Top 10 Greatest Atari 2600 Games Of All Time (according to fans)

[@GamingTheSystems1]

Top 10 Atari Hidden Gems: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHLOimOZZ818Y80 My Own Personal Top 10 Atari: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jofKfKSXhaljgZY Top 10 NES Games of All Time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJ_ZaqyZmd-Gg8k Top 10 Genesis Games of All Time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYucnKScm8SLrdE My Own Personal Top 10 Genesis: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3SlepSlmL6Lfsk My Own Personal Top 10 NES: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJuzlI2on7d6m6M My Own Personal Top 10 Dreamcast: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eamVq6inZp52aqM My Own Personal Top 10 Vectrex: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIrUo6Wth8upgaM My Top 10 Most Played Systems: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4PbgZ-eetN6mck

[@ront3333]

I would have thought "Defender" would have gotten more love....

[@USLethal]

Defender is easily top five

[@gimcrack555]

@@USLethal At least Defender II(Stargate)

[@brainbeats7555]

Yep ❤

[@skottyo]

I was blown away as a kid when Defender came to the arcades. So many buttons!! Just an unheard of amount of buttons for the time.

[@Bootyshooter]

That and Joust!!!

[@hendo76-u6g]

Frogger should have been on there somewhere

[@andyk6796]

100%

[@RIVALContentJammerz]

Combat, too

[@GamingTheSystems1]

In place of which game? Whatever game you take out will cause others to say the game is missing.

[@RIVALContentJammerz]

@@GamingTheSystems1 One of the gay ones.

[@TheBeaver50]

@@GamingTheSystems1hero . I was born in the early 70s and although we were poor , very poor my parents saved and bought us ( me and my brother) the Atari 2600 with so many games. I think it was Christmas of 77 from Kmart in beckley West Virginia if I stand correct . We played that well throughout the 80s even after we had moved to North Carolina as teens and progressed into the sega master system mid 80s , late 80s / 90s sega genesis and the last 25/30 yrs now Xbox playstation etc. never played hero or heard much of it . Maybe I just missed the boat on that title .

[@Murdon-te5px]

I remember like it was yesterday when my Mom took me to the mall and purchased Pitfall! for my birthday. I played that game for hours and hours. The Superman game, Haunted House, Atlantis, Kaboom were some of my favorites too. The eighties were fantastic and so were my parents. I miss them both dearly, especially around the holidays.

[@markbrophy554]

Any chance it was Century III Mall?

[@Murdon-te5px]

@ It wasn’t, it was the Volusia Mall in Florida. My family moved from Pittsburgh to Florida right as that mall opened. When I used to go back to Pittsburgh to visit family/friends, we always went to Century 3. I would go with my grandparents/parents and with friends. That was a great mall and I have wonderful memories of visiting, especially around the Holidays. I took a job back in Pittsburgh from 2018-2022 and it’s really unfortunate what happened to that entire area. Also, I see a few tribute videos honoring/memories of the Century 3 mall. Happy Holidays!

[@zenith7024]

The 80s were the best! The video games, music and movies, no other decade can rival it

[@Murdon-te5px]

@@zenith7024 💯

[@Briansgate]

Haunted House and Kaboom were awesome.

[@bettersteps]

My father worked at Atari when I was younger. Our family had all the games and a 2600 in practically every room. Once he came home with a "new" game called Submarine Salvage. You took a submarine deeper into the water to find treasure and trapped sailers while fighting off/avoiding sharks and Squids. You had to do this while making sure you didn't run out of air. Playing that game was by far the most fun we ever had growing up. Not sure why the game was never released to the public.

[@scottl9660]

Was always a big fan of Combat myself

[@Ryan-ju4pn]

Maybe Combat is overlooked because it was a "freebie"? In my house, it was the go-to game for one-on-one play and it stayed in rotation until we moved on from Atari.

[@smilebehappy6102]

Agree, Combat was the free game I received with the console in the Atari box & it was the best game I owned.

[@stevenvensko5789]

Me too, imo it's the best 2 player game on the system especially when you had 3 or 4 friends, winner stays and looser passes the stick.

[@toddtaylor6506]

Loved Combat.

[@jimr8956]

My favorite as well

[@sneakyquick]

Space invaders, missle command, vanguard, frogger, bezerk, phoenix, pitfall, video pinball, demon attack, river raid

[@jonldavis]

forgot about frogger another favorite of mine. Donkey Kong got better on later consoles.

