Atari 2600 Keystone Kapers from Activision | The Third Time REALLY IS the Charm!

[@gkgamemaker]

Hey Jon, Garry Kitchen here. Great video, my friend. Thank you for all the kind words about one of my favorite games. And thanks to all the fans who have left some great comments. To add some of my own comments, here's a tip. When you get to the more difficult balls (higher bouncing) try pausing just for a split second when you enter the screen and then run and jump over the ball without stopping. With the right timing, you hit it when the ball is at the bottom of its arc. It's definitely the most efficient way time wise. And to whomever said that I was inspired by Chopper Command for the lower radar, that's exactly right. I loved what Bob Whitehead had done and thought it would work as a long range scanner. And the radio comments are hysterical. Yes, the graphic was a little obscure. One time, I was talking to an enthusiastic fan from Brazil where the Activision games were incredibly popular but didn't come with manuals. He said that it was an ongoing debate among Brazilian gamers as to what the radios were. No one ever knew for sure. And one more tip, or not. I thought that on the fast planes (or shopping carts, not sure) there was a way (with no pausing at all) to make it to the end of the screen without having to do the second jump. Am I wrong? Enjoy!!!!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hiya, Garry. Wonderful to see you stop by and take the time to leave a comment! 😁

[@Haywood-Jablomie]

THANK YOU for one of my favorite games as a child.

[@OldManTheseDays]

Gary (aka: the MAN), thank you for the games. Can’t even describe how much fun I’ve had with them over the years.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Oh man, me and my siblings spent HOURS playing this game back in the day. I also love what you and David Crane did with "Circus Convoy". Great game! That game would have absolutely blown people's minds back in the day. Any idea when "Casey's Gold" (a sequel written by your son, I believe?) will be released? Thanks again for the great memories! p.s. Have you seen some of the homebrew Atari 2600 games that people have done? Pac-Man 8K and Donkey Kong VCS look incredible!

[@exidy-yt]

Hello Gary, thank you for some great childhood memories! I loved this game every bit as much as i was let down by Donkey Kong. Hey, I was a kid. I had no understanding of the process of game design and programming at that age, I just thought it would be a LITTLE better then that, if not as good as the ColecoVision port. ;-) Keystone Kops however was an absolute monster of a fantastic fun Atari 2600 game and I loved it to death. Take care!

[@rabsrealm]

I was obsessed with this game as a kid in Scotland. I remember pleading with my mum to buy it when I saw it on the shelf in our local ASDA (Walmart in the US). She bought it to shut me up and I spent weeks on end playing it constantly. As a 50 something, I've just bought a woody to restore. The first game I'm going to purchase from my local retro games store (the biggest in the UK) is Keystone Kapers!!

[@bartdunbar5108]

From the day I bought it when I was in 8th grade, to this very day, it remains my favorite Atari 2600 game of all time. I had the pleasure of meeting Gary kitchen at free play Florida a few years ago and thanking him in person.

[@Johnenoch226]

Keystone Kapers was a really fun game. I remember it well. Great idea for a segment. Happy Memorial Day GXGU team!

[@MC-lg6xt]

I remember this as a kid during the early 80 along with Van Halen and C-3PO’s cereal 😊. The game was great !

[@mattsmedley.onehandedgamin9029]

One of my favourite 2600 games. I still have my original keystone kapers cartridge for the 80s & a couple of times a year this game will get played. I always thought that the radio's were in fact safes that were wired with explosives by the robber. Just a brilliant game.

[@tedthrasher9433]

So glad you made this video! I still remember getting Keystone Kapers from my grandparents for Christmas. It is my all time favorite game for the 2600!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Wonderful! Thanks for watching. 😁

[@Mark-Wester]

I love keystone Kapers.

[@miketendopower]

An honorable attempt. I don't know why but as a kid I always thought the radios were heaters.😅

[@BriansManCave]

I always thought they were jewelry counters with flashy jewels 😁

[@donkique956]

I always thought they were heater radios.

