Atari 2600 Games You Loved | Friday Night Arcade

[@FridayNightArcade]

If you didn't see your favorite Atari 2600 game mentioned here, there's a chance I covered it in one of the many other Atari episodes I've done -- thank you for watching --> kzbin.info/aero/PLdGtTWqCEvuJCOriBVUUtmrYY8mht1Ll5

[@joeyjojo5986]

just review atari games forever please. takes me back to the good times.

[@reagandow850]

I’m so happy. I feel likes it’s 1982 again and my best friend and I are playing moon patrol fighting aliens while it’s snowing full force outside and we got the day off from school. Yes!!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Snow days and video games was the best lol.

[@reagandow850]

Friday Night Arcade - weren’t they. I remember having my nose pressed to the window the night of a big storm waiting for it to start and then waking throughout the night to check on the amount on the ground. In the morning it was like listening to a live lottery drawing to see if your school district or school was closed. The consolation prize was a dumb old delay. ;)

[@patsfan4life]

Reagan Dow I did the exact same thing !!!! Praying you hear your school called out, and such a relief when it was because you didn't do your homework 😜

[@GenerationGapGaming]

Reagan! Great to see you man. I'm a big fan of Friday Night Arcade too.

[@reagandow850]

GenerationGapGaming - Hey Tyler! Fancy meeting you here. This is a great channel and an awesome trip down memory lane every Friday. Great mind think alike my friend. ;)

[@lurkerrekrul]

If Moon Patrol was made today for a current console, you'd use L1 to slow down, R1 to speed up, one button to jump, another button to fire forward, still another button to fire up, the left analog stick to move in the air...

[@patsfan4life]

lurkerrekrul haha

[@necron99.aka-sammyboy92]

Hammerin' Hank srly? This game , or a new version? Or just the Original updated???

[@loyal2thesoil412]

Demon attack, was one of my favorites on the Atari 2600 , still fun till this day yuh should try it .

[@jnnx]

Phoenix looks like a ripoff of Demon Attack with a boss stage.

[@Atari2600_Dude]

So many Atari 2600 classics to choose from, some of my favorites are Spider Fighter, Popeye, Cosmic Ark, Atlantis, River Raid, Keystone Kapers, Kaboom, Missile Command, Asteroids, Pitfall, Frogger, Joust, Beamrider, Enduro, Pitfall 2 etc.

[@patsfan4life]

Atari2600Dude Enduro is a 2600 all-time Classic....

[@throatwarblermangrove2077]

Nice to see Popeye.....IMO it should've been more popular.

[@MrDuneedon]

Spider Fighter was my #1 jam. But damn -- I tried to play it again recently, and, wow...how did my hand/thumb endure that kind of pain? That's what those games were (and are): exercises in personal pain tolerance!

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@patsfan4life Finally made it to day 5 on Enduro. Where can I get the patch?

[@villain5873]

Grandma playing Berserk, calling them “Turkeys”. Classic ⭐️

[@naytch2003]

Ahh i remember all these games and those ads..i recently bought a 2600 so going to collect these games again!!!

[@mamoruisamu1]

Berserk was a big one for me. Two other favorites were Final Approach by Apollo and Space Shuttle by Activision. I remember getting Space Shuttle, and then I couldn’t play it for most of the day because we were having the carpets cleaned. I would stick a hand out and touch the carpets frequently to see if they were dry enough for me to go back into the room and play. I thought the included overlays were awesome.

[@sircompo]

Space Shuttle gets my vote. Could this have been the first true simulator for a games console?

[@Hawkeye26]

9:25 YAYYY! Phoenix got a mention! Moon Patrol was a good shout, my cousin had that and I only got to play it a half dozen times (maybe). I remember really enjoying it (it was actually one of the few highlights for those rare visits). I don't think I EVER noticed that the robots exploding in Berzerk showed a happy face each time! THAT is some neat theme-related design work!

[@patsfan4life]

Berserk is classic Atari 2600 fun!!!!