[@rl1800]

Demon Attack was one of my faves

[@mineralt]

i think the two best games on the platform were pitfall and believe it not, football...the battles my family had playing that football game were absolutely epic

[@sandal_thong]

I think Demon Attack must have hurt sales of Phoenix. It, Vanguard and Video Pinball look like they didn't sell 1 million or more copies, which I think 27 games hit that milestone. I could never beat level 3 of Vanguard, you maneuver too slowly while going too fast in that one section with the barriers. Video Pinball I learned when my Atari was busted so played it only using the "nudge" and no flippers and was able to wrap it around. If it had many more game variations on the playfield it might have sold 1 million. Miniature Golf could have been a better game too, it's more like a rebound or bumper game.

[@jaysw9585]

Pole Position should be on the list. Early racing game. There was also this game with a submarine where you shoot sea creatures and rescue divers. That was a lot of fun. Also, Fishing was a great game and is now a mini game in many modern Zelda games. I would certainly rank those above Yars revenge, hero, and Adventure

[@esquire232]

I agree. I really enjoyed Pole Position.

[@patsfan4life]

Sea quest

[@jayg1438]

I always thought of Pole Position as a 5200 game...

[@jaysw9585]

@jayg1438 i had it on the 2600

[@sandal_thong]

I don't think I ever won Pole Position at the arcade. But once I won the Atari version (and before that the VIC-20 version) there was no need to play it again. At least if you have the patience for Enduro, you could try to beat your score and/or number of days. Still, both these games are "passing traffic" games more than a real race game like two-player Indy 500.

[@bwatson9094]

River Raid was such a cool game! Set it up for Zaxxon..

[@chesterxman]

Wow, I had forgotten all about Zaxxon. I used to play that a lot.

[@hosehead3179]

River Raid!

[@sandal_thong]

Wasn't good at Zaxxon at the arcade or on the Atari.

[@shumandaniele]

Besides Pitfall, Decathlon was our favorite. We flipped the joystick sheath so the flared part was on top so we could oscillate it faster. We loved Enduro too.

[@OTBregularly]

I had the mini stick. I was unbeatable 💪

[@rodneyshannon4024]

Decathlon was awesome

[@jamie5397]

broke many of the white part inside the joystick playing this game

[@TurnerTurnip]

That game was a joystick destroyer.

[@tomodonovan5931]

Enduro was good, and hard the more days that passed. I made something like 14 or 15 days through it. It could only go so fast. If you hit anything after 10 days, game over. The snow and fog were the worst conditions to drive through. You had no choice but put the pedal to the metal or you came up short.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

This video brings back a lot of memories for me. Thank you for making it.

[@nationalist1969]

Moon patrol was rare…but a truly great game.

[@pantsarmstrong863]

One of my favs but it was pretty hard

[@sandal_thong]

@@pantsarmstrong863 Still haven't been able to beat the second level on Atari. I think I did beat the first level at the arcade, but may have had to put a lot of quarters in to continue. Great graphics and sound. They say it was farmed out; which means a team put it together instead of one guy having to do sound, music, graphics and programming which really limited some Atari (and other console) games. If you only had a month, but three people working on a game, then it would have been like having three months! Duh!

[@courtney5796]

Lot's of fun games, but no Defender? I came home with that game and played for nine hours virtually straight.

[@GrnXnham]

Stargate was much better but it came out much later when Atari was on the way out.

[@michaelmccandless1280]

That game made me almost rage quit playing Atari games all together.

[@courtney5796]

@ 2600 Defender was as close to a home video game as you could get.

[@sanchezjr13]

Those are my childhood games. River Raid was so much fun to play!

[@catholicactionbibleonlyist1813]

Keystone Kapers should be on this list. IMO:It's the best Atari 2600 game ever

[@marianozamudio8460]

i really loved that game

[@willrun4fun]

I spent so many hours playing this.

[@pantsarmstrong863]

Yes! i loved that one

[@jayg1438]

good call!

[@sandal_thong]

That's one where I got pretty good, but then couldn't get any better (same for a lot of games).

[@Grrnal-d4q]

Stumbling across the double fire hack on Space Invaders was one of the greatest moments in my life up to that point lol.

[@richardshermanjr1899]

I remember on the Centipede game if you hit the on off switch real fast you could fire more than a single shot on the screen at a time.

[@conorlauren]

Fair list. My personal favorite was Frogger.

[@TurnerTurnip]

Do you remember Frogger 2?

[@BBI_Strange_Agent]

Really love MegaMania, too. ActiVisio was on fire during that period.

