Activision's River Raid for the Atari 2600 | The River of NO RETURN!

[@MrVenom1974]

River Raid is a masterpiece!

[@KristianWontroba]

I played this game for hours and hours as a kid! Sometimes I would darken the screen on my television adjustments to where it looked like the game was happening at night time! This is definitely in the top five all-time of greatest 2600 games for me!

[@boscodooley8561]

Good imagination. I wish I would have thought of that.

[@Topesio66]

One of the killer games for 2600. Masterpiece in few kb. Love it and played during endless nights.

[@drno-xc1yt]

River Raid is a great example of a simple concept done right. Interesting risk-reward mechanics (hit all the targets, or avoid to survive and refuel), and the idea of refueling by not blowing up the fuel depots was actually quite innovative for the day (compare games like Scramble). It's also impressive that there's no flicker.

[@DonVintaggio]

She did an impressive programming job; also the landscape is procedurally generated.Game has it all: great graphics, great complexity, cool sound fx making it super replayable.A true 80s 8bit classic.

[@georgep.burdell7237]

I remember that the manual even recommended perfecting the technique of getting some fuel before destroying the depot so you double dip!

[@andyauthor2007]

Little Andy never had this game back in the day, but he had lots of friends who had it. So, every time he went over to a friend's house, he got to play River Raid with his friends. Ahh the memories!

[@luismoura477]

My favorit game of all time. Kind regards Carol Shaw 🤗

[@jefflanoux1063]

It would be awesome if Atari could convince Activision to license a 7800 version for the Atari+ systems, or an Atari recharged port.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I've gotta think somebody at Atari is talking to somebody at Microsoft about that legacy library.

[@BigFunnyGiant]

@@GenXGrownUp indeed I’ve been wondering the same thing. It’s not like they’re doing anything with it. Atari obviously has things going on, negotiations and more acquisitions that they won’t say anything about until they’re a done deal.

[@Trialwolf]

I wouldn't expect it, but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if Atari managed to acquire the rights to the game library of Activision during this era. Seeing River Raid, Beam Rider, Private Eye, Enduro and Starmaster get re-releases or recharged ports would be fun.

[@Androsynth75]

Hands down the best shooter on the 2600 and probably one of the top 10 of the whole era. The procedural generation of the levels was mind blowing. The draw was always to see how much farther you could get. Every level was different which back then, was mind blowing on a console where a game with like three screens was extraordinary. River raid had thousands.

[@ddw1272]

The history lesson that comes with these Friday Plays really sets them apart from other retro playthrus. Great job. River Raid was one of my favorites when i was a kid and i remember the stress of making that last turn to blow up the bridge on those later levels just watching your bullets slam in to the bank and hoping you make it all the way back across the screen in time.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching and for the kind words!

[@ravensmadhouse75]

River Raid is a Legendary Atari 2600 Killer App. Thanks for the memories, John.

[@EarlJWoods]

Congrats on earning your patch!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Just a few years too late! 😁 Thanks

[@OriginalMasters]

Refueling then blowing up the fuel tanks is a level of greatness I never reached as a kid. Well, by 1984, kids my age, around 5 or so, were hardly interested in scoring at all! Fantastic video!

[@waynerowlinson6177]

Possibly my favorite Atari 2600 game. It is one of the very few games in my life that I finished. River Raid is one of the games I make sure I have a second copy of, just in case something happens to the other. Even with the multi-terabyte games and modern systems, River Raid is still highly playable, even today.

[@spaztekwarrior]

I remember digging this game back in The day. With its seemingly never ending vertical scrolling … these advance type of games really interested me. :) Same reason I really liked games like Commando.

[@ctbinary42]

What a classic! Never got very far but played the heck out of it with friends. A perfect 10 in my opinion

[@samhainnc9416]

One of My all time fav Atari games. Not sure why my dad picked this game. I remember it was kind of just a surprise to give it to us and I never heard of it or remember seeing it in the store. But I loved it. I would play it non stop. I remember waiting for the bus for school it would pass my house then come back 5 minutes later and I would sit by the window playing this game until it went by so I could run out and catch it. Almost missed it a few times thanks to River Raid.

[@LonSeidman]

such a great game - still fun to play to this day!

[@paulphillips546]

Great video Jon and I certainly wouldn’t have re-shot it after that score😂. I love River Raid and have played it loads over the years on various platforms. I’d never considered the similarities to Scramble, another early favourite of mine, but once you mentioned it I now can’t unsee it.

[@backpackingtony1779]

I loved River Raid back in the day! Thanks so much for this video! Especially since I’m high AF!

[@JetmanUK]

I have a bunch of favourite games for the 2600, but if I am pushed to say just one, the top game on the system, it has to be River Raid. It still plays as well today as it did back then too.

