Worked at Kmart in college. Atari and Commodore sent us empty boxes with styrofoam inside to maintain shape - the boxes were kinda beefy - use for display above the glass counters.
One 2600 accidentally got sold and nobody looked inside until they returned it on 12/26 - we really messed with some kids Christmas that year. I was the one working when it got returned - guy was hacked big time.
Whoops.....
bobzilla said:In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
COMBAT!
This makes us brothers for all time.
Yall motherberkeleyers are gonna make me trash my living room.
Tony is the only one I know of here with a deeper collection than me- maybe Patrick, but I think he sold a bunch of his E36 M3. I DON'T need to dig this stuff out right now.
Even though the system came with Combat, it was solid. Easy to understand, good for killing a bunch of hours/days.
Anyone else remember Home Run?
Always loved how the three defensive players were tied together.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Yeah! We played lots of Home Run.
And this:
Sadly two of the best Atari games were not on the 2600. Qix and Tempest.
On the 2600 I played a lot of Combat! Invisible tanks was the best.
On the 7800 I played a lot of Food Fight and Pole Position
SURROUND was another good one. PvP or against the console:
Noddaz said:
A classic and for good reason.
FYI, if you don't feel like buying a console, you can get a bundle of 2600 games, as well as some classic Atari arcade titles, in the "Atari Vault" on Steam.
Old_Town said:And I don't care if it is not needed, I would dummy hook one of these up behind the TV and move it every time I want to play.
Thinking about this more, yes, this was very much part of the experience. Either you slid that switch or you talked your little brother into doing so.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I was an only child so I did it. And played combat by myself on 2 player settings
David S. Wallens said:Pitfall was the best. I will die on that hill.
^ xOne Billion.
No love for Defender? I sunk a ton of time into it.
Quite a few of my friends had Atari for a while before I was able to convince my parents that I needed one, but I still must have had a fairly early version. It wasn't a Sears, but it had six switches. And although it said Atari on it, I don't ever remember seeing the number 2600.
I'm pretty sure that if my folks knew there was a cheaper, Sears alternative, that's what I would have ended up with. When I asked for Legos, I got Brix Blox.
Brix Blox sucked.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
I didn't even get Lincoln logs, I got Douglas sticks.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:David S. Wallens said:Pitfall was the best. I will die on that hill.
^ xOne Billion.
I have played pitfall on a full on movie theater screen before. We're talking 6 foot tall pitfall guy. It was just as bad/good as you'd hoped it would be.
My dad tried to win my heart with one when they came out. He was too much of an shiny happy person for that to work but it got me into video games.
Trying to get my living room set up as an arcade. 27" tube TV and two 40" flat screens collected so far.
Consoles to date:
New mini N64, Sony Dreamcast, PS1, PS3, Wii, XB360, Switch. I may be missing 1 or 2 (I have one at least original N64 for parts and a Dreamcast for parts).
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:Quite a few of my friends had Atari for a while before I was able to convince my parents that I needed one, but I still must have had a fairly early version. It wasn't a Sears, but it had six switches. And although it said Atari on it, I don't ever remember seeing the number 2600.
I'm pretty sure that if my folks knew there was a cheaper, Sears alternative, that's what I would have ended up with. When I asked for Legos, I got Brix Blox.
Brix Blox sucked.
It wasn't called the "2600" at first. It was the "VCS", short for "Video Computer System".
And the Sears version was the same price, $150.
I wasn't part of the in crowd with the 2600. I had friends with them and later NES systems, but my parents went a slightly different route, and my nostalgia is with the TI99/4a:
Another fave: Activision Skiing. Just watch out for those moguls!
And we played a ton of Video Pinball. Just don’t tilt the machine.
2600 has been out a while.
The C64 and VIC20 are also available. Amiga 500 is coming soon.
I sold off my Sears clone about two years ago that I purchased from someone on this forum. It was fun, but the wife was never interested. Should have brought it to school.
Growing up, a neighbor who worked at Hazeltine (?) On LI as an electrical engineer would create his own 2600 PC boards with removable chips. He'd sell us a board, then clone the games into chips and sell us chips. Only game he couldn't crack was Asteroids. Just slip the board into the cartridge slot with a chip locked in and you were good to go!
Then we got the 5200. Not compatible. My older brother destroyed the controllers for that playing too much pole position badly. Or Donkey Kong. He was very hamfisted.
I bring up asteroids online occasionally at school, project it onto the 12x8 dry erase wall in my room, and let the students have some fun.
I remember when we got our 2600. Dad won it in some sort of office raffle. He brought it home, hooked it up to the Zenith 20" TV we had in the basement- 2 TVs, we were balling! - installed the obligatory antenna slide switch deal, and we were in business.
I played so much pac man with my old man on that thing. We would have tournaments after dinner. I used to whup my brother soundly in COMBAT- shoot his tank, then pivot immediately and shoot him again before he could recover. I was ruthless. We also had a game called Spiderman, it was pretty simple, but engaging, and hard as hell to beat. I think I may have gotten to the top of the tower with the sliding joker or whatever it was maybe twice.
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