[@arthurshink8825]

Agreed! I remember the commercial for it! It had the band the Tubes in it!

[@arthurshink8825]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKapZ2OCia-kr7M&pp=ygUTTWVnYW1hbmlhIGNvbWVyIGlhbA%3D%3D

[@BBI_Strange_Agent]

@@arthurshink8825 Just watched the old ad. Hilarious! And they got The Tubes?! They were hot then. Nice that they credited the designer at the end. OK, breaking out the old Atari. Good thing it's Saturday.

[@andrettski8686]

MegaMania was great, why I scrolled down to see if anyone mentioned it.

[@larryblumerjr]

That was a favorite, that game got really hard really fast!

[@Mushymush1]

Fair enough with that list. Haunted house is the only one I feel is missing from it.

[@FaithCrisisSurvivor]

Oh, Haunted House! I missed that in my top ten.

[@craigdibble7271]

Yep, I thought Haunted house should made top 10 easily!

[@JunkyardKid]

That might be the first or second game I got for Atari.

[@sandal_thong]

Not as good as Superman or Adventure. I beat level 9 recently with 2 matches and without losing a life! How can you beat that? It could have had 24 screens, one for each room, instead of 4 scrolling screens. Or more variations on the layouts of locked doors for variety. Game 8 may be harder than game 9 because enemies keep following you! Still, I did that in 6 matches. Finally: it likely didn't sell 1 million or more games like I'm told 27 games did.

[@ijosev]

When we had our Atari we always had to use it on a tiny little black and white TV so I never really even got to see most of the games in color. Seeing them in color makes them seem like brand new games

[@jerryhamer]

I had a feeling pitfall would be number one but i had no idea there was a pitfall 2

[@JMitch67]

Same never heard of Pitfall 2

[@neal5068]

Spoiler Alert. Thanks.

[@bigorange2082]

I didn’t either.

[@sandal_thong]

It came out in 1984, so not many bought it. And I guess he's going by people that got or played every game through 1989. Personally, if it didn't sell 1 million copies, like 27 did, then it shouldn't be on the list.

[@SH-sg8or]

My dad brought my brother and I the console in 1977….. he picked it up from the hospital gift shop where he worked. I cannot tell you how excited I was as a 6 year old and we sat in front of that tv for hours. I can still remember how my brother and I would periodically look at each other and laugh. It’s a cherished memory.

[@gertpacu3926]

Star Raiders. Best game ever. We would build a blanket fort space ship and my older brother would play and my younger brother and I would pretend we fixed the ship when we got damaged. Like when one of our blasters was damaged.

[@mikedavis1476]

Bro im 46 and you make me want to build a couch/blanket fort.. right now in my living room 😂

[@charlestonchewy]

Bought Star Raiders at Zayre for $5. It came with the cartridge and another controller which you can activate the galactic map of where your enemies were located. Thought the game was very complicated to play because your enemies were all over, and they would damage your everything on your ship.

[@neveser]

I had that and Starmaster from Activision which was a little better. Both awesome games.

[@gertpacu3926]

@@mikedavis1476 HAHA yah it was a lot of good times. My older brother had to be the pilot because at the time he was like 12 years old and I was 6 and my little brother 3 so we were relegated to the different areas of the ship. We had two living rooms so we would take all the cushions from the couch and then make a huge blanket ship. We would actually go to sleep in the ship. After we played Atari we would put on a movie, and my little brother and I would fall asleep pretty fast. Good times though. Graphics were OK for the time, but the "make believe" factor was amazing. Such good times.

[@Fektthis]

loved me some star raiders. it felt the most like a star wars type simulator to me

[@T.C.-st8uz]

Excellent list. I had every one of those games except for hero and pitfall two, which I had no idea existed until this video. Pitfall two looked pretty fun. Looking back, each game could be kind of one dimensional, but the complete random nature of adventure made it so replayable. Great game.

[@BuddyH69]

The basketball game was awesome. Half court shots always went in once you figured out the release point. Which took 10 minutes maybe

[@sandal_thong]

People in my neighborhood bad-mouthed Atari sports games, but Basketball and Bowling were much better than the broken games they made for Odyssey², even if their Baseball! and Football! were better than Atari's.

[@byrnez2755]

Surprised Frogger didn't make it to the list. I had the Parker Brothers version and it was pretty good!

[@MikoDarkblade]

I played so much yars revenge!! when you finished the pink it would go back to the beginning... I sneak out of bed at 4 am to play ... My father cached me and was so amazed he let me play and watch me... I missed my school bus and he took me by car as a reward haha. Back then having a parent bring you to school was very very rare for the youngers folks who dont get it...