[@itanimullikilla1968]

I was gonna thumbs up, Berserk I was a master at. Remember how fast they would go after several dozen screens. Anyways I declined on the thumbs up cuz I saw your name. F the Pats. Most hated team ever!!!!!!!! ( All in good fun. Football is just a grown child's game, a multi billion dollar child's game. GO EAGLES!!!!!!

[@sandal_thong8631]

Loved it as an Atari game. They made a sequel at the arcade that I didn't get to play much, Frenzy.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Berzerk (and Centipede) were good adaptations of the arcade. I haven't figured out how to take the laser through the neck, yet. But if I were making a video, I'd give it a try.

[@richardjohnson8197]

Screw the Eagles Itan, Cowboys are gonna kick their asses again this year - as usual.

[@MaxSpender]

Phoenix on the Atari 2600 is such a good conversion. It’s arguably more fun than the Arcade original.

[@Cyphrel]

Loved Gorf, Kung-Fu Master, Commando... Happy to see Megamania and HERO here. Pitfall was awesome and so was River Raid. ^^

[@lsgreger2645]

I am so glad I found this Channel. The videos are well edited and it features a lot a Atari. I couldn't tell you why, but my favorite games on the 2600 were Video Pinball and Superman. I remember completing Superman in 2:15 and thought I was the man!

[@WhiteRhinoPSO]

Man, this one was a blast from the past. Moon Patrol was me and my brother's favorite game for a while, though I can never remember which version we played. It might have been for a more advanced Atari than the 2600; we later had one that had pastel-colored buttons and a keyboard that let you write your own programs. Usually I just spent a day typing one in from one of the Atari program books we had, but since we didn't have a way to save them to disk, we'd lose them the minute we shut off the system. Berzerk was another one we had, though I wasn't very fond of it. I feel like young me was sort of scared of the foreboding sound of the enemy shots, and the jarring electricity sound when you got shot or touched a wall. Man, we had Phoenix, too! I remember those larger birds with the flapping wings that would regenerate if you didn't shoot them in the middle.

[@sonicmario64]

"Crystal Castles" has always been one of my favorite Atari 2600 games that not many people talk about. :)

[@elbryan42]

Great video. So many great games. I noticed some of my favorites haven't been listed yet. I've spent countless hours on Q-Bert, Fast Food and Midnight Magic.

[@daviddavies3637]

Berzerk was the first game I got for my 2600 back in '82. It was actually a day or two before Christmas. I went with my mother and grandmother to a local Woolworths to pick it up. Think it cost £30. I opened it before I opened up my VCS. Played that game to hell and back. There was even a handy little bug. See that gap between the head and the torso? Robot lasers just pass through it. Saved me a few times. :)

[@markpapenfuss1111]

All great choices. I also really liked: Pitfall, Kaboom, Keystone Capers, Ms PacMan, Joust, and Mario Bros.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I was about to say that all 5 look great, even the two I don't have in my collection, Ms. PacMan would have been a good one to add with this group. This week I won PItfall for the 2nd time (first was in 1982 or '83) so not much replay value.

[@atarileaf]

Great video as always, I"m a big Phoenix fan. Didn't know about the radioactive metal alien birds though. That's hilarious

[@sandal_thong8631]

Phoenix was much better than Demon Attack, which was a Phoenix knockoff, but I think too many kids got the latter so loved it (plus it had the #1 or #2 ad for an Atari game).

[@spayseghost]

MAKE ATARI GREAT AGAIN

[@pizzamon795]

You should make some shirts. I would buy one

[@classicmikecade]

All top notch games that I'm proud to say I played. HERO, Phoenix, and Berzerk.....so awesome. I can't tell what I loved more, the games or the commercials. Bless your heart for putting them in the video Aaron. Thank you for your hard work. I have loved this stroll down memory lane. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with the corner of my bedroom as I lay in the fetal position crying and missing my childhood.

[@JanetStarChild]

LOL! The robot explosions in the Berzerk game are happy faces.

[@netwalker-1]

When I was a kid, I loved it when Berzerk's robots were shooting at a wall making the same sound of a synthesizer that is heard in "Shout" by Tears for Fears (a note that repeats exactly 11 times).