[@WowplayerMe]

I have always wondered if River Raid was a clone of an Atari arcade game called Sky Raider which was released in 1978 & is in black & white. I only ever played Sky Raider in one place which was at a New York City Street Fair. We were visiting the city from NJ & went to the fair with relatives from Manhattan.Among the many food vendors & carnival type games, there was an "arcade" area with about 10 or so games. All the most popular games of the day like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Galaxian, & Asteroids had a bunch of other kids surrounding them so If I wanted to play those games, there would have been a long wait. As I looked around, I saw a cabinet that I was unfamiliar with & no one was playing. I decided to give it a try & I loved the game, it wasn't like the other games. This one scrolled & you had to be quick to blast as many enemies as you could before time ran out. After that back in NJ, I never saw it in any local arcade or in other stores or places where video games were. A few years later when I had my Atari 2600, a local appliance store, which also sold game consoles and cartridges had a couple of new 2600 games on display one of them being River Raid. As soon as I played the store demo, the memory of that old black & white arcade game flashed back into my mind. My mission was now clear, I had to save up a few weeks of paper route money to buy this great new game! That's just what I did and I played the heck out of that game. Even today it really does hold up as one of the best games for the console. Unfortunately, I've never played the sequel. But now I know what I must do...get another paper route to get money to buy River Raid 2, as that would be the only proper way to raise funds to pay for the game!

[@myheart4apen]

One of my top 5 favorite 2600 games!

[@miked4377]

river raid is one of the best games ever!and wow! december of 1982 my favorite year! i had my best christmas that year!life was the best back then!😢

[@AaronVictoria]

This was my favorite Atari game ever. I hoped one day you'd cover this game one day; I'm glad you finally got to it.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@paulwalsh2344]

Our family never picked up River Raid, but at least 2 of my friends had it for their Atari 2600’s and I always loved playing it whenever I got the opportunity ! I also remember having a port of it on my first laptop but I really didn’t take to the WASD control. I’m pretty sure I eventually got a controller with a keypad, but I was playing far more sophisticated games by then on it so didn’t get the same excitement that I got when playing at my friends’ houses.

[@cmcanfield32]

One my best memories as a kid was flipping the score on River Raid. Goals were different then!

[@DamonCzanik]

I had this game as a kid .Probably my favorite Atari game. I could only get about that far but my dad was a legend at this and centipede. I remember just watching him play this game, in awe of how good he was. Shame he never played Nintendo games. I think he would have had fun with those too.

[@ZMAN_420]

Imagine being hired by ATARI in 1978. Everything was so different back then. You wouldn't know how big ATARI would become.🤘🏻👍🏻🇺🇲

[@IceManTX69]

The hours my little brother and I spent playing this game. It was in the top tier Atari games. (Pitfall, Keystone Kapers, Yar's,....)

[@tedadamgreen]

Brings back great memories of that era of game play and the enjoyment of the games designed for the console and not a watered down arcade classic that had to be stripped down to fit. (Although those were nice but these seem more robust as they were made for the platform from the ground up!) Thanks Jon 👊🏻😎🕹️

[@artistlovepeace]

OMG! I love this game. I played with my best friend. Much beautiful nostalgia and great memories.

[@tubejay1]

River Raid was mind blowing. I was probably 6 or 7 when it came out, and I couldn't believe what a great game it was. I remember my dad playing River Raid, and he didn't connect with ANY video games, and even he had fun playing River Raid. It's definitely one of the best games on the 2600. Most Activision games were the best though, weren't they?

[@catholicactionbibleonlyist1813]

River Raid is one of my all time favorite video games

[@tonykountoupis6885]

This is one of the main reasons I purchased the 2600+. Dusted off the old cartridge and went to work

[@onigvd77]

classic! my brother and I played RR for ages back in the day :)

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

This is the first game I remember for the 2600 that scrolled vertically and it is one of the smoothest ones of all time. Carol did an outstanding job on this.

[@MrClawt]

The frozen Jon in the corner really made it look like you were super focused. But this game is so great, it simple to pick up and play, but deep enough to make it worth coming back to.

[@georgep.burdell7237]

In middle school there was a rumor that a classmate's dad on Christmas played River Raid so much there was smoke coming out of the cartridge. The dad! Maybe just a legend about a legendary game. ⭐

[@GenXGrownUp]

The smoke may not have been from the cartridge, if you get my meaning. 😉

[@patrickellington53]

One of the greatest 2600 games..i remember my next door neighbour had this game as well..we were in competition to see who was the best..I must admit he was better at than me..good times..😁

[@djcasl]

I had it on atari as a kid, this brings back memories.

