10 Best (highest quality) Rare (R7-R10) 2600 Games

[vintagegamecrazy]

I don't know if this has been done before but there are too many great games that are left of top lists because of how rare they are and low publicity. Can we compile a list of the 10 best games with a 7 and up in rarity?

I go for these so far

Boiing-First Star This is truly an amazing Q Bert clone that is better in every way possible.

The Great Escape-Bomb Superb space shooter where if the mother ship appears on the screen you die, nothing quite like it.

Gauntlet-Answer Software Just what the name implies fun little game where you have to run and dodge obstacles.

Motorodeo-Atari Quirky and interesting side scrolling racer.

Ram It-Telesys Their best game and again nothing like it and a ton of strategy is involved.

Anymore?

[Kid Ice]

VCS Crazy Climber is a good one. Probably not as rare as the games you're talking about though.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I would count it as it is pretty rare.

So far in no order

1 Crazy Climber-Atari
2 Gauntlet-Answer
3 Great Escape-Bomb
4 Boiing-First Star
5 Motorodeo-Atari
6 Ram It-Telesys

Come On everyone else chime in, there has to be more great rare games.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

Atari Video Cube/Rubik's Cube
Bumper Bash
Cakewalk
Demolition Herby
Halloween
Obelix
Quadrun
Rescue Terra I

[ProgrammingAce]

Regardless of whether or not it's a pirate, Air-Raid seems to be fairly rare.

[tom]

There used to be a place in the UK selling boxed Boing! for $2.00 (He had about 40, and I think they got trashed when the shop closed down for good). I only purchased one for myself, and sold it when I sold my VCS collection. All I got left is a picture:

[Oobgarm]

Wow, Demolition Herby is that rare? There's a shop around here that's been sitting on a $25 good-condition loose copy for AGES.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

Motorodeo lost its 'extrememly rare' status when hundreds of boxed NTSC copies were found in Venezuela a few years ago. Same with NTSC Ikari Warriors.
Well, I wouldn't say "hundreds" were found...supposedly it was a few cases of each title (60-75 copies of each). Nobody knows how many were found, because the guys who are selling them don't want anyone to know exactly how many they have.

Yes, the games have dropped in rarity, but even 100 or more copies of Motorodeo would still be drop in the bucket for a game that was previosly an R10...the game is still an R7 or above. Where can you find a copy for sale anywhere in the U.S.? You can get boxed copies now quite easily because of the Venezuelan supply (which people have been snatching up a little at a time), but once that's gone, the price will go up again. Granted, the game will probably never be a $200 title again, but it's not going to stay at $40 either (just like NTSC Obelix).


Wow, Demolition Herby is that rare? There's a shop around here that's been sitting on a $25 good-condition loose copy for AGES.
Not surprising...2600 collectors don't seem to care much for loose carts lately, the trend has been collecting boxed. Even so, Atari2600.com doesn't have DH in stock, even loose...so yes, it is "that rare".


Here's my top 10 (or 12) extremely rare released games:
Although he said "extremely rare" in the thread titles, the OP is asking about games R7 or above.

[Sanriostar]

Motorodeo lost its 'extrememly rare' status when hundreds of boxed NTSC copies were found in Venezuela a few years ago. Same with NTSC Ikari Warriors.


How does one get a hold of one of these? Who do I have to contact?

[PingvinBlueJeans]

How does one get a hold of one of these? Who do I have to contact?

Bid on them on eBay...they will not sell them directly to anyone.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I think it's fair to say at this point, anybody who really wanted a Motorodeo or Ikari Warriors for their collection already has one.
I still haven't gotten around to picking one up yet. ;)


Motorodeo and Ikari Warriors haven't dropped in rarity, they've plummeted. I sold an unsealed, boxed NTSC Motorodeo approx. 5 years ago for $700. Now? They've been selling for an average of $50 on Ebay - sealed/unopened:
I know...I've been watching. As the market adjusts, time will tell.


True, but IMO until someone can come up with a clear definition of what constitutes the difference between say, an R6 and an R7 (or R7 and R8), everything between 1 and 10 is highly subjective to one's opinion :)
Oh I agree 100%, but I was just answering the OP's question based on what he asked for.

I've never been a fan of the 10-point rarity scale, because, as you said, it makes things too subjective. I think it's pretty comical to hear people argue over stuff like that..."That's an R6."..."No, it's an R7!" There should really be a five-point scale at maximum...

C = common (R1, R2)
U = uncommon (R3, R4, R5)
R = rare (R6, R7)
ER = extremely rare (R8, R9)
UR = unbelieveably rare (R10)

Something like that would suffice...it would give a clear indication of rarity without being too subjective due to attempting to be exact. If I want a game, all I want to know is how long it will take me to find it and how much it will cost.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I haven't picked up a Motorodeo yet either.

So what does everyone think the list should be? Here is the total so far.