[@BriansManCave]

@@donkique956 Even when I programmed my Intellivision version of this game, I kept thinking they were Jewelry... my code still shows that 😝

[@MisterAzathoth]

I always thought of them as green magnets 😂

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

i had always thought they were remote control tanks, counterparts to the toy airlplanes 🤷🏼

[@shawncarter7188]

Sweet! I bought this a couple of weeks ago for the plus... haven't cleaned out the cart yet though.

[@nahumgardner]

I always liked that the planes were the airplane from barnstorming.

[@capitalistpigsa1]

This was one of my favorite games as a kid, I played it the other day and it still holds up really well! Lots of nostalgia for this one.

[@curtismanley3459]

One of my all time favorite Atari 2600 Activision games. I remember playing them constantly for my parents to take high score pictures so I could get the patches. Wishing I had those still... but anyway Jon and the GenXGrown Up group, keep up the awesome videos!!!

[@neugey]

I think this game shines as one you can play with a friend. They can help you with calling out the obstacles placement and speeding up and how far ahead the robber is getting.

[@ALTDOK667]

Getting a plane straight in the face is brutal! I remember jumping on the robber when I caught him. I'd always yell, "Kick 'im in the head!" Lol

[@SkiBumMSP]

Never had this game myself, but one of my friends had it and remember having a blast playing it. The two games I've spent the most time ever playing on the Atari 2600 was Pitfall and River Raid. Don't know if that game was ever featured on this channel, but it should be! Also to add. I did remember getting more than enough points in River Raid to get the patch (I've gotten over 100,000 points in that game), but could never get a screen shot to send in. My parents would not do it as they did not want to waste film and pay to get it developed. Not like today when everyone pretty much has a digital camera on them.

[@peterperpetua2974]

My favorite 2600 game, I always did all the jumping on the escalators like you and also jumped while catching the crook.

[@binkman853]

I absolutely love this game. Played so much back in the day. Thanks!

[@frankc4755]

Great video, Jon! Definitely in my top 4 2600 games.... along with Pitfall, Asteroids and Space Invaders.

[@Picverse]

Love it, keeping the retro games alive.

[@Reality_Checkmate]

This was my favorite back then and was one the best game on the 2600. It still holds up today after 40 years. Why they never had this in the Arcades is beyond me. It would have made a fortune. Why this one is so forgotten is beyond me. This is one of those games that is addictive and sucks you in because it's so much fun. No tedious challenges just "ONE MORE GAME!"

[@dchav5150]

LOVED this game! I remember when I received this for getting A's & B's in school! I still have the patch! Has anyone had Harry Hooligan juke you in the higher levels?

[@lurkerrekrul]

I always jumped on the bad guy as well. Flying tackle! :) Two details that the remakes get wrong: 1. Obstacles/enemies will never appear in the path of the robber. Even if he's running across a floor that previously had radios or shopping carts, they will be absent when he's running across that floor. This means that when you're both on the same floor on the same screen, you don't have to worry about any obstacles or enemies. This is true for all the official classic versions. Pretty much all the remakes leave the obstacles and enemies in place and have the robber just run through them, although YOU still have to avoid them. This adds an extra bit of difficulty to the game. 2. When you pick up a briefcase or money bag it will SOMETIMES get replaced by a radio, although this doesn't seem to happen all the time, and doesn't happen at all on the first few levels. In most of the remakes, bonus objects get replaced by radios 100% of the time. This isn't as much of an issue as the first point, since you rarely have to revisit those screens. Being a picky person, I just wanted to point these out.

[@synthsoniq]

Great video! This game is one of my favorites. Awesome to see it get some well deserved attention!

[@zerobyte802]

I usually use the elevator to get off on the 2nd floor and skip the left halves of the first two floors. Probably the worst obstacles are the double fast airplanes. You have to duck a bazillion times to get through those.

[@Joe-Exit]

I remember playing this when it was new. Awesome game. Good times.

[@joshh8245]

That was rather entertaining watching you play that. Haha. Great video! Keystone Kapers is a classic. Grew up playing that and still do. Watching that makes me want to play it again. Haha.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching. 😁

[@MikeyT0601]

Thanks for playing this, Jon. I never got to play it as a kid. But now I got to get it on my Atari Gamestation

[@OofHearted]

I loved all the same things, the fluid jumps, the speed, the colour etc. I misremembered the name, thinking all this time it was Keystone Coppers.