[@dash8brj]

Space Shuttle, it also had a patch if you docked with the satellite so many times, like the others you took a photo of the screen and sent it to Activision and you got a cool NASA styled patch.

[@djgrahamevans]

Berserk was a family favourite! My grandparents had a 2600, so I only got to play on school holidays. I used to like shooting off the left or right screens and the shos would wrap around to the other side for sneaky shots!

[@iankempster7007]

Great video as always dude

[@badhabitbabbitt7655]

Dragon fire, Demon Attack, Haunted House, Adventure, and Warlords

[@patsfan4life]

Bad Habit Babbitt I am a new fan to Dragonfire via Flashback console

[@robintst]

I like that when you rescue one of the dudes in H.E.R.O. they're all mellow like, "Hey man."

[@stargame7029]

Funny thing in Berserk: A happy face appears when a robot explodes. Just put in slow motion and you'll see.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I noticed this too when I was editing the episode... should have re-recorded something to acknowledge it and add in something about it. Pretty cool and weird.

[@patsfan4life]

The first ever Eater Egg in a video game

[@carlrygwelski586]

I played Megamania on the Activision Classics for PS1. Parents used to play Moon Patrol when they were young at the arcade.

[@Sinn0100]

Has anyone noticed....when you kill a robot in Berzerk, they explode into a smile. Are the robots in Berzerk suicidal? At any rate, watch him shoot robots, pay close attention to the white robots in particular as they are the easiest to see this effect?! I was too young to enjoy Atari (almost). I started technically in 1985 with the Nes and 1986 with the Sega Master System. I did not become a die hard gamer until 1989...when I received a Sega Genesis for Christmas. My first Atari console ever was the Jaguar in 1994. I wanted Doom and Wolfenstein proper on a big screen TV. Yes, I was obe of those kids lucky enough to have a big screen TV in my room. I actually had two screens (27 inch and 55 inch) in my room. The Genesis/Sega CD/32X on the 55 inch and the Snes on the 27 inch screen. As always, great video!

[@fisheyeguy]

I get a chuckle every time you say “Atari twenty six hunnred” lol. I’ve got an awful southern drawl so I pronounce words different too. You’ve done an awesome job with all these Atari reviews. It brings back a lot of memories.

[@7thangelad586]

These videos always jog my memory as I recognize some of them from the C64. That music in Moon Patrol is catchy!

[@jake7499]

Man, these games always take me back. I remember playing Football with my dad, and i'd pass the ball backwards and catch it when it came from the other side of the screen. Ah, good memories.

[@chiroquacker2580]

1) Keystone Kapers: Somehow captures and recreates the atmosphere of a real shopping mall...on the freaking Atari 2600! It's like Pitfall indoors with an actual objective. 2) Turmoil - Frantic action I played with my friend. Looks and sounds great. 3) Kaboom - Just in case Turmoil wasn't frantic enough. 4) Solaris - can almost pass as an early NES game. I worry that playing too long could cause my Vader to overheat. 5) Missle Command: The control is so good I don't miss the track ball at all. I love the sound of the cities when they explode. It feels like a highly polished masterpiece lovingly crafted by a master programmer. 6) Atlantis: Just different enough from Missile Command to not be a clone, it has nearly as much atmosphere as Keystone Kapers. 7) Demon Attack and 8) Spider Fighter: Polished shooters dripping with atmosphere. 9) Adventure: The square is Link's great granddaddy 9)Pac-Man 8k 10) Scramble 11) Princess Rescue: Stella can still impress!.

[@nickstadler1906]

While I enjoyed Phoenix for the 2600, I always thought Demon Attack was a better version of Phoenix than Phoenix was (despite missing the mothership, anyway).

[@jarinumar1818]

I drove my dad crazy back then with the sound. Best time of my life..

[@fritzthedog007]

Lots of comments about the smiley face when bezerk robots explode...it's Evil Otto's face.

[@The_Bad_Guy.]

