Awesome Atari 2600 Arcade Ports Vol. 2 | Friday Night Arcade

PART 1: • These Atari 2600 Arcad...
MORE ATARI: • Atari 2600
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
[0:24] - Jungle Hunt
[2:48] - Jr. Pac-Man
[4:45] - Centipede
[5:44] - Millipede
[7:42] - Tapper
[9:10] - Galaxian
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[@FridayNightArcade]

Come say hello to me on the Twitters ---> twitter.com/FNArcade

[@sa666123]

It looks like you may be using an old version of Stella for these playthroughs (noticeable in Tapper 'bar' glitches). You should consider upgrading to Stella 6, which has completely rewritten TIA and sound emulation.

[@thecaptain2281]

Unless it was missed, a review of Adventure would be very cool!

[@orenmauritzen8674]

Hello Thanks but I already did it here and now

[@meta2006]

I am totally for a video on box arts for the Atari era.

[@unconbentional2044]

I second that! You should check out "The art of Atari" book!

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

The art was really good on Atari brand games mainly because _usually_ the actual graphics of the game itself were extremely lame. When members left Atari and started Activision, one of the first things they decided was to show the actual game play graphics on all of the boxes. When Activision demonstrated what the machine was really capable of, Atari and other game creators improved their game play and graphics to compete. Everybody wins.

[@patsfan4life]

@@JustWasted3HoursHere interesting....

[@TheVideoGuyfromOhio]

Except what the creator showed was simply the Japanese arcade flyer, not the Atari cover

[@maxwelll.514]

That stupid spider can go straight to hell @6:19! That really cracked me up. LOL!

[@dad7275]

I'd rather have the spider at the tip of the wand (or gun) for 1200 points I do believe.😄

[@oldscoolgaming.5040]

I didn't know tapper was on the 2600.Looks like they made a good job of it too.

[@BriansManCave]

I do remember being quite surprised at how well Jungle Hunt played when I first got it for the 2600... and before that i only knew it from the Commodore 64, which has a great port as well.

[@jhellert1]

There was a port made of GORF for the 2600. Except it left out the 'Galaxian' stage. Also 'Vanguard' was absolutely EPIC

[@tsunamirider9895]

Another awesome video! I loved Atari 2600 Centipede.. It was fast and smooth and thought that title/intro screen was impressive at the time! I remember it coming with that mini poster of the Atari 2600 trackball.. I imagine the game would've been even better with that peripheral, but alas I never got one..

[@FridayNightArcade]

Yeah you don't get title screens on just any Atari 2600 game!

[@koopakape]

...I"ve been playing Centipede for 30 years, it was an early childhood favorite since my uncle was a huge fan of it and had versions of it around. And I never, I mean NEVER had any idea it had a story like that, even after all these adult years watching gaming videos online and reading gaming blogs etc. I always assumed you were the regular dude in a spaceship of some sort, fighting giant alien centipedes on some crazy planet full of giant mushrooms....

[@QunMang]

While my family owned an Atari back in the day, I don't think we ever had any of these ports. I suppose most came out after we had moved on to ColecoVision. For Tapper, I'm surprised they didn't just use the "Root Beer Tapper" title since the soda theme and Mountain Dew banner were already there. Fun fact, I actually got to play the earlier pre-lawsuit Jungle King before the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate made Taito change the graphics so something not-Tarzan. Thanks for the memories!

[@RowdyRodimus]

Mountain Dew probably paid them for the advertising so saying Root Beer Tapper would've been a conflict, I guess.

[@QunMang]

@@RowdyRodimus I'm pretty sure the Mtn Dew banner was in the arcade game Root Beer Tapper.

[@ArcadeDude44]

Awesome ports, I recall looking thru the Sears catalogs (especially at Christmas time), searching for new 2600 versions of some of my arcade favorites!:)

[@FridayNightArcade]

I miss those old catalogs...

[@jamierose9095]

Reactor is a really good arcade port. It takes a little bit to wrap your head around the mechanics, but once you do it's extremely addictive.

