Atari 2600 = Dead or Alive ??

A

atarifreak0073

CAG Veteran
I have kept all the Atari 2600 games when I grew up playing. My first game was pac-man which I started to play when I was 5 years old. I have always had the love for all atari 2600 games which I have started to collect games in hopes of getting a completed collection set. I realized by reading other forums which the most popular old school game system is NES and never see the word "Atari 2600" anywhere in the forum.

I would like to start a string to see how many responses I will be getting. I also host a traveling video game station (4 tvs- 4 atari consoles) with popular games such as missile command, kaboom, mouse trap , and asteroid. I do see that Atari 2600 are making a comeback on apple products however it is not the same without the original joystick.

I just received the video arcade II version for Atari 2600 which I look forward to testing this. My favorite Atari game would be very difficult to decide since there are too many good games for Atari 2600. I loved to play the double enders game (Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak), (Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris Superkicks) and (Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot).

I will be hosting the video game stations as part of a retro night at an arcade place. It seems that most establishments will not allow this kind of thing and I do see that most people have given away their atari 2600 items. It looks like atari 2600 is becoming a rare also in the history books?


It will be fun to hear what your opinions would be.

LONG LIVE ATARI 2600 :D

Mike
 
There's a group 'round the Northwest- the Northwest Classic Gaming Enthusiasts- who hold an annual Atari 2600 contest. Perhaps they can help you with some ideas on how to get a rolling Atari... thing going.

As for why the Atari seems to be on the fade... quite simply, it's gotten old. It's hard to find a working system, it's hard to hook up in a modern entertainment setup... coupled with the fact that those of us who grew up on NES are hitting the age where nostalgia for our youth really kicks in, it makes sense that the NES in currently in the perfect storm of public interest and ease of system use/availabilty. I imagine in 10 years or so we'll be seeing less NES and lots of love for the Genesis, as the fanbase 'ages in'.

Since you brought it up, I'd like to ask some Atari questions. I've had an old 2600 in my closest for something like 15 years now. I have no hookups for it. I had it tested briefly once at a NWCGE event, and they couldn't get it going... but I've always wanted to get the hookups for it to give a fuller once-over. Is there somewhere, besides Ebay, you might reccomend for acquiring hookups? In looking for them, I've found a lot of F plug to coaxial adapters that eliminate the need to plug into a switch box. Is there such a thing as a male F plug to female coaxial cable? I'd love to eliminate the need for a seperate cable and adaptor- plus I could get one for my fiance's newly-rediscovered Intellivision :D

Assuming my Atari is truly broken- have you heard of anyone who does repairs on Atari these days? I've love to get that ol' thing working again...
 
I have a flashback that I picked up for 5 at a thrift store. I would say that this actually makes it easier for people to check out some of the atari games because even on ebay its very cheap. I just made a similar comment in the FFVII thread that sorta relates to this topic, and its that I believe that one of the biggest reasons that the NES holds up more vs the Atari is it hits a more acceptable minimum performance level for its type of gaming.

Awhile back I believed these standards was more based on what a person was first introduced to. But I find that many people that I know who's first gaming system was n64/playstation have games that they enjoy on the nes/snes/genesis/gameboy. Even people like my GF who mainly plays sims and facebook games likes a few of the games on my older systems. However, when introduced to the flashback they sorta quickly just go through all the games, usually asking what the heck they're supposed to be doing, and usually laughing when something is explained like Adventure. For the Atari event at an arcade, in my opinion you're not only going to be better off by sticking to the cream of the crop, but also usually the multiplayer games like warlords and combat.
 
I still have some SEALED games for Atari 2600 (including some duplicates I would sell or trade).

And Atari 2600 is not dead as long as there are great games still coming out for it, like Punch Out!



http://youtu.be/6NNDQxC23Is

(Couldn't get the embed to work... but follow the link(s). Definitely worth it!)
 
[quote name='DuelLadyS']There's a group 'round the Northwest- the Northwest Classic Gaming Enthusiasts- who hold an annual Atari 2600 contest. Perhaps they can help you with some ideas on how to get a rolling Atari... thing going.

As for why the Atari seems to be on the fade... quite simply, it's gotten old. It's hard to find a working system, it's hard to hook up in a modern entertainment setup... coupled with the fact that those of us who grew up on NES are hitting the age where nostalgia for our youth really kicks in, it makes sense that the NES in currently in the perfect storm of public interest and ease of system use/availabilty. I imagine in 10 years or so we'll be seeing less NES and lots of love for the Genesis, as the fanbase 'ages in'.