StarMaster was always one of my favorite games as a kid. Way ahead of it's time. The sound effects, animation, controls and game play were all pretty impressive for a 2600 game.

[@boudreaux550]

Raiders of the Lost Ark was a neat game and very deep considering the system.

[@ashleyvanhammer3448]

Awesome picks from a wonderful era of gaming. I'm really loving this channel! From me, I always liked "Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes". It was kind of a mix of a reverse-breakout with a shooter.

[@GreatLakesDrifta]

The Atari 800 version of this game includes the voice. If you leave the maze before killing all the robots, it will say "Chicken, fight like a robot!"

[@Iskelderon]

Combat had such a lasting effect on three year old me as my first contact with video games, that it caused me to fall in love with computers and become a software developer.

[@candiduscorvus]

Stargate, which was Defender 2. I loved those games but Stargate was a lot cleaner than Defender.

[@Nestalgba92023]

But there Is NO 2 players option.

[@sandal_thong8631]

That came out after we stopped buying new Atari games.

[@Krystalmyth]

You can barely see Evil Otto on your screen for Berserk. Is it a refresh rate thing?

[@GenerationGapGaming]

Love this video. Big fan of your work man. Class act channel for sure

[@atarikidd8979]

Air Loc and Yar's Revenge were my all time favorites. Adventure was both really fun and comical (a bat will pick up anything, even a Dragon (or Duck?). Superman was surprisingly a good game. As a joke, I emailed one of the devs of 'Subnatica' to release a port o the Atari 2600 with a 4k resolution. They didn't respond. lol.... :P

[@imaxjunior6531]

I've enjoyed your 2600 videos. Have you ever thought about a Top5 Atari 2600 games that were better and or way more fun to play than its big brother Atari 5200.

[@cootmaster]

w bezerk i love how the walls are created/ un draw on exit enter room unlike other versions where room moves to left

[@michaelfiordimondo3591]

A couple great obscure games. Mega force, beeny bopper, flash gordon. Those are definitely some of my favorites. Of course atlantis is another classic. Demon attack, laser blast. Theres so many its hard to remember all of them!

[@oleblue73]

I still have my Activision patches for Pitfall and Spider Fighter... somewhere. They seem to turn up every 5 years or so when I'm cleaning house.

[@REPVILE]

Chad Mawn Laserblast !!!!!!!!!! And Spiderfighter here

[@anemictant587]

"No Escape" has a cool concept...

[@raineyhayes3821]

Agreed. Shame nobody copied it.

[@TheMaskedheel]

Megamania that commercial has been in my head for almost 40 years. Only played it once though. The games we enjoyed were Demons to Diamonds and Warlords..

[@ShamrockParticle]

I still love Berzerk's twist in that when you blow up a robot the explosion looks like a smiley face. Once you see it, why want to unseen it?

[@FridayNightArcade]

:)

[@SnipeMD]

Moon Patrol looks like such a charming game. Maybe it's just the music or the way the vehicle moves but it looks kind of adorable.

[@FridayNightArcade]

That's a really good word for it....

[@RobCamp-rmc_0]

My grandma had Phoenix, and I’d play that game until my hands cramped up, it was so good. Long before I ever played it, though, I had a poster of the box art hanging in my room; not knowing any better, I thought it was for some metal band. It would fit for it, wouldn’t it? Also, before I ever got an NES, I had Moon Patrol for the Atari 800XL, one of their 8-bit computers. It played pretty much the same way but with better graphics and the levels were more clearly demarcated, with one for each letter of the alphabet. I loved that game so much.

[@bazdaniels7420]

definitely Yars revenge, Frogger, Mario Bros, Ms Pac man and Joust were bigtime favs of mine. Great picks though!

[@necron99.aka-sammyboy92]

Berserk, was the best out of them all!!! I have actually scored a worlds record at one point. But with roms n Hacks now, I’m not even too 20. I know they’re all cheats too!

[@josephjoestar6337]

I'm here from a Cinemassacre ad and I'm loving this channel!

