Every 5-Star Game on Atari 2600

Atari 2600 had some great games that stand the test of time. Even if you didn't grow up with it, there are some addicting games on the Atari 2600. Here are the games I'd consider 5-star.
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[@JohnRiggs]

5-Star Sega Master System games kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHWygIqVmdGal8k

[@JohnGavalas-xh5ub]

Nice shirt John!

[@968one]

Megamania was up there for me as well.

[@EuSouRCS]

💎 MASTERPIECE 💎

[@JohnKelly2]

There actually is an end to Pitfall. If you gather all 32 treasures, you get a killscreen.

[@supersoulswizzle]

I hate how kill screens are considered to be how you beat a game not designed to be beaten. It doesn't make sense to me. The games without endings don't need endings. It's how they were designed.

[@Mandrake55]

I came here to say that!

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

Adventure has a secret screen. The creator added his name.

[@Mandrake55]

@@nehemiahpouncey3607 - That was the twist in "Ready Player One."

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

@@Mandrake55 yep.

[@JLAvey]

Moon Patrol--- on the 2600--- hooked up to a 13" B&W TV. Don't remember much from back then but I do remember enough of that to think Moon Patrol in color looks weird.

[@contrafighter_1983]

That's the exact way I remember all my 2600 games too, Moon Patrol in B&W felt like you were on the moon!

[@patrickdiggins85]

Freeway was great!

[@greghughes6098]

Truth

[@catholicactionbibleonlyist1813]

Keystone Kapers is my all time favorite Atari 2600 game

[@GYTCommnts]

There you go! Was searching if someone commented this to give a like! 👍

[@peterperpetua2974]

Same here.

[@dwightdixon8508]

Pitfall II, Yars’ Revenge, H.E.R.O., Keystone Kapers, River Raid, Ms. Pac-man, Q*Bert, Frogger, FrostBite, Atlantis

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

Don't forget night driver. It's a game simulating you driving At night while other cars try to Run into you.

[@kennethpaquin9048]

I loved Atlantis.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

​@@nehemiahpouncey3607 you can get a score/mileage so high in night driver that it resets to zero...just bug through the barrier and you get stuck for awhile racking up points (i always assumed it's your car rolling down the mountain, hahah) the cars didn't even actually move, they would sit there if you stopped, sometimes the road gets so narrow you cannot even pass them, and you get knockex off the road, down the mountain. it really needed something else to be better...maybe deer jumping out ahead of you, since it is night.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

@@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785 thanks.

[@porksandwich5693]

Brings back such memories. Played Adventure the most. Hours and hours on that one. Had the invisible mazes memorized. Played Yars revenge with friends while on lunch break during middle school. *** Pitfall had an offer in the instruction booklet where you could take a picture of a high score and mail it in for some prize. I think I even sent it in but don't remember what I got. Loved the 2600. I remember playing space invaders and Kaboom all Christmas day when I first got it. Before that, all I had was Telstar Pong.

[@spoonshiro]

2600 is probably my favorite version of Space Invaders to be honest.

[@Retro6502]

Pitfall can be beaten. Collect all 32 treasures and the game ends.

[@HECTORMONTALVO-le9cn]

Bro forgot about Junior Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man!🤗

[@wedge47]

I would say that this is a pretty solid list. Though there are a few that I feel like you left out. Sea Quest, Pitfall II, Blueprint, Haunted House, and my personal favorite... Journey Escape.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Journey Escape gets a lot of hate, but I always liked it.

[@greghughes6098]

Getting down to 4 enemies on Space Invaders sounds like the opening for, "Down With the Sickness".

[@Roger-fs5yo]

Custers revenge is my favorite ATARI game🤣

[@HECTORMONTALVO-le9cn]

😁

[@claymccoy]

I’ll bet it is. I’m partial to Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em myself.

[@HECTORMONTALVO-le9cn]

@@claymccoy 🤣

[@Roger-fs5yo]

@claymccoy oh God that's hilarious🤣

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

Bruh 💀💀💀

[@capitanclassic8624]

Anyone who thinks Firefighter is a 5 star game has been hit in the head too many times.

[@amess6232]

Firefighter and Freeway were not that great of games.