[@Drawkcabi]

4:00 the cherries look like a bicycle

[@CaptainAdamsVHSPirateShip]

The water animation in Jungle Hunt is pretty awesome for a 2600 game

[@naytch2003]

I remember in the early 80s this game being on demo in the electronic store..played it and was hooked they also had missile command

[@newjerseywhistleblower5097]

I love how Atari Television Commercials were bigger budget than majority of film's today and had some of the weirdest Celebrities of the Era including a upcoming stars like Jack Black,Pete Rose,Don Knots Etc! But then again Atari was big buisness in the 70's & 80's and were geniuses with thier marketing strategy and I'm almost positive for what they paid top rate actor's & the commercial budget they made every penny plus back. What a great time to have been alive, My heart goes out to those who missed out on the Era, times & great game's! And Tapper was great in the arcades even the beer holder on the arcade cabinet(Rare Models) inventive & ingenious but Meaningless to a then seven year old kid, but looking back Wow lol.

[@lclark2132]

I never thought Pac-Man on Atari was that bad. It's a serviceable port and plays fine, though the harsh sound effects can get grating after a while.

[@loganjorgensen]

Tapper is a nice bit of history "That's right kids, cartoons and video games were made for adults at the onset.". ;) I'm not a great videographer but I always hoped someone might cover this aspect of the arcade scene someday Ie. bars. Definitely some very solid ports to 2600 that capture the gameplay models very well even if some things look a bit squarer than they were originally heh.

[@mikemitchell7465]

Atari Asteroids was probably better than the arcade in some aspects. Frogger was a pretty well done port!

[@JGKingCrusher]

Chopper command was a great defender clone, and then laser attack was pretty cool. I really liked the activision games. Oh, and Frogger was pretty dang good. Oh the memories... my childhood was so blessed by Atari, then coleco, then nintendo, then ... then .. then... on and on. :-)

[@RealDarko]

I love your Atari videos, please keep em coming, also I think a series of videos looking at, box art and manuals will be amazing!

[@orinanime]

I played the heck out of centipede as a kid on my cousin's Atari 2600 !

[@GetLostGames1]

Jungle Hunt was one of the last games made for atari 2600. I only know that because my dad took me to toys r us when i was about 7 and i had three games to chose from for 2600. I didnt understand. I didnt care. I picked jungle hunt and ive never been sorry about that pickup! One of the best video games on 2600!

[@robertgonzalez9116]

There's Pac Jr games. One is part video game, part pinball machine.

[@hankmessaros1835]

Great job makes me want to pull out the old game

[@7thangelad586]

Tapper! I remember this one from the C64!

[@beyondobscure]

Remember to watch this video in 60FPS so the sprites don't flicker.

[@SchardtCinematic]

One thing that always disappointed me was some really good games that c as me iut only on diffrent game systems. Never got a graphics upgrade and made into a coin OP game. Such as Imsgics Demon Attack and other really good games like that. But they did at least bring a version of Pittfall II kit d of to the arcade.

[@ElevenDollarCheese]

Real Yenta in that Jungle Hunt commercial. Looks like Fran Drescher's less attractive sister.

[@mikeindel]

Joust !

[@brianlewis8667]

I thought Vanguard was a winner as well.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I like that one too.

[@matthewlane518]

DO da da DO da da DO da da lol love jungle hunt

[@allenantonio4389]

Jungle hurt Rules

[@slamjackson2137]

Atariiiiiiii

[@tqk1976]

Some of their best games were licensed properties. The game based off the movie Krull was awesome: essentially a collection of mini-games based off of scenes from the movies. It was challenging and had terrific graphics. Tron: Deadly Discs was another very entertaining one. They also had one called Taz, which was just the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes zipping all over the screen trying to catch flying food, but it was really hard and really fun.

[@Jebbidan]

Atari could have done better by making games that pushes the 2600 hardware to the limit instead of making clickbait cover 😂😂😂

[@Evilkingus]

Ah I love the fact that they only show arcade graphics in the ads for atari2600 games. This is misleading to the extreme and should be illegal. Ah the 70s and 80s - so Wild West.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I think they were Atari 5200 graphics but yeah... total bullshots.

[@Evilkingus]

@@FridayNightArcade Ok 5200 Graphics, then. I could easily conclude that it wasn't 2600 graphics :-)

[@amms0716]

Jungle Hunt was originally Jungle King and featured a long-haired hero in a loincloth. But after the Edgar R Burrows estate sued for its similarities to Tarzan, they changed it to a hunter and renamed it Jungle Hunt.