[@scottdaniels8129]

Berserk was my personal fave, was just like the arcade game but with more game options. Warlords and Pitfall were two of my other favorites though.

[@TurnerTurnip]

Probably mine, too.

[@sandal_thong]

Berzerk was fun, but I think I reached my limit when playing on the hardest version, since I can't seem to beat my high score. (True for a number of games, though.)

[@jayg1438]

missile command is how I developed high blood pressure, gladly

[@scottymoondogjakubin4766]

The IMAGIC games were my favorite ! They just seemed a step ahead of all the other games !

[@206Vin]

Did they make Demon Attack? I loved that game.

[@tracksideontario]

I had a lot of fun playing Dragonfire

[@michelleholden5180]

Adventure also was one of the few games with an ending rather than a goal of getting a high score. Most games never had an end point.

[@skottyo]

ET was amazing. So well thought out and they really took their time designing it. Not rushed out at all.

[@bzzhuh]

I'm sure there were zero cartridges left of all the ones they manufactured.

[@bryansarracino8623]

Haha!!!

[@IndianaJoe0321]

I, also, speak sarcasm.

[@roberthunter5059]

I beat that game on easy mode. I must have really liked that movie to be willing to spend all that time on it. Coincidentally, I have never bought a movie tie-in game since.

[@edwardduarte7393]

not at all... That would never happen.

[@Stanley_A._Hunt]

For our 2600, we didn't have Ms. Pac-Man, but rather the "other one". We also had Asteroids, Space Invaders, Yars' Revenge, Missile Command, Kaboom! and Berzerk, as well as Combat, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Maze Craze and Swordquest: Earthworld. I was slightly disappointed that the 2600 version of Missile Command only had the one missile base, as opposed to the three bases in the arcade version. BTW, we also had Custer's Revenge!

[@tomodonovan5931]

I had Custer's Revenge. There was also another X-game called Beat Em and Eat Em. Hilarious to play. I ended up giving those games to a local DJ who worked part-time at a major radio station. I remember listening to their morning show talking about playing it. They were laughing the whole time.

[@Syragar]

Another disappointing thing about the 2600 Missile Command was the lack of chain explosions. In the arcade, destroying a missile would cause it to explode... which could explode into another missile... which could explode into another. That was a big part of the fun of the game that was missing on the 2600.

[@tomodonovan5931]

@@Syragar For obvious reasons. That arcade game would have been way more expensive than buying that little ole square box that fit into the Atari system. But Dragon's Lair for the Atari was far more disappointing than say Missile Command.

[@StephenHunts]

Frogger and Moon Patrol were my favorites as a kid of the 80's (and Missile Command)

[@checkmate9111]

Loved these during my childhood. Great simple memories. Adventure was my favorite. Great job !!

[@matthewpollock9685]

Kinda surprised Pole Position missed the cut, but it's been years, maybe I got those rose tinted nostalgia goggles on.

[@ricktheexplorer]

Right. I loved that game, plus Combat.

[@matthewpollock9685]

@ricktheexplorer oh man, combat was great! So rare to play two players at the same time. I remember my sister and I playing invisible tanks mode for hours.

[@scentualobsessions]

Warloards was my shit

[@matthewpollock9685]

@scentualobsessions Never played that one. Circus Atari was my sister's favorite.

[@scentualobsessions]

@ there was another one I liked I forget the name of it, but it was with the airplanes and tanks, and the bullets would bounce off the walls and you would try to hit your enemy

[@misterschubert3242]

I always thought Pitfall II was the best. Very pleased to see that and the original in the top 2. Also loved Adventure! My parents used to play Space Invaders and Fishing Derby, sometimes long into the night!

[@lonreed9743]

I love the classics but my favorite will always be Break-Out! with or without the ball controller.

[@jacksonms212]

I agree ... loved that game and it gets tuff . WarLord takes breakout to a whole new level though .

[@jayg1438]

yes!! underrated

[@sandal_thong]

I finally beat that on one ball for game 1. I may have done that before 1982, but didn't think to record my high scores anywhere, until I got the logbook in 1982. Still have trouble beating the logbook challenge for Super Breakout. Paddles are still too jittery after cleaning them, and the bar is just too small.

[@rcschmidt668]

I had a lot of these, but didn’t see anyone mention Spy Hunter. It came with a plastic tray that held 2 joysticks next to each other to let you use both buttons easily. Ingenious way to use the limited hardware they had back then.

