EP-242: My ATARI VCS / 2600 Collection

[@DadLadsGaming]

Enjoyed that Chris. My brother won our 2600 when we were kids. It was a competition in Battle Comic👌

[@005AGIMA]

Oh wow talk about worlds colliding. I forget how awesome some prizes were back in the day.

[@oliverw.douglas285]

My 1st Atari, was technically a Sears TeleGames VCS (6-switch), woodgrain unit. It was 2nd hand or used, only came with paddles, a power supply, & a handful of TeleGames branded cartridges. I think we paid like $8 for the whole setup, from a neighborhood friend, back in 1986. Anyway, my parents helped assemble and gather all the necessary parts & pieces. The RF Slide Switch was purchsed from Radio Shack. The Tac-2 Joy Sticks came from a local discount chain store called Union Hall. Once we had it all connected, my parents & I played for many hours. My father was especially fond of tank plus, with those dodgy bullets. Eventually, we went to the local Toys-R-Us, & purchased a few additional cartridges, such as Junior Pacman, Qbert, Frogger, Defender, Yars Revenge, Missile Command, etc.... All in all, it was very fun. The only real bummer, is that I only had a Black & White TV in my bedroom. Our Color TV was in the living room, & usually my parents were watching one of their TV programs. Suffice to say so, my formative years with Atari came later than most kids, & it was predominately in B&W.

[@005AGIMA]

Wow thanks for sharing those memories with us. I can relate to the Black and White gaming, as that's how it was in our house as well. So for me, G7000 and Acorn Electron were both more often than not, played in Black and white.

[@RetroEdUK]

Really enjoyed this one Chris. I only knew 1 person with an Atari growing up, a guy who lived up the road from me (I was in awe as his older brother also had a NES 😄). Every now and again I toy with getting the 2600+. One day 😊 Have a fab weekend mate.

[@005AGIMA]

Do it mate. The 2600+ looks and feels awesome and the winner for me is the fact that it also plays 7800 games.

[@cconcannon5145]

Star Raiders on the 2600 back in the day blew my mind....and I was just playing Star Wars Squadrons in VR on my PS4 Pro the other day...my child brain draws a straight line between those two

[@005AGIMA]

I'll have to dig that one out (or fire up the Flashback). I love Squadrons in VR and for me, it's much like X-Wing in the DOS PC era.

[@davidretrogamesplayedbadly3533]

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I've never owned an atari, have considered picking one up several times. The woody just looks so cool. Great collection mate.

[@005AGIMA]

I'd pick one up mate. They're very cheap and usually still work. Plus you need another obsession to start collecting again :D

[@burnrubber7547]

I remember my Dad getting us an Atari vcs 6 switcher in 1980 when I was 5. I remember it like it was yesterday. Asteroids is so iconic for me, the sound effects alone take me right back to those times. Missile command also does the same. I remember swapping pac man for space invaders with my mate and not wanting to give it back lol. Great times, great systems, great memories. I think my childhood and gaming/ computer adventures were very similar to yours Chris. 👍

[@005AGIMA]

Wow it would have been awesome to have a 6 switcher back then.

[@burnrubber7547]

I really appreciated it at the time, and I do now. I tell my parents that as well to this day. My old man would kick my ass at asteroids back in the day. And at games on the speccy. The skill level turned around when I got my amiga though 😉🤣

[@andrewholt5659]

Played 2600 Berzerk for hours as a kid. Awesome video.

[@005AGIMA]

Yeah I'm looking forward to cracking that seal. I can't believe it's been almost a year and I've still not played it. I have been busy though I guess.

[@colinthomson7518]

I had the Atari 2600 Woody, frogger, pole position, pitfall, space Invaders. I use an Emulator now to relive those memories.

[@005AGIMA]

@@colinthomson7518 awesome stuff. I love emulation too.

[@Killer55547]

I'm Amiga -fan, but I like commodore 64 and Atari -computers also 😂👍

[@005AGIMA]

Awesome! Yeah I think now in adulthood, we realise that it's so pointless to be a fanboy of only one badge. The playground wars were fun though :D

[@williamfalconer4289]

Stargate, joust and dark chambers were my favourite games I had with my 2600jr that I got for Christmas in the 80s. I'm going to have to get one again.

[@005AGIMA]

Awesome memories. I hope you find one in your area. The Junior is usually quite easy to come by and usually quite cheap as well. This boxed one was $100 AUD (£50).

[@GenerationPixel]

I wanted an Atari, but got a Speccy in 1982, I also couldn't be happier that's the way it played out 😎👍

[@005AGIMA]

@@GenerationPixel yeah speccy wins 😁

[@bugulartell]

Brilliant vid mate, i have the Atari Flashback 9, i really need to set it up again!

[@005AGIMA]

Yeah do it Lee :D Did you flash yours so that if uses the SD Card slot as ROM storage? If you've lost the instructions, let me know and I'll help you out.

[@AdamRadfordAndFamily]

I remember getting an Atari VCS woody for Christmas. It came with Combat and my dad bought Space Invaders and Frogger too (£30 a game if I remember correctly). It was brilliant. I spent many hours playing on that machine. My next door neighbour Fiona also got an Atari that Christmas. I remember going round and seeing they had Pacman (which I secretly wished I had got). We sold it a couple of years later and put the money towards a Commodore 64. Happy memories... I think I need to buy another one.

