Barnstorming (Atari 2600) gameplay

A game on the vintage Atari 2600 I recalled once played on the real 1977 console as a kid, but had no idea what its title was for so many years...until today, at last. Made in 1982 by Activision, this game is called Barnstorming. It is a simple flying game where you play as a biplane (those early aircraft from World War I and II) and try to fly through a series of barns as fast as you can while dodging geese, windmills, as well as weather vanes on top of the barns. My playthrough is all the modes, increasingly more difficult over time.
Game 1 (Hedge Hopper): 0:00-1:05
Game 2 (Crop Duster): 1:06-2:19
Game 3 (Stunt Pilot): 2:20-3:38
Game 4: (Flying Ace) 3:39-7:36
I couldn't do it because this is my first time playing after well over 20 years, but if you finish Game 1 in at most 33 seconds, 51 in Game 2, or 54 in Game 3, you mastered the game and Activision back then would give you a special membership patch as a reward after sending a picture of your score. Game 4 doesn't count because it's random.
#atari2600 #emulator #flyinggame #retrogaming #classicgames #playthrough #vintage #1980s #activision #atari #barnstormer

[@StatickyCat]

For such a simple game, this looks pretty difficult, but looks pretty fun! That box art is funny because of how they have a rainbow trailing behind the plane. Weird, Stunt Pilot has no color, I wonder why. I find it hilarious how you can hit all the birds. They kinda look like background birds at first until you notice they're all on the foreground and right exactly in your way, and while normally a bird can do nothing to stop a WWI and WWII plane, these birds are mighty and can slow your plane right down somehow. I wonder if they all hit the gym, heh. I like how they tried to make the sound as realistic as possible, with the sound increasing in volume and pitch as you get close to any big obstacle. On Flying Ace mode, the birds look like a big pain in the butt due to how many there are. Looks like you are forced to slow down quite often or just hit them. I'm glad you could discover some nostalgia from your very early life. Nothing like rediscovering something from your childhood. And since I never heard of this game before, this was an interesting history lesson for me.

[@LITTLE1994]

Yes, I do like how in this game on Atari had some bit of realism with the "whooshing" sound as I fly above windmills and barns. I'm glad I found this, because I was trying for such a long time, until recently another video of this game popped up and BOOM, finally remembered. The birds have no realistic mechanism but it is funny. The last mode, I set it up at the hardest it can get for that.

[@StatickyCat]

@@LITTLE1994 It seems it was meant to be, almost like a reminder from God to say "Remember that old game LITTLE? Well here, you know what it is now."

[@vwbug1975]

Flappy Bird's ancestor. 🤣

[@LITTLE1994]

Yeah, I can see, ironically.

[@vwbug1975]

@@LITTLE1994 I still have my 2600, and it looks like new inside and out. The note taped inside says it was made Oct 15th 1981. I've been thinking of modding it for the A/V or HDMI outputs.

[@LITTLE1994]

​@@vwbug1975Personally, I rather leave it original for authenticity.

[@StatickyCat]

I didn't even notice that, but holy smokes you're right! Perhaps it's no coincidence.

[@Akira625]

I spent most of my time hitting the birds.

[@StatickyCat]

They look super hard to dodge.