[@sandal_thong]

Just saw a review of that. I never got the hang of that at the arcade and was still frustrated playing it on Playstation years later.

[@Wallyworld30]

I have played 90% of all 2600 games and Kaboom! played with Paddle controllers is it's single greatest game. It's literally the only game i could get my son to play for extended periods of times. Every other game he refused to play because of the simple graphics. NES games are the oldest games he'll play on his own without me.

[@Metro-vq3zl]

Kaboom was and still is awesome... To this day no system has even come close to matching Atari paddle games.... Do much fun and accurate

[@mikewilliams4443]

I’d go with River Raid over Kaboom! but it’s close.

[@mikewilliams4443]

Subterranea deserves a mention as well.

[@Metro-vq3zl]

@@Wallyworld30 Warlords 4 player is awesome if you like paddle Atari games.... Also homebrew Warlords remake called medieval mayhem is amazing.

[@handyhank1967]

I really thought Kaboom was going to be higher on the list... Jungle hunt was a great game also..

[@poojans96]

Circus Atari and Super Breakout for sure. Also a nod to Combat, the game I got with the console some 45 years ago!

[@businesscat380]

I had a 2600 as my first console too in the late 80s. Got it as a box lot with 20-odd games 😎 My favourites were Battlezone, Moon Patrol, Missile Command, Centipede, Demon Attack, Pole Position, River Raid, Keystone Kapers and Smurfs: Rescue in Gargamels Castle

[@merrellthompsonii9424]

I enjoyed enduro alot. We had ms pacman and berserk. But we were poor as kids and we're lucky to have had that. 😊

[@ronscott7]

I'd have Decathlon in my Top 10. Even thought it was a joystick busting game it was still a lot of fun. Even though the 400m and 1500m run were murder on your wrists and forearms

[@chesterxman]

Haha, I so agree. I loved that game. It was tough to figure out the best way to hold the joystick to make the guy go the fastest

[@TurnerTurnip]

LOL. I just said the same thing in another comment. I called it a joystick destroying game. Commodore 64 had similar games. Commodore also used the Atari 2600 controller.

[@ronscott7]

@@TurnerTurnip Those joysticks werent very sturdy to begin with. Then to make a game that requires you to go side to side as fast as you can was not smart.

[@TurnerTurnip]

@@ronscott7 True. They were cheap. I broke so many. I ended up buying third party controllers that were much better quality. The Atari controllers also worked with the Commodore 64. The Commodore 64 had so many great games. Well.... they were great at the time. I sure wouldn't want to go back and play them now.

[@sandal_thong]

I think they put out a special controller for Track and Field that you can use with Decathlon. As long as you don't need the button to jump, you can use paddle controller buttons for left and right to run fast.

[@nova396]

I did the secret room in Adventure with text when i was young. My neighbor was older and showed me how to do it. It shows credits in a florescent format of the makers of the game and some music I think. It was so cool back then. Had to been over 40 years ago. Strange how this was learned when there was no internet and word of mouth. I wish i could ask my neighbor how he learned about it!

[@sandal_thong]

They published it in Atari Age in 1982, I believe. Can't remember if I found that then, or figured it out on my own.

[@angrykermit3192]

Am I the only one that thinks Yar's Revenge sucks?

[@TurnerTurnip]

I also thought it sucked. But I still played it quite often.

[@StamfordBridge]

Adventure was my favorite as a kid.

[@potatolauncher4892]

Adventure was my all-time favorite. Definitely loved River Raid. Frogs and Flies was hilarious and fun. Atlantis was a great game. Defender, Super Breakout, Air-Sea Battle, Barnstorming, Chopper Command, Warlords... I had 150+ Atari 2600 games at one time. I wish I still had those games and my Atari 2600. I'd probably still be playing them!

[@TurnerTurnip]

You can play them on PC. Download an Atari 2600 emulator.

[@ParamotorSteve]

I used to love the game Surround. You felt like you were playing in a Tron light cycle with that game!

[@sandal_thong]

I wish they had made a proper Tron game with the four screens to beat, instead of the two versions they did release for the Atari, and more for the Intellivision. I finally beat the Atari Logbook challenge for Surround: Play game 4 on difficulty A. Win 10-4, then 10-2, then 10-0. I may have done so when I was a kid, but didn't write down my high scores. I just learned the Tron version lets you win if you both crash at the same time. And going up against more than one: when one crashes its walls are erased.