[@solonaravanroth8759]

My two all time favorites were Mash and Fantastic Voyage.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

A 20th Century Fox fan. Fantastic Voyage may have been the first game I ever played.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

MASH was a terrible show with a terrible song and a boring cast of actors. Yeah, great idea for a video game.

[@solonaravanroth8759]

​@@edwardmclaughlin719 Your profile picture totally matches your personality. Game was fantastic as you were racing to pick up patients in the field and then operate on them. Was absolutely a great idea for a video game.

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

No Beam Rider? Snoopy vs Red Baron? Dark Chambers? Ms. Pac-Man? Jr. Pac-Man? Joust? Midnight Magic? Dig Dug? Haunted House? Plaque Attack? Rampart? Maybe Earth Dies Screaming and Freeway, too...

[@dragonchaserkev]

Joust, Ms PAC, Midnight Magic, and Dug Dug were 5 Star on 2600.

[@Mandrake55]

Maybe he'll do a volume 2!

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

There are soooooooo many to chose From.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

Don't forget double dragon. Oh wait.😂

[@Mandrake55]

@@nehemiahpouncey3607 - My particular favorite, which wasn't mentioned, was "Starmaster" I reached the point where I coped the ranking from the instructions, and attached it to the cartridge, so I'd know where I was at the end of the game. As it uses the switches from the actual console, it's kind of difficult to play on a emulator.

[@grey_wulf]

Cosmic Ark looks like a sequel to Atlantis. The little ship flying away at the end of the latter is the same model as in CA I think. I thought that was cool back in the day.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

it pretty much is the sequel...after Atlantis is destroyed, the little ship flies off, and now you go around like Noah, collecting 2 of each kind of creature to repopulate the world..hence the name Cosmic Ark.

[@chriswheatley3146]

When people nowdays hear 2600, all they ever think of is ET, the bad Pac-Man port, and shovelware. They fail to realize that there were a ton of great games on that system that hold up today. One title I'd add that you missed was Beamrider. Beamrider, Enduro, River Raid, and HERO are probably my favorites from the system. Even though my parents had an Odyssey 2 and a C64, I'd go to my friends place to play Enduro. The rest were done on the C64 as well.

[@MCastleberry1980]

I've found the games that hold up the best for me were the multi-player ones. Usually not particularly complex, but a lot of fun with a friend. I still had an Atari hanging around in the 90s and remember putting in stuff like Sky Diver to goof around with my neighbors to kill an afternoon.

[@bonemasterd1]

Awesome video. It's great to see the 2600 get some respect. Your list is great too. The games I would have included are QBert and Stampede.

[@FredSimmondsJr]

Raiders of the lost Ark, Mountain King, Tunnel Runner, Pitfall II, Tutankham, Haunted House ... so many good ones !

[@fourthhorseman4531]

Activision's StarMaster. Definitely a 5-star game. I never thought anybody could make a Star Raiders (Atari 8 bit computer version) clone on the 2600 and make it every bit as good, but Activision pulled it off!

[@Pixelmusement]

Pressure Cooker is one of the most underrated Atari 2600 games and one of my favourites; It's a game where you build burgers as per the toppings the customers want and then package them and send them out. I think it gets overlooked because it starts out very simple and slow paced and if you don't know how to bounce burger toppings back (holding the fire button when touching them) then you just end up failing hard, but once you know what you're doing it can get pretty intense! :B

[@niveketihw1897]

Dragster would make my list. It was a great two-player competitive game. It had serviceable graphics and sound. Its control scheme was excellent for the simple controller, and the simulation of engine torque vs. the mechanical advantage of each gear vs. track speed vs. overrev (blown engine) was simply brilliant, particularly on the primitive hardware. And it had a simple way to measure success and "best score." It was also the ONLY videogame my father ever played -- and he was excellent at it.

[@nickparsons337]

Am I the only one who loves Spider Fighter? That game was a lot of fun. Addictive as well. Great game.

[@metamorphicblood]

I was just thinking of that one. Probably my favorite fixed shooter for Atari.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

yeah, especially when you get to the banana level and get that sweet weapon rate of fire upgrade! so much fun! 5 stara for sure.

[@Des_Zee]

Yes, Combat used to play that all the time with my cousins. Pitfall, keystone capers, and frogger were fun too.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

A year later they came out with new one on PC.