[@FridayNightArcade]

That's right - would have liked to have seen what the original version looked like.

[@superjuca55]

Take a look at Moon Patrol, I can't believe it's never in these kinds of lists. Considering the 2600 limitations it's a fantastic port.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I really liked that one... covered it a few episodes back. Thanks for sharing!

[@sandal_thong8631]

I liked Jungle Hunt and Moon Patrol at the arcade, so was disappointed with the former's 2600 port. I don't think I got very far at Moon Patrol at home, either.

[@orinanime]

I think a series of videos looking at promo art, cover art, etc would be awesome. Posters, game ads, art featured on the arcade machines, box art for the home release. Praising bad ass box art. Criticizing awful art. That would be very entertaining.

[@REPVILE]

Imagic > All

[@unconbentional2044]

I second that! Check out "The art of Atari". It's a great coffee table book!

[@TheVideoGuyfromOhio]

​@@REPVILE hey, be fair to the others

[@patsfan4life]

I love how Atari tried to trick unsuspecting kids by showing the Atari 5200 version of the graphics in the commercial LOL

[@QunMang]

Pretty common for box covers too. At store: "Man, look at these cool graphics!" Back at home: "What the... This is nothing like the pictures on the box!"

[@patsfan4life]

@@QunMang yeah that's why they had some of the best artists of the decade doing the box art LOL

[@doctorx2105]

Oh yes, bullshots have been a very real thing since forever.

[@doctorx2105]

I thought Phoenix was a great port too.

[@andymanaus1077]

Ms. Pacman was, in my opinion, the best of Atari's Pacman offerings. There is even a homebrew floating around based on the Ms Pacman code but reworked to play the original Pacman. This homebrew is extremely close to the arcade version and shows what the original Atari Pacman game might have been had the programmer not been pressured by a Christmas release date.

[@patsfan4life]

andyman aus yeah and if they have modern game development tools customized for 2600 development.....

[@patsfan4life]

@@professorbrainyspecs7366 good trivia

[@DarkwingMantis98]

Yay, new Friday Night Arcade when I get home from work. Good way to unwind

[@Gamevet]

Berzerk was decent, as was Omega Race with its custom trigger that slid over the 2600 joystick.

[@classicmikecade]

Amazing, simply amazing. I loved my 2600 days. I never played tapper but dammit I really feel like I missed out. Galaxian looks amazing never played that either. Jungle Hunt was my fav out of the rest and holds a special place in my heart. Thank you for making this, and all of these 2600 videos Aaron. They are very special indeed and you can tell you put TLC into them. Have a great weekend bud!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks, Mike!

[@RowdyRodimus]

My Dad and I picked up Galaxian for something like $3 when the "crash" occurred. We would spend hours trying to one up each other. To this day it (along with Q*bert) is his favorite game so for Christmas I got him the Arcade 1-Up Galaga/Galaxian cabinet, he has it in his room and plays it constantly.

[@orinanime]

Ah "oh Susannah" playing the background in Tapper. Fun.

[@doctorx2105]

I always liked the punk bar music the most.

[@stargame7029]

Loved this channel. So many cool videos that i had to subscribe. Please continue this wonderful work.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks for checking out the show, Cold Sniper - glad you're enjoying it.

[@Duke_Togo_G13]

I own the Tapper cart. I paid 80 bucks for it at a flea market. It was in near mint condition and I had to have it. Mario Bros 2600 is another good arcade port.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I like Mario Bros on 2600 a lot.

[@TheBlindDyslexic]

Phoenix was one of my faves. If I remember right, Galaxian was also used for the 6 part mini-comic adventures of Atari Force.

[@Mikey-zj8bn]

Hah in jungle hunt when I was a kid I thought you where suppose to stab the crocodile s when there mouth where open.....

[@RichardSmithers]

In the arcade version, you can stab them. Still more tricky and risky than just avoiding them.

[@PetersPianoShoppe]

"That stupid spider can go straight to hell." LOLOLOLOL. Yes, along with the indestructible missile in Yars, and the bat from Adventure. They all belong together.