[@ipolendo]

I just saw the video and after you mentioned Garry Kitchen I was like "isn't he the one who created Space Shuttle for the 2600?".. lo and behold.. its his brother Steve Kitchen who did it. Two of my fav games created by them!

[@Sabrina79]

I loved this game when I had my Sears Tele-Games console. I would, however, get SO frustrated when the shopping carts and airplanes sped up to the point where I couldn't keep up! But it was still fun to play, and I still do play it on the Virtual Atari website - but it's MUCH harder trying to maneuver using a computer keyboard! 😂

[@InsaneWayne355]

I loved Keystone Capers. It was probably in my top three most played Atari games.

[@UncleDadsKids]

Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker are my two favorite Activision (Maybe even 2600) games. Love these videos Jon. Thank you for the consistent quality content.

[@ScottW967]

Man! Am I glad I decided to get this game as a kid. It’s a ton of fun!!!

[@RaquelFoster]

As soon as Defender came out you saw those wide horizontal mini-maps all over. Chopper Command was a total Defender clone. But then they got big. Impossible Mission and Hacker on C64 had a map on the whole bottom half of the screen. Then Lemmings had the little one in 1991. But there's a big difference between something where the map is a convenience vs. games where you'd be totally screwed without it.

[@tedadamgreen]

That was way more fun than I expected! I never had that as a kid and now I feel like I missed out. Thanks for the video and I still need to go watch that interview 🕹️

[@GenXGrownUp]

You bet!

[@allanmailer4540]

Great game and it still plays well to this day. Excellent example of everything that was good about Atari and Activision. The vibrant colour palette, the supreme gameplay, the tight collision detection and the ramping up of the difficulty which seems fair. Big well done to Garry, not many games can hold your attention for over 40 years.

[@DarthKalkillus]

Loved the game, and it took really good practice for me to get it to where you would max points to freeze the game at the end.

[@amitypredator9385]

My mom bought this for me in I think...1987 or 1988 . loved this game. Hours of fun and really a standout in terms of 2600 graphics.

[@MitchellRoboto]

My family didn't have money, but my older sister heled get me a job as a golf caddy when I was 12. They paid out in cash plus tip. Keystone Kapers was one of my first purchases after playing it at my cousins' house. My whole family took turns playing it including my parents. We had many laughs over this game.

[@mr.pavone9719]

I liked jumping to catch the crook too. If the sprites overlapped the right way it looked like the billy club became a lump on the crook's head. Very cartoonish! Oh, you'll score a lot more points by taking the elevator.

[@The_Badseed]

Great video. I love this game. This, Yar's Revenge and Pitfall 2 are my 3 favorites.

[@zilchsr]

2:28 Unfortunately, you cannot have more than 3 reserve lives. Reaching the next 10,000 points while having a full complement of 3 reserve lives will not acquire you a fourth. Monitoring the life variable stored at RAM address H&96 upon achieving any multiple of 10,000 points (when extra lives are earned) confirms this. I digress ... this is one of, if not *THE* best channels to come to for Atari 2600 commentary. I love it! I always look forward to getting the next new content notification. YOU ROCK, GenX!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Oh, no. I guess the code don't lie! I've never gotten to 10k without dying, so I wasn't able to test it, but the manual says, "...up to a maximum of three on-screen at a time," which I interpreted as only three could be displayed, though more could be in reserve. Otherwise the "on-screen" qualifer wouldn't have been necessary. Huh. Thanks for the clarification and also for the kind words. I appreciate you being a subscriber! 😁

[@PaulTaylor1]

I love how he thrusts his belly out as he goes up the escalator (as we call them in the UK lol).

[@ChrisConnolly-Mr.C-Dives-In]

The game was so much fun we would make the sound effects even when we were not playing.

[@mykleb1616]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who always jumped on the thief lol. One of my all- time faves

[@GenXGrownUp]

Boot to the head! 😁

[@mykleb1616]

@GenXGrownUp 🎶 nah nah🎶 lol let's see how many get THAT reference

[@KristianWontroba]

The elevator and escalators in the game blew my mind back in the day!