[@richardmartin-tv3sk]

really enjoyed playing both centipede and millipede on the 2600. the limited graphics were ok cause they played smoothly and felt like the real versions. pole position was pretty close to top tier as well.

[@anthonyspecf]

I like this list. A lot of good pics. One I would add is Seaquest by Activision. I love that game. As a side note. If you like Combat, the game Armored Ambush is like a more "Realistic" version. It is just the tanks, but there is trees, roads, rivers, and they affect weapons fire differently. It is a lot of fun.

[@ShawnAtwood76]

The flame flicker on the bomb fuse in Kaboom! was so good for the time

[@nerdcraftercoley7305]

My favorite game is centipede but I have so much nostalgia for pole position because it was the one game my dad would play all the time with me. Even when we got up into later consoles with better graphics if there was a pole position game my dad always wanted to play it. I miss my dad and I guess that's why Pole Position probably means more to me than even my favorite games like centipede.

[@TheGameBeaters]

Enjoyable video with a solid list! Thanks for making this!

[@saccfa]

I was half a screen away from getting the last treasure on Pitfall b4 I ran out of time. Somewhere have a Pic of the screen.

[@Jon7729]

Pitfall 2, Dolphin, Ms Pacman, Haunted House ,Air sea Battle, Q Bert, Dig Dug and Venture were classics.

[@grotgrusson5124]

3 games that I loved for the Atari 2600 but cant remember the name of 1: You are a submarine collecting items from the sea floor 2: You are a diver. I don't remember the goal of this game, but it was good 😄 3: Sea Quest. This time you are a sub again, saving the divers... I start to see a pattern here 🤔

[@jamesz28]

Great idea for a video. I have a small collection of 2600 games, so I'll definitely be on the lookout for some of these. The reasonable price of most atari games is cool too.

[@bluorb]

Astroblast!!! That was one of my all time favorites.

[@patrickdiggins85]

So happy to see Dragon Fire, this is the first video game I remember playing. Loved it!

[@SlavaPunta]

Kaboom! was the original Tetris. I will never forget waking up early as a little kid (~4) and finding my mom at the Atari after pulling an all nighter on it! The one issue I have with it is it must be played with the paddle. So it was utterly impossible to play on those throw back compilation packs (looking at you PS1 disc!). I'd also add Star Master to the list. It was one of the later games released on the system and felt so much bigger and more advanced than all those classic arcade ports. It was also the only (?) Atari game we'd go back and play AFTER having the NES, because it just held up.

[@xenialafleur]

Yar's Revenge and River Raid were my favorites back then.

[@donelkingii3738]

Thank for helping keep real gaming culture alive!

[@JustMe99999]

Great list. It's also amazing to me how good the VCS version of Jungle Hunt is - graphics and gameplay. Just about the only thing they missed was the uphill running on the boulder stage, but it's otherwise close to perfect. Loved it as a kid.

[@HECTORMONTALVO-le9cn]

The Atari 2600 was my first system I grew up with it. Man you're showing some games I know but couldn't remember the title. Like the fireman one, Cosmic Ark, the one in the Artic with the polar bear. Bro so many great ones! But what happened to Phoenix, Congo Bongo, Donkey Kong, Popeye and Mario Bros.? Other games I enjoyed but didn't finish were Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Sword Quest games and Krull(as infurating as it was). Also had the Xonox double enders they were O.K. And what about Mountain King? Those wild long jumps brought many laughs among my friends. Anyway good list and cool video John!👉🙂👈

[@58jharris]

What about Pitfall 2? That's widely regarded as the 2600's best game.

[@LeinaDZiur]

Frost Bite is probably one of the only Atari 2600 games that hits hard even to today's standards. It's just extremely addictive and doesn't get old.

[@toecutterjenkins]

You metioned all my favorites except maze craze . Lovwd adventure, demon attack, bezerk, yars revenge.

[@Mike__P]

Growing up we only had Intellivision II and Colecovision, but it seems a lot of the games on these systems were also available on the Atari systems, so I guess I didn't miss much.

[@kennethpaquin9048]

The smurfs were way better on colecovision. Demon Attack better on intellivision, and micro surgon and dracula were intellivision exclusive.