[@ceanhuckabay1559]

I was hoping Solaris would have been mentioned. My favorite 2600 game.

[@vor78]

Solaris was the best game on the system.

[@lovemadeinjapan]

Astonishing title.

[@sandal_thong]

Maybe a good game, but came out in 1986, when most people stopped buying and playing Atari games.

[@lovemadeinjapan]

@@sandal_thong In 86 noboday was playing NES yet, so I think Atari games were still bought. It was from Activision, which had not much to do with Atari's own strugles. If you see how easy and cheap it is to get a Solaris, the sales must have been very decent, much better than say Pitfall 2.

[@bicycles242]

Wow yeah I remember most of these. We also played Circus Atari, Breakout, Grand Prix, and of course Pong Sports.

[@sandal_thong]

I wish I'd gotten Circus Atari instead of Canyon Bomber or Star Raiders. I ended up getting its version for the VIC-20: Clowns. I remember playing it at another kid's home. I almost never got a game I saw at another kid's home even if I liked it. Maybe I didn't want to get it because it was like coveting someone else's game? I did like playing Grand Prix as a kid, but when I got it during the Pandemic, I realized it was just memorization like other Activision games, as well as a passing-traffic game. I made the qualifying time for the patch on the first level but not the others.

[@JHTVideos]

No Enduro?

[@gimcrack555]

Best race game ever. Indy 500 with two-players is a close second.

[@tracksideontario]

Enduro was my favorite racing game for the system. Others might favor Pole Position or Night Driver.

[@sandal_thong]

Most so-called race games are really "passing-traffic" games. F-Zero for SNES, Indy 500, and Auto Racing for Intellivision seem to be real racing games.

[@fredhurst2528]

I grew up with a 2600 in the house, and by far my favorite game was Space War. The thrust function and the sun with gravity made this game wonderfully random. The caveat to it making a list is you really need 2 players, as it has very limited fun options if you are not in a game with someone else, though the docking game with rebound screen edges can make for a good timed-challenge run.

[@sandal_thong]

People trash that game, but it was OK for the years 1978-1980. Nice that it had a 1-player version for docking; too bad it didn't have A.I. for the enemy ship.

[@AgentM79]

Galaxian and Phoenix were great arcade ports. CBS Wizard of Wor was pretty great as well. In the modern era, AtariAge and Champ Games have re-defined Atari 2600 gaming. Champ offers arcade accurate ports of Wizard of Wor and Gorf, complete with voice (with AtariVox). Many others are offered, including Qix, and ports of Turbo and Ladybug that beat the ColecoVision. AtariAge offered a superb port of Star Castle and the early arcade game StarFire. Plus an entire catalog of newly-published games.

[@TheGemini5]

Yeah, Wizard of Wor was REALLY good!

[@stuartdavidson162]

Has so many hours playing Joust with my cousins - Good time :)

[@stormykeep9213]

Loved the MJR shoutout when you popped in HERO!

[@kmp101]

HERO was my fave! Then Pitfall 2

[@Luke.777]

What a trip down memory lane.Pitfall and especially Yars Revenge really hit home.Awesome,thanks.

[@joematty1353]

Both my favorites

[@KC-zr1rd]

Ya that sound track brought back the basement hangout. 😊

[@jl8138]

Ah crap you had me with sneak-n-peek lol. I let out an audible "What the hell?" 😂

[@nesfreak08]

Same here

[@sandal_thong]

Sounds like a game that should have been sold at the adult bookstore.

[@robertdaymouse3784]

In addition to owning a 2600, I worked the electronics booth at a toy store one xmas season. Pitfall and Frogger were the 2 big sellers by far. Personally didn't have a favorite 2600 game, the arcade games of the time were just far more superior. Warlords was the go to 4 player game, but I seem to recall some of the corners had an advantage over other corners. I still remember once going into a trance like state playing kaboom. Space invaders greatly contributed to my carpel tunnel syndrome.

[@fresnokila3]

My favorite will always be Megamania. I got the Atari 2600+ when it came out and recently bought the game.

[@jamieh4148]

I agree. It seems most people missed it.

[@PatrickAbastian]

There is a special feature for Space Invaders.. When I played it as a kid, if you turned off the console and held down the last toggle switch as you turned on the system, the game will start but you will get double shots.. this worked only in 1 player mode, first option as you turned on the system normally.

[@rushrules81]

Great vid. I haven't seen some of these since I ditched my 2600 in about 1985. Hero is the only game I didn't know. That and Pitfall 2 were the only ones I didn't have including the honorable mentions. Missile Command, for some reason, I never cared for. Raiders of the lost Ark was definitely my favorite game.