[@NotesandNerds]

Love Jungle Hunt. I enjoyed the arcade, and found it amusing that Taito was sued over Jungle King "looking like Tarzan". I did a couple videos with my son a while back comparing the 2600 and 5200 versions. The 5200 version is incredibly difficult to play due to those terrible joysticks. I do have to say that the ColecoVision version was my favorite home version of that time, outside of the arcade and home computers of the time. One little tidbit though. Those savages at the end...the bosses...always gave me a hard time. I couldn't get the timing down due to a complete lack of patience on my part. Today? Easy Peasy.

[@orenmauritzen8674]

2:44 Haha are they dancing together? That was unexpectedly wholesome :)

[@seandavis7218]

Jungle hunt is amazing I always loved the sounds when you had to jump over the cannibals

[@MarkfromKy]

Awesome video great games I have never played tapper

[@reagandow850]

I really miss those old arcade ports. The old games where a person really has to use their imagination are most of the time mote fun the 75% of the games that come out today. You may think I’m crazy but I can still spend hours playing some of these old games where some of the new stuff I get. Does to years in 15 minutes. Weird huh?

[@FridayNightArcade]

Not weird at all...

[@sandal_thong8631]

I preferred playing the simulators or "real" versions of arcade games on the Playstation to Atari ports. That's when you learn which arcade games were designed to eat your quarters, being impossible to go far unless you knew special strategies like the pros said for Pac-Man at the arcade. In Stranger Things they got it wrong for Dragon's Lair. It was simple memorization (although a couple rooms had a vertical mirror). Once kids figured that out it was almost always open.

[@bonemasterd1]

QBert and Frogger are great ports

[@FridayNightArcade]

Loved Frogger...

[@BigSleepyOx]

Berserk, Frogger, and Q-Bert were pretty good Atari 2600 ports.

[@afattori316]

So glad I grew up in the 70's and 80's.

[@Sinn0100]

"What do I think?" I think that you sir are an artist and great reviewer that deserves way more credit than you get. Your show is clean and really put together well. Subscribed!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks!

[@frataltay4543]

You're welcome!

[@coolmovieman1]

I have Centipede love that game Jungle Hunt fun too Never payed Jr Pac-man will have to look into that one great video enjoy your Atari videos

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks for checking out the show, Kyle.

[@ALTDOK667]

That stupid spider can go straight to hell. LOL!

[@bryanmiller6110]

The box art for many 2600 games was fantastic

[@fisheyeguy]

Awesome reviews! I’d never heard of that bar game. That’s wild.

[@ScottMurphy76]

Every game you covered in this video is still fun to play today. Atari has a lot of fun ports.

[@ryanyoder7573]

Great videos that puts the games and the content first.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks for checking out the show, Ryan - glad you enjoyed it. The games are the stars - I just work here.

[@ryanyoder7573]

That’s the right approach. Many creators could learn from you.

[@collinjohnson5500]

Defender port was super fun.

[@iankempster7007]

Great episode !

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks, Ian!

[@ManahManah77]

Sorry, but your English Wife is in another cannibal. 🤣

[@FridayNightArcade]

Lol

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Tapper was released in 1983 and was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch. The arcade version features a Budweiser motif. It was intended to be sold only to bars. Root Beer Tapper followed in 1984, which was developed specifically for arcades because the original version was construed as advertising alcohol to minors. So I suppose the Atari 2600 version is selling soda for that reason, but as it has Mt. Dew logos it clearly isn't Root Beer Tapper.

[@lovishb_bawa]

Amazing bro 👍🏻👍🏻

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

Agreed re centipede and millipede, but their biggest flaw is lack of a real trackball on the 2600. No, the one made for it wasn't a real trackball with variable speed, just a fake joystick constant speed input. Don't know why a real relative speed, position trackball couldn't be done on the 2600, just a 2 axis version of the single axis paddle.

[@barrycase5799]

Great videos...so many memories...Beverly IMO is one of the most faithful Arcade to 2600 conversions. Phoenix was great too.

[@reillywalker195]

Oddly enough, I find the _Mario Bros_ port for the 2600 easier to control than the NES port. I can almost always get every coin in the bonus stages of the 2600 port, but I struggle to in the NES port after the second bonus stage.

