What a system!! (1 Viewer)

[Paul S Gregory]

http://www.atari-history.com/A2600.html

 

[Jason Seaver]

Damn straight. Has there every been more fun out of the box than finding an Atari VCS bundle with two CX40 joysticks, two paddles, Combat, Pac-Man, and Circus Atari under the Christmas tree?
No, I didn't think so.

 

[Calvin Watts III]

I disagree....
But only because my parents bought me an Intellivision first. Man...the greatness of Astrosmash,Space & Sea Battle, and the totally awesome Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack - those were the days!

Luckily, my best friend had that and an Atari

Seriously,though...don't you miss the days when everything you needed to play came in the box?
I do....
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"Never give up!!! .......... Never surrender!!!!!!!!!."

 

[Paul S Gregory]

This is more like it! More of the fun and less of the "Hardware Wars".
P.S. With emulators, I play all of these classic games on the PC!!!
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"There's no more warmed over leftovers leftover to be warmed over leftover!"
Equipment List

 

[Jason Seaver]

True, emulators are nice, but there's nothing like having one of those old beasts hooked up to the home theater. Especially if it's an original Atari Video Computer System with wood grain on the front. The incongruity is beautiful.
Of course, what I really want now is one of these: Link Removed If you look at the link on the right, it appears someone has done the same with the NES (but not as well). Also, the VCSp vs. GBA comparison is a riot.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

A portable Atari 2600??? Sorry, but I like my games on the BIGGEST screen possible, and so does my cat! And like I've said before, you haven't lived til you've played Atari 2600 Space Invaders with a subwoofer cranked up!
The NES set a disturbing trend of having crappy controllers come with the system so you had to shell out extra $$ for a REAL joystick (the NES Advantage). Every system that's come out since then has done it (making me spend $50 on a PS2 joystick) Not packing a game with the system sucks too- when I got the NES it came with TWO cartridges- Gyromite and Duck Hunt!

 

[Drew Dockery]

I have to disagree with saying that no games coming with the system sucks. I would much rather pay $200 for a system with no games than $250 for a system that comes with a game I don't want. As for the controllers, that's a preference issue, if you thought Atari 2600 stock controllers were good, I can't see how you could ever have a problem with any controllers ever!
Drew

 

[Jason Seaver]

Jesse,

you haven't lived til you've played Atari 2600 Space Invaders with a subwoofer cranked up!

"Demon Attack". Trust me on this one. One of the coolest things Activision (I think they wound up with the Imagic library) could do is an XBox version of that game with 5.1 sound. This needs to happen.
I want a portable just to use as a portable. I've got a 7800 for the living room.
Drew,
I think the point we're trying to make is not that systems without pack-ins are weak, but how instantly you could get going with a 2600 or Intellivision. Once the hardware was hooked up, my little brother and I were playing Combat right away. No configuration (other than making sure the front switch was set to "color"), no reading the manual, no sitting through vanity cards. It took about ten seconds to explain the game to a new player. Simplicity is beautiful.
Not that there wasn't a certain charm in the 2600 coming with everything you needed - 2 sticks, paddles, two or three games. The only time a lot of people added hardware was the keypad that came with Star Raiders, although there were dozens of replacement joysticks available, so you could find the one that fit your hand best.

 

[DaveF]

http://www.intellivisionlives.com/ My friend had the 2600 (as did my cousins, to my envy). Then we got the Intellivision! And then another friend got one.
And those young bucks flaming each other over Gamecube-this vs. Xbox-that, could have learned a few things from the Great Intellivision v. Colecovision Debates
Me, I loved the original Atari joystick. And even though they would break after serious use, they could be fixed a couple times pretty easily.
Ahh... then the days of Atari 400/800 and the C64. Two words: M.U.L.E, Archon. And the introduciton of a whole new computer religious war.
And then Nintendo followed by SNES (owned by friends). Those were the days.
If I could go back in time and show younger-me the games I play today (N64 Rogue Squadron, PC Unreal Tournament, PC Starcraft) younger-me would probably die in shock in the changes. But once resurrected, we'd play a game of Archon, and older-me would get my butt kicked, 'cause I used to rock at that game!

 

[Calvin Watts III]

Man,I remember how psyched I was when I beat the then world record on Astrosmash. Played that game a full 8 hours
And Archon is still one of the coolest games ever...
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"Never give up!!! .......... Never surrender!!!!!!!!!."

 

[Andy Sheets]

I finally sold it to buy a Colecovision. And though I missed my favorites (Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Asteroids, Adventure, Air/Sea Battle, Outlaws [Boot Hill], and - believe it or not - Surround), I adjusted pretty quickly to the CV.

You never got the Atari adapter? I had a Colecovision and that adapter so I was in heaven playing the games from both systems

 

[DaveF]

Played that game a full 8 hours

!!!
I hope your fingers have finally recovered from that experience!

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I went for a few hours on "Astrosmash" on Intellivision before I finally gave up realizing it was NEVER going to end! I can do the same thing on Atari 2600's Pac-Man and Star Wars Arcade. They're just way too generous with those extra lives!
While the 2600 joysticks weren't the best, they were at least JOYSTICKS- you can't say the same about those Game&Watch things that came with the NES- my reaction when first seeing those was "You've GOT to be KIDDING!"