[@jayme69]

River Raid is a stone cold classic! There's a great homage called Bridge Strike available on the Evercade cart Home Computer Heroes, Amiga 500 and the Nintendo Switch, with the Switch version having a more detailed cockpit view. Great playthrough as always :-)

[@davidcarlson2481]

So many fond memories of this game with my buddies and the 2600. Later on, my buddy got the Atari 800XL and one must-have game for it: River Raid. Now we got upgraded graphics and tanks crossing the bridges!

[@joshuablankenship4965]

Hey John, remember that time I said I wanted to play River Raid right now and then you handed me your laptop and let me play it! Great meeting you last weekend!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hahaha! Hey, Josh! I do seem to remember that taking place. Isn't modern technology amazing? 😁

[@glyphhunter]

This brought back some memories...

[@joeg4707]

This one is almost universally praised by 2600 kids. I have fond memories of River Raid. What a fantastic game, still have my original copy complete in box.

[@bland9876]

When I was younger I thought that those were blue birds I didn't know they were jets until later I realized that they were airplanes when I looked closer at the image

[@Aaron-by3ke]

River Raid is great on every console. I've played it on the Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit and ColecoVision. Carol Shaw also designed and programmed a great INTV game called Happy Trails which features a sliding puzzle mechanism as well as 3D Tic Tac Toe.

[@johndd9140]

Great video to a great game - and a nice shout out to acknowledge the programmer 👍

[@Treeplanter73]

Family classic back in the day, still good today!

[@MechaFenris]

The only cart I never sold after getting rid of my VCS (for parts, 25 years ago... sadly) was River Raid. :-) I still have my original.

[@1960ARC]

I still play river raid today, one of the best games on the woody.

[@neugey]

Member-berries galore this Friday! What an eternal game. Looking back, I wish I'd tried the guided bullets more. I think they'd help; at least that's the sense I got watching you play.

[@headbangersworld]

Great game. I played it since my childhood and still easily in my top 5. And also one of the best Atari2600 Games in my opinion...

[@ObsidianContraption]

Akways loved this game as a kid. A 2600 masterpiece

[@wichordzmty]

My first videogame.

[@brianwerth3703]

I never owned this game but borrowed all the time from a friend. Love this game.

[@hardkoregamer1981]

Awesome 😎 video and great 👍 job jon, Thanks again buddy 💯

[@exidy-yt]

One of the games I played the absolute most on the VCS back in the day, beaten only by Starmaster. Strangely I never owned it but constantly had it in my house in trade for other carts I had, and loved it something fierce. Great score, breaking 10k was not common for me even as a kid, but I did qualify for a patch a few times too. I really wish I had sent in for those, especially for my Starmaster with 'Commander' chevron. sigh.

[@ellispoo44]

such a good game back in the day still fun - Activision and Imagic were my favorite for the 2600.

[@urmie]

I guess Activision could be said to be the original “achievement” system pioneers with those patches. Perhaps you could do a run for each Activision game to nail down those patches, then actually rewarding yourself with the patches. I believe there is some seller on AtariAge who sells the actual patches too, would be a neat thing for the channel I think.

[@sandmanxo]

I had this game when I was around 6 or so and could get around 15 screens in or so. It even remained one of my few favorites for the 2600(along with Warlords), even into the snes era. I really didn't play it again until probably around 2010 or so, and it seemed comically easy but still fun. A great memory from thr early 80s and the gameplay still holds up. These days I like the C64 port better but won't pass up a chance to play the 2600 version.

[@hooksetter1465]

I used to love river raid. My neighbor owned it and wanted to borrow it all the time

[@bobdefalco]

All hail Carol Shaw!! Such an inspired genius in everything she did on the platform.

[@SylveonTrapito]

This game uses a procedural generated river. I can't believe how nobody still found a way to modify the seed so we can have infinite River Raid Levels!

[@travis303]

What is great about this game is it has that perfect risk vs. reward dynamic.

[@MissingLinx]

I never knew there was a sequel until years later. Never got chance to play it until the Activion Anthology came out.

[@danielespeziari5545]

Those choppers that can't decide whether or not they want to move are a pain indeed! Anyway, this is the game that, some years ago, made me realize that some 2600 games were addictive and worth playing (before that, I never played anything older than the NES). Since then, I've slowly become a 2600 addict, and now I consider that MOST games on the system are worth playing

[@0515dem]

Played this at my buddy's house 40 years ago. I vividly remember asking "why do I blow up when I go over land? I'm a plane, it shouldn't matter." and my buddy said "well it's called River Raid, not Land Raid." I don't remember if that's even actually a part of the gameplay, again, going on 40 years ago memory.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hahaha! "Land Raid." I like the explanation. 😀 I always figured the river was kind of in a valley with steep rock faces on each side. In order to be low enough to shoot boats, you'd have to be below the ridge line. Again, this is just what my imagination told me.