[@jamiesilverman773]

Loved Raiders of the Lost Ark! It was so complex for the time, I couldn't solve it until I read a how-to guide in a magazine.

[@Plugaaaaaaaaaaaawwww]

The game 'Cookie Monster' was one of my favourite. The part where CM is invisible and chases you around a maze. Also Warlords using paddles!

[@FredBloggs919]

Loved playing Combat against a friend. Happy days :) Frostbite was good too.

[@RJsCave]

Adventure had the first ever easter egg. locate and drag an invisible dot thru the maze to a wall where it acts as a key hat lets you through the wall to reveal... the coders name. no one got credit for game coding back then. doing this was an act of rebellion.

[@janX9]

5:26 H.E.R.O. my number *ONE* favorite Metal Jesus Theme plays 😊

[@dirk6420]

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back from Parker is brilliant.

[@BurstingVeins1]

My favorite Atari 2600 game has always been Mountain King. It has solid gameplay, but you also get the great music of In the Hall of the Mountain King through the different stages of play. I also like Strawberry Shortcake purely because the music is fun. I've recently been enjoying Berserk, which I never played as a kid.

[@sandal_thong]

Couldn't get the treasure without the manual for Mountain King. Had to wait for the internet. Still don't know if I ever made it to the top to win. If so, I didn't win the second level.

[@Abruzzo333]

Grew up in the 80's with the 2600. Adventure was my favorite. Also Spy Hunter, Berzerk off the top of my head. I can remember when Pitfall came out and how impressive the graphics were at that time LOL.

[@anthonyc8963]

Keystone Kapers should be top 5 on that list...I used to enjoy Fishing Derby too...

[@Murdon-te5px]

Fishing Derby was a fantastic game.

[@TurnerTurnip]

Totally forgot about that one. It was good.

[@TurnerTurnip]

I'm talking about Keystone Kapers. I don't remember Fishing Derby.

[@Tomi_BuzzCat]

My 1st & STILL favorite ... Space Invaders 👾🛸

[@mmgreen31]

Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman were a couple of my favorites.

[@johnsmith1953x]

Raiders was my favorite. Yes, Superman was great too!!

[@dadvastator967]

Oof! I was good at ET. The Titsi Flies that put you to sleep in RoLA were brutal lol

[@jayg1438]

missing Joust/ Frogger/ Defender/ Donkey Kong/ Breakout, but covered some good ones

[@JB-js4xi]

Combat. I still can laugh myself silly playing Combat. I also loved Cosmic Ark and Real Sports Baseball. Back in the 70s it was normal for a kid or family to only have a few games. It wasn't until the early 90s in my early 20s that i really built a huge collection. I still enjoy these top ten ....minus H.E.R.O.....no one had this back then that i ever knew.....and a handful of my own including Spider Fighter which is in MY top 5. Great video.

[@Stannington]

Not even Combat like. Spent hours on that game playing Player v Player biplanes. The tank maze with rebounding bullets was also hilarious

[@Viertelfranzose]

Pitfall Ii and Decathlon was my Favorit

[@stodds1919]

A personal favorite of mine was Riddle Of The Sphinx. I stumbled upon a secret cheat where if I left it paused for an extended period of time, I was able to move faster and not be affected by some of the obstacles (scorpions, Egyptians throwing rocks, etc). So, I'd pause it every time I had to go have dinner. 😂

[@sandal_thong]

I won it at a friend's home. When I bought it later, before the internet I had to explore it to make my own manual. You can try your best times as speed runs for games 1-3, but going for high scores don't matter. The other thing I did last year was try to offer all 9 treasures in the best time for each game.

[@WrestlingandFilmReviews]

Some of these games were in Activision Classics for PSP, the game had 44 Atari 2600 games.

[@gray25xt]

This is excellent. Great job narrating and the humor is perfect gen X.

[@clauscombat418]

H.E.R.O. is my personal favorite! Such a unique gameplay :)

[@IOAwaits]

Circus Atari should be on here. Amazing game.

[@bkooo5363]

Adventure and Frogger were my favorites

[@Fektthis]

Super Breakout the sequel to breakout which improved upon it quite a bit was always a fun way to kill a lot of time. Space Invaders as well especially if you glitch it for double bullets.

[@sandal_thong]

The Atari Logbook challenge says to play it on invisible aliens. I still haven't beat the top challenge of 9000. I may have been better before 1982 but just didn't write down my high scores. Weird looking back on it that most of those 100+ variations are for two players! By 1982 best-selling games were nearly all 1-player games, a change from 1977-80.