[@charlesn898]

The 2600 version of Vanguard was very good... "But who destroys the Gond?" "LUTHER DESTROYS THE GOND!!!" *Luther chuckles*

[@Duke_Togo_G13]

Sweet! HERO is one of my all time favorites. I have it on ColecoVision too.

[@patsfan4life]

Duke Togo it wasn’t ported to Colecovision....

[@actorben]

"Space Caverns was one of my personal favorites!

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Evil Otto rolling up ranks right up there with Sinistar being completed then yelling at your to "RUN! RUN!" in things that made old school gamers shit themselves back in the day.

[@GTSN38]

You never played Megamania ? Unbelievable .

[@FridayNightArcade]

I was like 3-4 at the time and it really was my parents' console ... So I had no control over which games my parents purchased..... Didn't start to have more sway until we got an NES later which was technically "mine."

[@GTSN38]

I hear ya, my brother actually bought Megamania, that was one of my all time favorite atari game.

[@FridayNightArcade]

That's the good stuff.

[@donkique956]

Legend has it grandma is still playing Berzerk up in heaven.

[@raineyhayes3821]

I wonder if Peter Burkowski is playing Berzerk in heaven.

[@colinmcdonald2499]

Thanks for bringing in Phoenix. Only one of my friends from the 2600 era had this game. It was awesome so mostly we played it almost exclusively at his house. He was born with Cystic Fibrosis... We lost him years later when I was 18. Phoenix is a fond.memory of my friendshhip. Thank you for reminding me.

[@FridayNightArcade]

It's weird how something as random as a game can bring back that sort of memory. I'm glad you were able to have that memorable time with your friend before he passed - even if it was too short. Memories like this are why I love doing this show - thank you for sharing.

[@colinmcdonald2499]

@@FridayNightArcadeThank you brother!

[@josephsinger4890]

Played all these games, great memories.

[@jasonvinton8257]

Phoenix was one of my all time favorites, even in the arcade! Megamania as well...I got the patch for that one!

[@matthewlane518]

Jungle hunt also had paralax scrolling on 2600

[@REPVILE]

Had patches for Spider Fighter and both for Laserblast.

[@PSYK0MANT1S]

This is great, the commercials are lighting up some serious synapses in my brain

[@bryanyurcan4363]

keep the greatness comin

[@diebesgrab]

For the record, the phoenix myth comes from Greece, the manual was making the Egyptian bits up.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Ahhh yes... you are correct sir.

[@diebesgrab]

Oh, hey, I wasn’t actually expecting a reply. Just wanted to say thanks for these videos, I’ve been grabbing some well regarded Atari 2600 games to try out recently, since that system was a fair bit before my time, and your videos have offered more in-depth info than I’ve seen in most lists I’ve seen so far. I quite enjoyed Chopper Command, and wouldn’t have even noticed it if not for you.

[@byronmacdowell3732]

Adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pole Position, Pitfall 1 & 2, Jungle Hunt, Asteroids, Moon Patrol, Frogger, Space Invaders... I could go on & on.

[@briankaplan6521]

Maze Craze was something my friend and I would play until the sun came up or until his dad yelled at us to shut that shit off. That game had a mode where a block would randomly go around the maze as you were trying to get out, and we would pretend it was Michael Myers coming to get us. Still the best co-op experience I ever had

[@FridayNightArcade]

I used to play the crap out of Maze Craze too! Love that game. Had some cool box art too IIRC. Thanks for sharing.

[@andrelambe7086]

I remember back in the day going to home hardware and buying moon patrol it was an awesome game! That was about 35 years ago

[@stephenwhitener6650]

Wizard Of Wor, Spider Fighter and Atlantis were favorites of mine

[@jamiehorton9958]

Yeah, that box/cartridge art was way better than it had any right to be. "Phoenix" is one of my favorite pieces.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Ah, the good ole' days! Thanks for sharing!

[@dianaoelrich5516]

Bobby is going home, a.k.a. Jumping Jack. If not for the sweet graphics, then definetely for the most beautiful soundtrack.

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

Hero, along with River Raid are one of my favourite games of all time...they are still fun to play today.