[@NightBazaar]

River Raid was one of our favorites back in the day.

[@Shy-guy82]

Thank you for the instructions 😊 🎉

[@VideoJamesNZ]

I love Keystone Capers too! 😊 A bit before my time but Activision came out with some real awesome games! I started my 2600 collection in the last couple of years, and I don't regret it!

[@brianmcmillian2010]

I was just thinking about that game today it has been so many years since I've heard that title

[@supjay3945]

I played this when i was very young around the time it came out. I remember the walls were so hard to avoid lol

[@The_Badseed]

One of my all-time favorites on the 2600. These old Activision games were great. River Raid two, not so much.

[@MegaDudiman]

Great video John! (gs)

[@brianjl7477]

One of the best 2600 games for sure!

[@SunshineLoLypops]

Nice. Played this one a ton on my 7800. The only ones with more playtime were Desert Falcon & H.E.R.O.

[@ZMAN_420]

I had no idea you could shoot fuel tanks after you collect fuel from it.I 🤘🏻👍🏻🇺🇲

[@mediawarrior5957]

Activision was one of the first 3rd party developers made the best 2600 games. This game needs a modern 3d remake where you have a choice of aircraft that you unlock based on points scored. A bullet heaven aircraft straps game.

[@ComicBookNostalgia]

Got it for my 11th birthday, played it for scores of hours

[@joebabe302]

I’d love to see the whole Activision 2600 library come to the 3 big modern consoles- including various superior 5200 versions and 5200 exclusives like Zone Ranger & Dreadnaught Factor in a collection too. Quite a few C64 classics to also consider like Park Patrol and Toy Bizarre- if I remember the toy title correctly. This would be awesome!! 😎

[@HMansion999]

a classic! I played this a lot when it came out

[@duyle557]

God I remember playing this as a kid. The only other shooter that took up more of my time on the 2600 was Vanguard.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I have a soft spot for Vanguard.

[@FallicIdol]

This was such an amazing game

[@m0nde]

One of the best games on the 2600, as good as Yars Revenge and Pitfall.

[@FischerFan]

Activision released many great games for the Atari 2600. River Raid always makes the short list of the best of them.

[@machfront]

An outstanding game that I, oddly, never had nor knew how awesome it was bitd! I only discovered it via the 2600 emulator Stella way back (feels weird to say and frame it that way haha) in 2001 or so. Yeah. Crazy, right? I’m jealous of myself for never having it….25 to 50 year old me loves it! 8-11 year old me would have had even less time playing outside! 😂

[@lucavercellotti9959]

wow River Raid, one of the best games of that times and still funny today. I loved it and played a lot on my Commodore 64, the game is pretty the same of VCS version.

[@melcrose]

The only thing I'd change on RR: The wings tilt the opposite way they are suppose to when turning.

[@joeboo8626]

Sad to see what Activision has become, given how and why the company was originally formed. Love their 2600 games, my favorite company/console combo right up there with Konami/NES.

[@daviddavies3637]

Hell of a game for the platform. Apparently, she was able to take early retirement at just 35 or 36 thanks primarily to sales of River Raid. I guess Activision not only credited their staff and paid them a wage but also royalties? Or was she freelancing for Activision at the time?

[@floydjohnson7888]

Back then, Activision was a different creature. Royalties were, in fact, a sticking point that led the founders to leave Atari in the first place. Ray Kassar looked upon his game developers as on a par with the cartridge makers - they wanted to be taken in the same regard as Warner's recording artists. A change of management resulted in the Activision Blizzard which, in the 2020s, was far less respectful of their personnel.

[@johnf6478]

This was my favorite on the 2600

[@VEGANVANIA]

There's a remake of River Raid on the (first) Evercade "Computer Heroes" collection.

[@VEGANVANIA]

In general, I wonder why River Raid didn't become its own genre.

[@therealnotanerd_account2]

The first video game I have ever played.

[@fourthhorseman4531]

Man, I played a ton of this game on the Atari 8 bit computers and 5200.

[@ultimatemaitai]

Absolute classic.

[@ajeba98]

Well done!

[@jasonemmettmyers]

River Raid for the 2600 is a perfect example of better graphics doesn't equate to a better game. THere were "better" versions, as in better graphics, BUT there is ONLY ONE River Raid for the 2600, and that one is the legit BEST.

[@Bikeguychicago1]

Just played River Raid on the Intellivision night

[@briantieken6718]

I'd like to see one on Demon Attack. A game I played constant that has disappeared from existence.