1 Crazy Climber-Atari
2 Gauntlet-Answer
3 Great Escape-Bomb
4 Boiing-First Star
5 Motorodeo-Atari
6 Ram It-Telesys
7 Bumper Bash
8 Cakewalk
9 Demolition Herby
10 Obelix
11 Quadrun
12 Rescue Terra I
13 Air Raid
14 Asterix (NTSC)
15 Atlantis II
16 Eli's Ladder
17 Karate
18 Malagai
19 Mangia'
20 Pepsi Invaders
21 Video Life

Sorry, but unless someone can prove these are rarer they don't count because I see them pretty often.

Atari Video Cube/Rubik's Cube
Halloween
BMX Airmaster (Atari version) gonna remove it because you can get the same game by a different publisher much cheaper and more commonly.

Basically we need to eliminate 11 of them, if you want a runner up list then that's cool but what does everyone want to keep on the list, or add? Possibly a rare import that no one knows about, that counts too.

[tom]

What about Q-Bert's Qubes and Mr. Do's! Castle. Those are still pretty rare.

[Slate]

Halloween. It's fun although you can't beat it.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I haven't picked up a Motorodeo yet either.
Sorry, but unless someone can prove these are rarer they don't count because I see them pretty often.

Halloween
BMX Airmaster (Atari version) gonna remove it because you can get the same game by a different publisher much cheaper and more commonly.


Well, Halloween is an R7...there hasn't been a copy on eBay or on Atari2600.com for months.

BMX Airmaster should be removed for the reason you gave...Karate should be removed for the same reason (and because the game is horrible).

Asterix, Atlantis II and Pepsi Invaders should also be removed because they are hacks of more common games (Taz, Atlantis, and Space Invaders, respectively). Air Raid is also questionable. Mr. Do's Castle and Q*bert's Qubes could be added to the list, but I did not mention them because the 2600 versions aren't so hot...they're vastly inferior to the ColecoVision versions.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Quote:Well, Halloween is an R7...there hasn't been a copy on eBay or on Atari2600.com for months.

BMX Airmaster should be removed for the reason you gave...Karate should be removed for the same reason (and because the game is horrible).

Asterix, Atlantis II and Pepsi Invaders should also be removed because they are hacks of more common games (Taz, Atlantis, and Space Invaders, respectively). Air Raid is also questionable. Mr. Do's Castle and Q*bert's Qubes could be added to the list, but I did not mention them because the 2600 versions aren't so hot...they're vastly inferior to the ColecoVision versions.
Quote:

Good Points, here's the new list.
1 Crazy Climber-Atari
2 Gauntlet-Answer
3 Great Escape-Bomb
4 Boiing-First Star
5 Motorodeo-Atari
6 Ram It-Telesys
7 Bumper Bash
8 Cakewalk
9 Demolition Herby
10 Obelix
11 Quadrun
12 Rescue Terra I
13 Air Raid
15 Eli's Ladder
16 Malagai
17 Mangia'
18 Video Life
19 Q*Bert's Qubes
20 Mr. Do!'s Castle
21 Halloween

I can make more changes, I would remove Halloween, Video Life, Air Raid. I haven't had any experience with Eli's Ladder, what's it like and how many copies are accounted for?

[tom]

Wat about Glib and Music Machine?

[PingvinBlueJeans]

How good or bad a game is has absolutely no bearing on its value to collectors :)
No, definitely not...but since this supposed to be a list of the "best" rare games, you can cross Karate of the list pretty fast...it might be the worst 2600 game ever.

[Vectorman0]

*sigh*

Can we change the subject of this thread, already?

Yes. Hopefully what I changed it to makes more sense.

PS - I played the DP MAME cab today, and it was amazing.

[ubersaurus]

Quadrun
Rescue Terra 1
Bumper Bash
Ikari Warriors
Pepsi Invaders

[Keir]

Cool topic. Here is my top 10 list in order of preference. Bear in mind that I haven’t played every rare game:

1. Boing
2. Demolition Herby
3. Crazy Climber
4. Q*Bert’s Qubes
5. Ram It
6. Sir Lancelot (easily the best game Xonox ever made)
7. Mr. Do's! Castle
8. Sword of Saros (Survival Island is also supposed to be good, but I haven’t played it yet)
9. Chase the Chuckwagon (yes, I actually enjoyed this game)
10. Miner 2049'er Vol. II (pretty weak I know, but when the competition includes Eli’s Ladder…)


I can make more changes, I would remove Halloween, Video Life, Air Raid.I agree and would also remove Eli's Ladder. I haven't played it either but from the manual all you do is count and answer math problems.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I'll throw my hat in in support of VCS Crazy Climber.

Amazing that they worked out the control scheme on a single joystick so well.

I never really understood why they relegated that game to a mail-in exclusive. It was good enough, and the arcade cabinet was popular enough that it could have done as well as other popular silver-label games in retail.