[@thejoint25]

Keystone Kapers is still my favorite 2600 game. An absolute graphical marvel.

[@TheDrisk]

This game is so epic. it still fries my brain on how good this game is.

[@BriansManCave]

One of my more favorite games on the 2600! It's the first game that I programmed and released for the Intellivision... except I called mine Keystone Kopps 🙂

[@Bikeguychicago1]

This is one of my go-to games on my Atari 5200 and 7800. I have the original, 5200, and the 7800 adaptations. The game is great for short bursts of gaming fun and is one that transcends generations. I even had my 2600 version signed by Mr. Kitchen a few years back @ Midwest Gaming Classic.

[@Bikeguychicago1]

The 5200 version adds additional challenge because of the controller :D

[@GenXGrownUp]

Very nice!

[@VolJoe]

I remember when this game came out, but I never played it. Great review, downloaded it today and it’s very good.

[@cowetascore8476]

One of my top 10 Atari games.

[@JPBlock73]

Jumping off the escalator is just one of those things that’s fun to do - like jumping into the door to the stage bosses in Mega Man games 😁

[@dohertyaaron]

Thanks for the upload! Love your positive energy.

[@MoiraWillenov]

Who remembers the AWESOME Gary Kitchens Game Maker for the commodore 64?

[@mikeburkhart8336]

Keystone Kapers was my third favorite Activision game on Atari 2600. Right under Pitfall! and H.E.R.O.

[@backpackingtony1779]

Brrrrrrroooooo! I found your channel while I was high! Dude! Your stuff is top-notch! Instant subscribe!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Welcome aboard!

[@jayme69]

Great fun Jon :-) Thanks for sharing!

[@e11aguru]

Atari 2600 was basically designed for playing Pong and Combat type games. It's amazing what clever programmers could do with the hardware.

[@patsfan4life]

The whole package was genius for the 2600

[@Skorpio420]

Considering Activision was started by ex-Atari programmers, they really created magic for their Atari 2600 releases.

[@RaquelFoster]

Huh? Because you expect ex-Atari people to be bad developers? The word 'considering' implies a disadvantage that you need to consider for it to be a fair statment. Like, "Everybody died, but considering he was blind the pilot did a great job getting close to the runway."

[@gregsnarke610]

I heard that interview Jon on Genxgrown that’s one of the games that I had 👍

[@ericplatts9100]

Keystone Kapers and Frostbite my most played on atari games.

[@PitfallHarry72]

Looks fun. I'll have to try it on my FB12G.

[@andyleclerc3600]

The planes will kill you if you run into them. Sometimes I caught myself jumping when I should have been ducking.

[@hardkoregamer1981]

Great game thanks for sharing Jon 👍

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

I made a remake back in the early 2000's called Kops. It's on Itch io but I don't know how well it runs on modern systems. I put a lot of work into making all the timing the same on the objects but I was high and I added some stupid things too. I remember having a really difficult time making the escalator.

[@demonsty]

jon i saw you on the news! wtf! love you man!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Haha! Thanks - you never know where I might show up. 😉

[@daviddavies3637]

Spent a lot of time with this game. Think I still have it in the attic.

[@patsfan4life]

Once I thought I was inside some kind of Twilight Zone episode but it turned out I was just playing Krazy Kong

[@guidogouweloos]

Activison brought us some gems 💎 In that era. Keystone Kapers is one of them. Frostbite is also not that famous, but had great gameplay too. And of course we know Pitfall, HERO, River Raid. All soo much fun to play and still the playability is great today. Oink 🐷 was an amazing idea for the time. Much better than all the FPS clones today.

[@CyberKnightt]

I always enjoyed the overall design of Activision cartridges; the overall unique color each one had, the picture of the actual game, and how when you stack them they kind of lock in with each other. Next time you're in the Activision mood I'd really enjoy hearing your thoughts while playing either Frostbite or Seaquest.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks. I'll add 'em to the list.

[@allenfrisch]

Oh yeah! Keystone Kapers holds up WAY better today than most other 2600 games!

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

gotta get those style points every time for jump kicking the bad guy in the back of the head! Fatality!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Haha!