Since you brought it up, I'd like to ask some Atari questions. I've had an old 2600 in my closest for something like 15 years now. I have no hookups for it. I had it tested briefly once at a NWCGE event, and they couldn't get it going... but I've always wanted to get the hookups for it to give a fuller once-over. Is there somewhere, besides Ebay, you might reccomend for acquiring hookups? In looking for them, I've found a lot of F plug to coaxial adapters that eliminate the need to plug into a switch box. Is there such a thing as a male F plug to female coaxial cable? I'd love to eliminate the need for a seperate cable and adaptor- plus I could get one for my fiance's newly-rediscovered Intellivision :D

Assuming my Atari is truly broken- have you heard of anyone who does repairs on Atari these days? I've love to get that ol' thing working again...[/QUOTE]
This is in response to the DuelLady2 which I see that the link was for the northwest states which I will inquire on how to get the tournament going. We had tournaments here in the past but due to how the tournament was established did not bring in enough people. I

have seen some local video game stores that does soldering to fix the Atari 2600. I am still wary on the quality of the repair since the store owners are not very apt with the infrastructure of the Atari 2600. I have like 6 or 7 consoles for Atari 2600 (I lost count) but all are intact. I also do repairs to the console whenever I have time also repair Atari 2600 games too.

I strongly agree with what you said about Atari 2600 games are hard to find and I am not surprised if it ends up in the museum someday. I have kept all the games when I grew up plus trying to get the supercharger games too which I have purchased (casette type players). You can always e-mail me in this and we can communicate further on the phone which I can possibly assist with the repair which to be honest with you most people at the video games are not very good with the systems. I am also working on a portable prototype to play atari 2600 games.

I also saw a video adaptor on ebay which I am not sure works well with Atari 2600. I am just using the coxial cable to the atari since it works well (better picture) than the rf adaptor. I wish there was a male to female adaptor but there are no such thing. I also asked a friend who is into this field and he said it is not possible due to the pins. I am just using the old tvs for now (5-19 inches tv).

By the way, I just joined this forum like recently so trying to learn the strings. I am not able to find a way to join group for some reason. It would be awesome to form a group to keep this going. There are just three stores in Illinois which sells rare games but they go out VERY quickly.

Talk to you sooner,

Mike
 
[quote name='Theenternal']I have a flashback that I picked up for 5 at a thrift store. I would say that this actually makes it easier for people to check out some of the atari games because even on ebay its very cheap. I just made a similar comment in the FFVII thread that sorta relates to this topic, and its that I believe that one of the biggest reasons that the NES holds up more vs the Atari is it hits a more acceptable minimum performance level for its type of gaming.

Awhile back I believed these standards was more based on what a person was first introduced to. But I find that many people that I know who's first gaming system was n64/playstation have games that they enjoy on the nes/snes/genesis/gameboy. Even people like my GF who mainly plays sims and facebook games likes a few of the games on my older systems. However, when introduced to the flashback they sorta quickly just go through all the games, usually asking what the heck they're supposed to be doing, and usually laughing when something is explained like Adventure. For the Atari event at an arcade, in my opinion you're not only going to be better off by sticking to the cream of the crop, but also usually the multiplayer games like warlords and combat.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the response and I had it figured with the multiplayer games like kaboom, combat , freeway and several others. Multiplayers are always popular such like those war games. I do have rare atari games which are not on the flashback games. I do understand what you meant by NES games and the times are changing so quick. There are also retro games being available on the Iphone but is not the same as before. I do have those old controllers including the ski mogul joypad and several others.

Thanks again for your feedback which helps alot.

Regards,

Mike
 
[quote name='soonersfan60']I still have some SEALED games for Atari 2600 (including some duplicates I would sell or trade).

And Atari 2600 is not dead as long as there are great games still coming out for it, like Punch Out!



http://youtu.be/6NNDQxC23Is

(Couldn't get the embed to work... but follow the link(s). Definitely worth it!)[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the youtube link. I am not interested in this game but what other sealed games do you have as well? I do have the rare games such as Gremlins, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and many others that are hard to find. The homebrew games are good and I am testing/developing one at the moment.
 
I have lots of them, mostly from the Silver and Maroon era: Galaxian, Crystal Castles, Gravitar (maroon), Solaris, Kangaroo, and lots more... Shoot me a PM with a list of what you're looking for (or what you already have, whichever is shorter).
 
I started collecting Atari 2600 stuff after cleaning out my childhood bedroom at my parents' house about two years ago, and finding about a dozen cartridges but no system. While out of town on business on Friday, I visited half a dozen video game stores in Columbus, OH. My final take was 11 2600 carts, 5 7800 carts, and some stuff for the ColecoVision and GameBoy. As far as I'm concerned, the 2600 is not dead, especially since so many people my age (late 30s) grew up with it.
 
Trying to keep this thread alive. I have been busy collecting old atari and stumbled some rare ones including the supercharger tapes by arcadia. I have gotten some rare double enders such as sir lancelot/robin hood. My collection is growing with rare stuffs:)

I also have a quesiton which I am not sure if any one of you know that Atari 2600 console is NTSC in america compared to PAL in different country. I am not sure if the PAL games would work on the Atari 2600 console (NTSC)??

I also found a cheap switching board where you add 5 atari games then there are switch to switch from one to another for only 20 bucks :)

Long live ATARI 2600 !!! :)

Mike
 
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