo Geo games to sort through!
@@GenXGrownUp you can do it in parts over time. No rush. Just love youre channel and want to see youre thoughts on them.
Love Keystone Kapers! I love the look of Laser Blast, but there is a pattern, once you learn it, that makes you invincible and never lose a ship, which is a bummer. Pitfall is the best Activation game ever IMHO. It changed the way I looked at videogames. Love River Raid too and Robot Tank! Sort of like Boxing, Skiing is a really fun game when you are playing against another player. By yourself, or against the AI in the case of Boxing, not nearly as fun. I do remember that my group of friends have a VERY competitive, long-running challenge with both of these games, especially during an Olympic year. For its day, Stampede I think is underrated. The "push the calves forward" mechanic in the game along with the roping option had some strategy depth to it. Not my favorite game by Activation, but I enjoyed it a lot as a teenager playing it and I would have given it a B also because it was 1981 when it came out. Star Master was soooo ahead of its time. Love that game. I agree with your take on how immersive the game was, especially on the heals of the Star Wars movies that came out before it. I remember the look and the sound of the laser blasts for that game were just so awesome at the time!
1982:
Atari: We present to you, "Star Raiders".
Activision: Hold My Beer! (Presents "Starmaster")
Need we say more?
The computer version of Star Raiders came out in 1979. So Activision had plenty of time to work on the concept.
Didn't Imagic and maybe M-Network have their own versions too?
I always enjoy your content....but I have to Respectfully DISAGREE with you thoughts on Lazer Blast....I had TONS of fun playing it when i was a kid!
I have no doubt! I had lots of fun playing lots of games low on my tiers, and cool that you did too. Being of a certain quality didn't typically have a high impact on our ability to enjoy them. 😁
Great! Now on to Imagic? :)
Yes, indeed! Thanks for your generous support. 😀
River Raid WAS my childhood. It was a no-brainer S title. Laser Blast should be B or C. Sea Quest should be an A or B.
I always liked Stampede a lot. Yeah, gameplay isn't that varied, but it did present a nice challenge to get a better score. (I'd probably also given River Raid an "S"). Fun ranking!
Thanks for watching!
I’m here for Star master! I moved to Commodore Vic 20 & 64 pretty soon after getting Star Master but it was the most amazing 2600 game i ever played…
Megamania drove me nuts, hard game.
Seaquest is so much fun, one of the best.
Great list. I personally would have put Seaquest higher, but then again I have a lot of nostalgia for that game so I'm likely biased. Still, it was one of my favorite Activision games I played as a kid along with Keystone Kapers, Frostbite, and Enduro.
Space Shuttle was one of the most unique games I have played. You had to push the sequence of buttons and levers in proper order and time or the mission would be scrubbed. Then you left out the coolest part of the game which was piloting the shuttle back from space based on actual flight patterns of the shuttle and then landing it. I would put this game at S due to how cool it was.
My top 3 2600 games are Kaboom, River Raid, and Enduro so I'd give them all S's. Sorry you didn't find Stampede that good though! It is a clever and fun game trying to make progress and round up those doggies - an "A" game for me. Thanks for the show!
_Stampede_ must have sold some, if not a million, and they believed in it enough to port it to Intellivision, albeit without enhancements, like _Pitfall!_