[@alcampbell469]

It is a fantastic game. I loved it then and I love it now. i was playing on my psp the other day on my activision collection

[@exidy-yt]

This was a GREAT game. Absolutely loved it back in the day, rented it a few times. Think I have to give it a Stella run now ;-)

[@GenXGrownUp]

You should!

[@miked4377]

for some reason never played it back in the day...great game...

[@ACL84Fla]

This is my son's favorite Atari game by far. Definitely a great game!

[@magnusdiridian]

Still one of the best games for the atari 2600, if not THE best.

[@ButterSpider3]

Man, propeller to the face! Ouch!!!! Haha

[@haruruben]

There was an old film series called “keystone cops” 👮 about goofball cops chasing criminals

[@chrisholland91]

My favourite 2600 game. I always use the elevator and almost always get off on 2nd floor. It’s not worth the risk to go to the left escalator imo. Also once you get the double bouncing balls I believe you are better off just hitting them and continuing on. I may be wrong but I swear it takes just as long to dodge them if not longer.

[@ZMAN_420]

Atari 2600 and Activision are always a great time.👍🏻🇺🇲

[@Kilroy_5150]

Jon, when you do these interviews, you've gotta find Atari like backgrounds that can animate "around" the interview squares :)

[@timturn]

I loved Activision games they were always so colorful and creative, Barnstorming was one of my favorites as a kid. It is a shame they Activision just seems to churn out Call of Duty games now when they used to be so creative.

[@gabrieleamore3081969]

Lovely game! Another very good One Is pressure cooker, from the same author i believe

[@mikmurphy1]

Looks like it borrowed from Chopper Command. The radar, the sky.

[@TheH454]

GenXGrownUp got a new hat! - For a second or two I thought he was going to talk a propane and propane accessories.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I tell you h'what.

[@Skorpio420]

​@@GenXGrownUp Dang it, Bobby...err, Jon!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Pocket sand!

[@Skorpio420]

@@GenXGrownUp DangItManWhyYouGottaGoAndThrowSomeOlSandOutChurPocketManThatsNotCoolYouCouldBlindSomebodyWithThatMan. [/Boomhauer]

[@TheRealDannAlexander]

Truly one of the best games of that system.

[@gregwesson8815]

A Commodore 64 version was made in 2019. It's great! :)

[@JGreen-le8xx]

A person had done a fantastic version for the Commodore 64 not too long ago and was free to download.

[@IuriFiedoruk]

I would love a sequel to this game - no, not the spiritual one, but a real one. I can pick and play Keystona Kapers without any issues, and have a blast of fun, any time. Great game, 10 out of 10.

[@andyauthor2007]

My favorite 2600 game list would go H.E.R.O., Solaris, Pitfall II, Pressure Cooker and Keystone Kapers would be up there next along with River Raid in a tie for 5th. Everything Jon said about the gameplay being smooth is dead on. For a 2600 game, the graphics are impressive as Jon mentioned. He also mentioned the game is just FUN. That is the most important thing, is the game fun? Keystone Kapers is just a great game, it's by Activision so of course it's great.

[@malcolmmurphy2924]

I was born 69 grew up in the 80s with Atari best years of my life.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hey, a fellow '69er!

[@literallyunderrated]

I always knew those things were jukeboxes, but they don’t make any sound. Maybe the game would have benefited from some music. And I almost never used the elevator. Still a classic game for sure

[@GenXGrownUp]

Every time I tried the elevator, I felt like I ended up farther behind that if I'd just kept running!

[@jaymesjmathias9390]

Should do a buy sell feature where you buy run, jump etc boosts and ability to sell tvs vcrs etc you pick up and having other criminals appear halfway through where you run back down or keep on for the 1st one but the 1 appearing time to time possibly being top 10 wanted guys and they are worth more especially top 3 wanted 1's

[@GenXGrownUp]

All interesting ideas for a reboot/sequel, but I'm sure well beyond the scope of what was possible in with the limited resources of 1983. 😁

[@SylveonTrapito]

Boy, that´s Atari`s blast prosessing!

[@rustymixer2886]

Great video

[@billschlafly4107]

I recall that the difficulty ramped up really fast.