[@005AGIMA]

@@AdamRadfordAndFamily great memories. Thanks for sharing. Yeah games were not cheap I remember that much.

[@retrosnipe]

Atari is my main thing to collect for but I just this week picked up a G7000 and 21 Carts (it needs a good clean). This was a good watch and that was a lovely copy of Nexar! 👍

[@005AGIMA]

WOW nice pickup :) I love the G7000 so much.

[@herdarkshadow834]

Nice to hear your wife is keeping your over-collecting in check. 😉 The only Ataris I’ve used and owned long term are the 520STFM and 1040STE computers. Had those for the MIDI and Notator music software. Apart from my brother’s 1977 Interton Video 2800 I never really lusted after a console, in fact I never even looked at a console until 1992 when I was staying at a friend’s place and I saw Sonic on a Megadrive… I bought one as soon as I got home. I have my PlayStations (launch day) and Xboxs (OG preordered) but I’m a Sega console girl at heart. When Sega dropped out, my console love went decidedly chilly. Guess that’s when I started looking backward rather than forward when it came to consoles. I did own (well let’s say had in stock as I moved them on pretty rapidly) a 7800 and a Jaguar. They both came from a wholesaler that was dumping them brand new onto the market for pin money. Neither did it for me so I moved them on. I did get my CD32 from the same supplier which I still happen to own though it is in need of a major motherboard overhaul ie it’s dead. Never used that either really which is why it is the last Amiga on the list to be restored (4 left to go). Next project is a new gaming PC as my current AIO doesn’t support 11 so it will be ‘retro’ next October. Been getting back into PC gaming lately mainly as I find the modern console offerings poor value for the high costs. Series X and PS5 may be my last consoles I reckon unless you count a Steam Deck which I’m quite keen to add to the stable at some point. The PS5 Pro debacle has left me cold and my Xbox games look better on PC. Computers always win the console wars in this house. 😉

[@005AGIMA]

Wow you've got some work to do :) Yeah the wife is keeping me in check. Not so much the amount of tat, but more the spend lol. In fact, it was my suggestion/justification to her and to myself this time around. I'll also be moving on (don't hate me) the C64 as I have no nostalgia for the system at all, and have had my fun exploring it. I'd rather it go to someone who will use it rather than sitting un-loved on my shelf.

[@herdarkshadow834]

@@005AGIMA since 1999 (when I went into business for myself) everything is viewed as stock. There’s just a hierarchy of what goes from first to last. Better the unused and unwanted get moved on while they still work and the retro bubble lasts. Mine just go from active to office ornamentation on rotation. Company assets if you will. 🙂 It’s not as though the 64 is a rarity and there’s always emulation if you ever got the itch (however unlikely) 🙂

[@Earths1stgamer]

I had the Atari as a kid great video congrats on your collection i love it all oh you cant put controller ports on the front it would ruin that nice piece of wood 😂 i think on the 7800 they did hear your complaint and moved them up front a few years later.

[@piero_75]

My friend had a Junior that we used to play on back in 87/88 but I never liked it (not helped by his bw telly), so much so that when another friend gifted me a 2600 system with 8 or 9 games a few years ago I never even bothered to try it. I kept it in a box for years then just put it on ebay. Kind of regret it a bit now seeing your great collection :/

[@005AGIMA]

It's a system that can be a lot of fun, BUT you really have to get your head into the time period, to keep it in context. Many of the games are heaps of fun (especially in 2 player) because gameplay had to make up for lack of graphics. I'm not surprised you didn't like it in 87/88 as that was very late in the day for the 2600. Probably why the junior doesn't have much of a following. ATARI had a winner in 1977 with the original, but to think they were trying to get people to buy the same system 10 years later really puts the Junior in perspective. The 7800 came out in 1986 and that's tons better, and plays 2600 carts, so what was the point of the Junior other than confusing the market? Keep in mind that the Sega Master System came out in 1985, and the NES came out in 1986, both were infinitely more impressive than the Atari 2600 at that point. So I'm not surprised your first impression of the 2600 was a bad one. But in the context of 1977 to 1982, it's awesome.

[@piero_75]

That all makes a lot of sense - it was late in its life and I was already lusting after the Amigas in the Silica adverts.. So playing Missile Command on a tiny fuzzy b&w telly was tough! He had another sort of single screen 2 player dog fighting game which was actually not too bad but I can't remember its name.

[@005AGIMA]

@@piero_75 That 2 player dog fighting game may have been one of the modes in Combat. Combat is usually 2 player tanks, but one of the game modes switches to side on dog fighting. Great fun in all modes imho. See this video at the given time code.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH3bgXiair-Coacsi=IflF8kmOpebHrZjt&t=127 (not my video)

[@piero_75]

That's the one, haven't seen it for 35 years, and never in actual colour! 👍

[@tim-moffy]

My uncle still has his original 2600 from the early 80s

[@005AGIMA]

@@tim-moffy nice

[@Meebzorp5200]

I would try cleaning the 2600 cartridge slot. There's usually dirt or oxidation that will come off. I had a 2600 cartridge slot cleaner that was a plastic T shaped device with felt attached. Soak it in ISO and give it a good in and out and it was fine. Same goes for if the 2600 is working but you get graphics glitches, etc.

[@005AGIMA]

Cheers mate. Yep I did clean the slot and also reflowed the pins, but I'll give it another go and also clean and reseat the chips.