[@fionagibson3314]

Once again the centipede and millipede game is awesome with the trackball control, bring back the trackball control.

[@matthewlane518]

I loved baby pac-man they had one at the showbiz pizza my parents used to take me too, pac-man and pinball together its a masterpiece, I know that has nothing to do with the 2600 but just felt like sharing😂

[@Anguawolf007]

SINCE someone already called Moon Patrol, I will call out Crystal Castles. It was nowhere near as good as the arcade, but I loved it and played the heck out of it.

[@u.ppredatorx2394]

Lot of old school games were fun and bring back memories, megamania , combat, missile comand, Indiana jones, river raid, Atlantis and many more, the good old days when life was good and simple.

[@dalton2k538]

Gotta love those Atari 5200 cartridges. I just wish my controllers would work.

[@Z3rostar]

that face in the thumbnail...

[@FridayNightArcade]

yes...... !

[@scottakanumba1heathen379]

Congo Bongo wasn't one of them! Would have been cool if Kid Niki (1986) got a 2600 port. Was released on Commodore 64, NES and Apple II.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I'll confess I'd completely missed Congo Bongo lol...

[@SecondOpinionGames1]

After one video I knew I had to hit that sub button ☺️

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks for checking out the show!

[@bigbline405]

Jr Pac man was a childhood staple of mine and my sister we played this a ton wish I could find it again

[@atarileaf]

The centipede backstory never made sense to me even as a kid since the arcade version didn't. It was just you shooting bugs. The story has changed to now where it's more of a mutant bug sci-fi story.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Well and the commercial for it just showed a bunch of military guys shooting bugs whereas the book has not-Willow fighting the bugs in his shroom garden with a wand.

[@bigyin2586]

Attacking Atari's graphics is like beating up a grandmother.

[@JohnHenrySheridan]

Great video, thank you !

[@Dinosaurprince]

No Joust? WTF?

[@FridayNightArcade]

Did an entire standalone video on Joust kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2O8oJttqph_bNE

[@matthewlane518]

The sounds effects from centipede were very good as well

[@eriksojka9209]

Great ports on the Atari 2600. For the limitations!!

[@jclay6680]

I loved Battlezone and Crazy Climber .

[@WebVManReturns]

Funny that you should mention Jungle Hunt since I bought this game on the AT Games Legends Flashback Blast! console on the day of this video's release.

[@RussellFlowers]

Galaxian box art looks like a Journey album.

[@neuromancer9k]

Those commercials.....whoa..... Great jobs on most of these for the time. I don't think I had ever seen or heard of Jr. Pac Man, but by that time ('86) I was probably looking at the NES. I don't think I played many of these on the 2600, so thanks for introducing me to them!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Yeah by then most would have moved on... the old Atari was still kicking though lol.

[@invaderboy7187]

Great vid thank you :-)

[@yesticles]

It looks like the ghosts are flickering in order to achieve 4 different colors on screen at once. If you pause the video when they're all on screen, you can notice that only 2 ghosts are visible at a time. I'm just guessing here, but I think that there are only two different ghosts that are then duplicated, and each frame their palette changes, with the ghosts that aren't supposed to be that color becoming transparent. This allowed for the illusion of 4 uniquely colored ghosts. Could be totally wrong here, but that's my undereducated guess :P

[@FridayNightArcade]

That's it, yep. It's not a deal breaker or anything, but it's just enough to be noticeable. Not nearly as bad as in the original Pac-Man on Atari though.

[@dad7275]

Jr Pacman replay value is very high in my opinion..because of the difficulty challenge. As good as Centipede was Millipede was that much better to me..so much more going on.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I was genuinely terrible at Millipede but I have much respect for how well it runs on that system.

[@exile220ify]

In part 3, please include a Starpath Supercharger game or two :)

[@FridayNightArcade]

I'm trying to track down a Supercharger so I can do a full feature on it and some of the games :D

[@Zack1440]

Reminiscing! Love it.

[@rebeldetail6134]

When things was simple

[@colinmcdonald2499]

Have you ever reviewed Time Pilot in all of its interations... Do not.take this as a request... Per se. But it might be interesting.

[@FridayNightArcade]

I'll have to look into that one... thanks for the tip. Requests/suggestions are always welcome btw.