[@7thangelad586]

The Phoenix plot sounds like it was pulled out of a Syfy original movie. 🤔 One that I would definitely watch!

[@denshou]

11:05 OMG! look at that roasted chicken shooting up!

[@TheMarzuzu]

your commercial got me man. when you said "stay a while and listen" ive been binging on diablo hd mod.

[@FridayNightArcade]

:D ... that mod is awesome

[@Neotron2001]

Joust, Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Combat, Battlezone, Pole Position, Dig Dug, Qbert, Yars Revenge, River Raid, Chopper Command, Pitfall 1&2, Ms. Pac-man, Super Breakout,

[@machf00]

Looks like I never got to play Megamania from this bunch... it's written down on the list in my old notebook, but there's no check next to it. Or maybe I eventually got to play, but by that time I wasn't checking the list anymore (it had reached almost 200 titles in the end). I'm really considering hooking up my ATARI 2600VCS to the TV tuner I've got connected to my PC monitor, and placing my camera on a tripod to film it... the list of cartridges I (still) own is as follows: Asteroids Battlezone Berzerk Combat Dragster E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Frogger Grand Prix Jungle Hunt Moon Patrol Outlaw River Raid Shark Attack Star Voyager Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Swordquest: Earthworld Worm War One From all of them, only the last one ever stopped working, some years ago...

[@rayceeya8659]

I know it's like the simplest game ever but I played the crap out of Enduro(1984). It was sort of a racing game, but really you were just trying to not crash for as long as possible. It might actually be the first racing game to feature weather effects. If you drive long enough, you have to deal with night time, fog, and even snow.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Loved that game!

[@Hadouken88]

Great video! Some of my favorites were Solar Fox, Atlantis, Keystone Kapers, Kaboom and Maze Craze!

[@emilyapricot1313]

Blaster Master is the Theme Song for the Legacy Music Hour podcast too !

[@geekdetritus5503]

I was somehow better at Defender when I was 4 than I am now. That one was my favorite as a kid. However, when a friend of mine bought a 2600 at a garage sale, he had Phoenix, which at the time I had never played. Easily that one has become my favorite.... That is, when I don't have 3 other friends to play Warlords with

[@meta2006]

Megamania was my first game I got as a present, my Atari clone came with River Raid and me and my family used to spend hours on these games. My father liked the casual style these games had, when he saw me playing Nintendo he would say that you had to play from the beginning til you saved the princess and he didn't want to commit to this (but commited to hours of Atari gaming ehehehe.)

[@richardadams4928]

Phoenix is SERIOUSLY underrated,a very good arcade port. Defender II is MIND-BLOWING, an unbelievable port of Defender Stargate. Jr. Pac-Man should also be IMPOSSIBLE to port as well as they did. Vanguard was also a GREAT arcade port.

[@spinninbackfistz7997]

Megamainia is one of my all time favorite Atari games from childhood that I'll still play here and there and is the only game that (on occasion) I can master and max out 999,999 in one life

[@Risperdali]

I remember Megamania! Amazing shmup

[@Retro6502]

Wow! TIL! I always wondered why Berzerk on the 2600 didn't have Evil Otto in it. Turns out I only ever played mode 1. I originally played it on the 5200 and he's in the game by default. I don't think I played the 2600 version until much later (probably mid-90s) and always thought it was just watered down version. So strange they didn't put Otto in game mode 1 and have him turned off in the other modes. He's a standard part of the arcade version.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Yeah, I'm not sure why he's not on the default option either since he's a major part of the game.

[@donjuan2421]

I had Phoenix back in the day and I LOVED it!! I wanted Megamania real bad, but my cousin had it.. We'd play that joint all day!

[@soterioncoil2163]

I liked Fast Food, Towering Inferno and Keystone Kapers too! I remember Journey Escape being good!

[@gregkarris6869]

I remember now - 2600 Moon Patrol with the turds... ;) Best ones: Starmaster, Demon Attack, Chopper Command...

[@Trancelistic]

Nice selection of games. I loved moon control on any concole or on the arcade.