[@Mike__P]

@@kennethpaquin9048 truth

[@joegoesretro]

Stargate (Defender II) and No Escape! from Imagic are two of my all-time favorite 2600 titles that are often overlooked. I have a lot of nostalgia for the 2600. I agree with every title you've mentioned. I'd probably just add a small handful more.

[@ericjenkins2737]

Just checking to see how many times you’ll be called out for saying Pitfall has no ending.

[@thaMANSTA]

Word Zapper and Mouse Trap were two of my favs

[@wy498]

Love Pitfall. One of my best 80s memories.

[@ZakkHung]

I agree with this list, but would have to add Spider Fighter as well. 😊

[@johngavin1175]

It was not a surprise that most of these were by Activision. I had the same experience that you had with Vanguard,and similarly with Spy Hunter.Had quite a bit of fun with Smurfs,Pitfall,Yars Revenge,Berzerk,and some of the Imagic games.

[@robertcatania1120]

I would say Kaboom and River Raid were my two favorite Atari 2600 games growing up. I played Adventure, Amazing Spiderman, and Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back) a lot, but wouldn't say they were the best on the console. Obviously the staples, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Frogger, Jungle Hunt, and Millipede were always great.

[@jackmulligan3922]

You hit 3 of my top 5, Yars, jungle hunt and Frostbite. I’d throw Stampede and Dolphin in there too

[@carlosvega211]

kaboom was great. freeway was great too just played freeway with my 10 year old and he was having fun with it

[@danieldennis9383]

Where is Empire Strikes Back? I could blow up AT-ATs all day when I was a kid.

[@neosean9984]

RIGGS CALLED OUT DEMON ATTACK!!! YES! My first game, and I still play it alot after all these years! 🤘

[@tylerwoodcook4290]

2600 is the only retro system that I am firm on my top five titles. You mentioned all but one. Pitfall, River Raid, Frostbite, Adventure. The fifth is Phoenix, certainly one of the Space Invaders type games you mentioned with Demon Attack.

[@john2001plus]

My four favorites are Battle Zone, Boing!, Pac-Man Jr., and Pole Position.

[@AegisPupus]

Pretty sure yars' revenge's random color rectangle thing is just a bug showing active memory as an image that was passed as part of the game because there was no time left to fix it.

[@mymusic3354]

I had some family friends who had an ATARI, these games bring back some memories 😁

[@JesterEric]

Dig Dug was the Atari game i spent most time on

[@telengardforever7783]

That was a fun game. Only one kid I knew had it, so we always had to go to their house to play it. Funny how games used to be difficult to get back then.

[@bigdog9215]

I used to HATE the invisible room in Adventure 😆

[@leoc.9341]

Great video, you mentioned a lot of awesome games! These are some others that I spent a lot of time playing: E.T. (not even close to the worst video game ever!!!). Activision Decathlon (destroyed many joysticks playing this game). Video Chess (this game taught me how to play). Superman, Maze Craze (awesome multi-player game, that is always overlooked).

[@rifftipton7709]

Honorable mention to Robot Tank.

[@KabukiKid]

Agreed... many hours of Robot Tank under my belt to confirm this. ;-)

[@metamorphicblood]

I’d include Pitfall II, Spider Fighter, Haunted House, Solaris, and Secret Quest.

[@EuSouRCS]

You didn't miss MEGAMANIA since it's a 5+ Star game for sure 💎.

[@jrwbtw]

H.E.R.O. was always the best, saving the bound and gagged miners trapped underground. You never found the villain responsible, though, just like in Pitfall.

[@timmurray1033]

Bro, these aren't five star games they don't feature Will Osprey

[@BillRalens]

my favorite Atari 2600 games were Leisure suit Larry, Moon Tennis and Bacon Avenger

[@jamesfrankiewicz5768]

Solaris and Pitfall II are my top picks that you didn't highlight.

[@colt5189]

I don't see how BurgerTime didn't make this list. That was my favorite Atari game back before the NES came out.

[@shingotink5062]

Combat!

