Every CBS Electronics Atari 2600 Game

This video features gameplay footage and box art from all 19 games published for the Atari 2600 by CBS Electronics including several unreleased prototypes.
Please support my creative work on Patreon: / lairdslair
#Atari #Gameplay #Atari2600

[@ConnieLynchitzWhoElse]

John Madden promising a free game that didn't exist and never was released. Absolute Maddeness I tell ya...

[@Larry]

Probably what got him the job at EA 😂

[@TheLairdsLair]

Superb Larry!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

[@rem145]

It’s amazing Madden would be on the cover of one of the biggest video games of all time

[@ASalvaro]

my all time fav 3rd party company on the 2600,5200 and Atari computers!

[@sandal_thong8631]

I don't really like the looks of these games by CBS Electronics/ Coleco. Someone said they wanted Atari games with music. Some of these had tunes and were so-so. I thought Mountain King had music but not in this video demo. Probably the only game here that I'd get on the cheap would be Wizard of Wor even though it's flickering. I don't see Time Pilot by Coleco. They say it has an issue with the controls, but looks good, like a one-player version of Combat in the air, so maybe I'd get that too.

[@originalfred66]

Great video! This brings back some memories. Overall this was a very impressive group of games. Many of them really pushed the 2600 technology. The video for Kickman looks terrible. I am guessing that this game flickered between 2 screens to get all the sprites on the screen. That is another example of advanced programming techniques for the 2600, but it does not display properly when the framerate of the video capture matches the frame rate of the flicker.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yeah, Kickman doesn't seem to work properly in emulation

[@joejacobsonwales]

Some real gems here, CBS were certainly one of the better publishers for the 2600.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Nice to see the ads. I don't remember many 2600 video game ads on TV in 1983. They sound American, so guess it's not British TV, but it says CBS Video Games/CBS Electronics.

[@TheLairdsLair]

CBS were an American company and published games in North America too, it's just that they ALSO had the European distribution rights to everything by Coleco.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

I thought Donkey Kong for 2600 was only published by Coleco 😳

[@TheLairdsLair]

Coleco originally in North America, CBS in Europe and then it was also re-released by Atari in a red box later on too.

[@mgabrysSF]

@@TheLairdsLairSame deal with 'Carnival' by the looks of it. That was Coleco too. Actually most of these are.

[@TheLairdsLair]

CBS published most of Coleco's titles in Europe. They did also make their own games too like Wizard of Wor, GORF, Omega Race etc.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

@@TheLairdsLair given it's the Atari 2600 this one game several publishers isn't surprising. Atari 2600 had no rules 😂

[@sandal_thong8631]

I made the mistake of getting the red label Donkey Kong Jr. maybe in the store around 1988, instead of getting it at the thrift store a couple years later. Boy was it bad. I don't think I bought any other games for Atari new after 1983 until then. (I did get Omega Race for my VIC-20 and it was alright.)

[@BAZFANSHOTHITSClassicTunes]

Donkey Kong looks more like the Ginger bread man. The version was made to look crap to make the Colecovision look stella.

[@sandal_thong8631]

That's the myth, but it sold 4 million carts compared to 2 million ColecoVision consoles. Very few people would buy a new console once they had Atari (there were 10 million Ataris sold by the end of 1981). If it had been better they might have sold more. But they went cheap by using a 4K ROM that cost it some graphics and levels, just like Atari did with Pac-Man. Still, it was a must-have game like Pac-Man and Space Invaders so people would play any version, including the primitive Coleco Home Arcade handhelds.

[@dreamcaster4754]

is there no prototype of the John Madden game? Seems strange that they produced box art and adverts but no game to show for it.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Not that I could find, it does seem very strange.

[@Mrshoujo]

A lot of those you showed are actually Coleco released games.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I thought you might have noticed from the box art but Coleco had a special deal with CBS Electronics that saw them handle all Coleco products in PAL regions, including the ColecoVision and their games.

[@syntaxerror9994]

Ah the 80s valley girl "poodle squeak"

[@kandigloss6438]

Smurf - Based on the non-existent arcade game.

[@sandal_thong8631]

That's the catch. Arcade conversions or ports have the benefit of the game it's based on being tested in the real world with kids' quarters. I learned recently a lot of Atari's games from the 1970s were arcade games first. One programmer coming up with a brand new game that's successful was a real challenge.

[@madmax2069]

0:50 hey wait, wasn't there another game of the same thing 2:43 space invaders 4:22 yet another Pac-Man clone (seems like the most cloned game for the VCS/2600). 9:45 I always liked flying games like this. 10:41 this was more of an aliens game than the official aliens game. 11:07 the view of the game always just bugged me

[@beyondobscure]

Clunky Kong

[@richhutnik2477]

Any prototypes of Maddeness anywhere?

[@TheLairdsLair]

I had a good look online but couldn't find any evidence of one existing.

[@Dorelaxen]

Man, I used to spend hours on Mountain King. What a game.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I couldn't figure out how to get the crown without the manual. Then once I learned how to online years later, I couldn't figure out how to get to the top flame to advance to the next level. It's another game that has a bat steal from you (like Adventure and Haunted House).

[@blackenedheart9592]

The only one of those I had as a kid 30 something years ago was Carnival and boy did that bring back memories seeing that gameplay 😊

[@mgabrysSF]

was kickman ever released? Never saw that back in the day.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Nope - Kickman, Wings and Targ are all prototypes.

[@brandong.1857]

I LOVE ATARI! Always🥰

[@stevensgoodallsg]

great video.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stevensgoodallsg]

@@TheLairdsLair I did and I'll watch it once again later. Thank you

[@wayland7150]

How was that Gorf? It was just Space Invaders with a ship and no castles.

[@Mrshoujo]

Demo showed only 1 stage.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Advertisement showed the final stage with the boss ship. The game is better than it looks, but not as good as it could be since they didn't get the rights to have the stage with Galaxians. Loved it at the arcade.

[@SteveMacSticky]

I didn't like this console and games