[@jamesrickel3814]

River Raid is possible because Carol Shaw is a genius

[@GamingTheSystems1]

I also have my personal Top 10 here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jofKfKSXhaljgZY

[@janX9]

Great video! Thank you. AtariAge Cool place to get the list from.

[@smgdfcmfah]

I thought for sure ET would be number 1!

[@Shadow750Jax]

Wow! Brings back lots of memories. I had most of these games and certainly played them all at various friends homes. A big regret of my later youth was giving away my Atari 2600 when I entered the realm of the Commodore 64 and later PC worlds.

[@cre8iveone699]

Super Cobra, Battle Zone, Centipde are also very good

[@octomancer]

My God, the sound when the dragon eats you traumatises me to this day :/

[@Metro-vq3zl]

Counting supercharger 1 Dragonstomper 2 Phaser Patrol 3 Warlords 4 Medieval Mayhem homebrew 5-Pitfall 6-Kaboom 7 circus Atari

[@stevenw7623]

Circus was great!

[@opa-age]

Really glad to see your channel taking off, congrats!

[@Iffy50]

8K... it blows my mind that normal RAM now is 16 GB. 8K*1000= 8MB*1000=8GB*2 = 16GB 2 million times as much memory.

[@alexaneals8194]

Originally, it was only 2.6K hence the name.

[@danbance5799]

Actually, it had 128 BYTES of RAM. The 4k was the ROM size. It's kind of amazing what those games did on such limited hardware.

[@TurnerTurnip]

Even the old arcade games like Double Dragon, are less than 1mb.

[@Perseusgorgonslayer]

Gaming the systems- " You got asteroids?" Me- "Nah.But my dad does. Can't even sit on the toilet some days"

[@sandal_thong]

"Hey, you got Pac-Man?" "[sigh] No." "Uh, you got Space Invaders?" "Nope." "You got Asteroids?" _National Lampoon's Vacation._

[@coppermutant]

Unfortunately "fans" usually means exposure, because there are definitely superior but lesser known games or sequels sold during the latter years. Jr Pac Man, for example, is superior to Ms. Pac Man. Well, in my opinion, but see for yourself.

[@sandal_thong]

I think only the 27 games certified as selling over 1 million copies should be considered for "the best" even if there are 4 stinkers on the list like the original Pac-Man. Saying one of the best games is from 1984 when people stopped buying is almost like saying one of the best was released in 1988-9.

[@darrengrimmer8541]

I played the track and field decathlon game for hours on end back in the day..

[@ThreeToesofFury]

was really surprised you put E.T. The Extra Terrestrial at #1.

[@skottyo]

Spoiler alert.

[@ThreeToesofFury]

@@skottyo LOL

[@rexpjesky23]

Good list. Atlantis was also a great game.

[@seraphinberktold7087]

Solaris is sorely missing here! Yes, this gem and technical miracle on the Atari 2600 requires some effort to master. And a thorough read of the manual is mandatory if you seriously tackle this game. But Solaris rewards you with challenging and fun gameplay in 3D plus tactical maps to plan your progress. Wonderful stuff but obviously a little too complicated for casual gaming.

[@serfcityherewecome8069]

All my friends had the 2600 back in the day & remember these games very well...was always fun finding the cheat codes. I was the only one i knew tho who had the Odyssey 2... :P

[@sandal_thong]

Their Football! and Baseball! were better than Atari's Home Run and Football, but every other game, which I recently saw reviewed, were pretty bad. One of the problems was they had the same guy program over half their carts, so he had really no incentive to push the system like the guys from Activision did the Atari. It was only in 1983 when Imagic and Parker Bros made versions of their games for the system (one sold them only to Europe and Brazil) that they looked good. Maybe if they had released it with a two-button joystick, it might have sold more in 1978? There's only so much you can do with a one-button joystick.

[@serfcityherewecome8069]

@@sandal_thong True, but the 2600 had only 1-button joysticks as well...and yes, the Odyssey Baseball TOWERED over the 2600's, lol, the latter of which was probably the lamest video game effort in world history, including Pong which predated it by over half a decade.

[@alkohallick2901]

Star Master

[@SE-me2pt]

Agreed, I think it was Activision made, took real skill to play unlike most of the popular games.

[@bbb462cid]

Also had a second screen you routinely used to play!

[@KenVance]

I was strung out on Pinball.