[@Harerazer]

Activision was actually a great company during the Atari 2600 era. Imagic also had great games but two 5 star games I'll offer are Montezuma's Revenge and my favorite game from then, Tunnel Runner

[@sithcritic8906]

Nothing but 5 star bangers on this list. Would add Montezuma’s Revenge and Stampede to the list.

[@amess6232]

Chopper Command, Defender and Battle zone should have made the top 5 or at least one of them. Chopper Command was hugely popular and so was Defender.

[@SoulGuardian777]

Where's Pitfall II, Solaris, Ms. Pac-man, Montezuma's Revenge, Dark Caverns, Ice Hockey, Super Challenge Football & Pete Rose Baseball?

[@Wheels8504]

Another series you do that I enjoy as much as Open Cart Surgery. Anyone know of a complete list of the Atari 2600 game library? I'd like to see everything that came out while the console was available in retail.

[@user-wo3jt4yv2b]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atari_2600_games

[@kennethpaquin9048]

Okay, you missed a few. Krull, Raiders of the lost ark, Star Wars the empire stikes back, spider man, and superman.

[@telengardforever7783]

Raiders of the Lost Ark was so convoluted to play as a kid. You had to know someone who knew someone who got a Ph.D. in that game in order to even remotely get close to finishing that game. And a full playthrough of that game is only like 20 minutes!! And that includes getting all the easter eggs.

[@loungefly611]

Pitfall II is the most obvious omission and I’m stupified it wasn’t included. You had in game music. Several different enemies. It was challenging too! There was one part I couldn’t get past, and had my dad help me before I took back over.

[@clintonlewis1261]

Brings back great memories 😀

[@mjdf122]

We’re taking it back to the 1980s Atari time with John Riggs

[@silverserpentor6710]

Activision churned out so many great titles. I would add: Megamania, Plaque Attack, Spider Fighter, Pressure Cooker, Starmaster, and Moonsweeper.

[@deano72]

Qbert, wizards of war and pressure cooker was top notch too

[@telengardforever7783]

I had Wizards of Wor on the Commodore 64. I had no idea it was on the Atari till decades later. I would have loved to own it.

[@centriumble4113]

I would have also included Pitfall II, Stargate, Spider Fighter, Freeway, Atlantis, and Demons to Diamonds in that list, but otherwise lots of good ones noted.

[@MarkKrauth]

Combat? Combat! Combat..? Combat..! (AVGN fans will get the reference)

[@Catterjee]

Most of my favorites were mentioned, except for Defender.

[@burgerchamp]

Dark Chambers and Megamania were two big ones for me.

[@ericjenkins2737]

I’d have to add Asteroids and Pitfall II.

[@goranisacson2502]

Hadn't heard about the game where you plunder a dragon's hoard before. Are you able to turn invisible in that game, or is it just a glitch in the recording? Because if they invented a game that is just Bilbo stealing from Smaug but with the serial numbers filed off, that's a game right up my alley.

[@darktetsuya]

I think the only ones not mentioned that were on my list were ms. pac-man (far better port than the original, obviously) and fast food! just watch for those purple pickles it's easily one of my favorite 2600 games ever.

[@MotherKojiro]

HERO is probably mine, but I'm not super familiar with the Atari library. I was around during the Atari era, but didn't get into video games until we got our NES in 1987; I THINK I might've played the Buck Rogers (or was it Flash Gordon? I always get those two mixed up...) game somewhere around that time.

[@ultramaximusreviews]

I had all of these games

[@douglashudson4706]

Maze Craze. My best friend and I spent hour upon hour playing it.

[@OriginalSithMonkey]

You show it in the beginning of the video but don't mention it. Beam Rider! Super fun and one of if not the best looking game for 2600.

[@Carlb328]

Joust! Seaquest! Defender!!!!

[@blackenedheart9592]

I know it was limited technology but man, still can't help but wish games like Jungle Hunt or Pheonix or any of those types of games were a little bit longer instead of just repeatable 2-3 levels.

[@DinobotTM2]

Someone actually remade Adventure, with 16 bits graphics, for windows. Pretty fun actually. EDIT: also, a very unknown game, but my very favorite from back in the day is Bobby Is Going Home.

[@qbertaddict1]

The starpath/sierra version of frogger is the best version of frogger on the atari 2600

[@user-sl7bo1em5d]

track and field, tunnel runner