Best or Worst Atari 2600 shooters?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I really wanna beef my Atari collection, I got maybe 50 games and I really enjoy the shooters the most, especially the weird abstract ones like Phoenix or Demon Attack. Anybody got some suggestions? Or any other types of games for that matter?? Berzerk is also fantastic, as well, but I'm lookin for some not-so-commonly known titles. Cuz I'm a huge hipster.

[davidbrit2]

Laser Gates is pretty cool. Also check out Marauder if you want something along the lines of Berzerk.

[ProjectCamaro]

Halo 2600 may not be an orginal 2600 game but it is a lot of fun.

[treismac]

Chopper Command and Seaquest are awesome Activision shooters worth picking up. Both hold up to this day.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I'm down for homebrews too, they're more expensive but they're cool. Halo 2600 looks good, similar to Berzerk, which is appropriate I think. Which u could get it for a reasonable price, tho.

[orangest]

Turmoil (http://www.atarihq.com/reviews/2600/turmoil.html) is a nicely intense under the radar shooter.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Turmoil (http://www.atarihq.com/reviews/2600/turmoil.html) is a nicely intense under the radar shooter.

Turmoils awesome. Its confusing as hell and I can't figure out what shapes I'm supposed to shoot, but its awesome.

[fahlim003]

One of the best has to be the recently developed Juno First by Chris Walton is superb and easily one of the best conversions of such an overlooked arcade game.

[Atarileaf]

One of my favorite hectic shooters is Spider Fighter. Love that one.

[slobu]

MMSBC II is a 2 player cooperative side scrolling shooter:
http://bitpop.bigcartel.com/product/mmsbc-2-atari-2600-game

http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s352/slobu/M2REW_26.jpg

Project page and ROM are here:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/207626-mmsbc-2-done/

It uses flickering and shifts colors every other frame so it doesn't look great on some modern TVs.

DISCLAIMER: I made this game!

[Badhornet]

I second Spider Fighter

[jongolo]

Best: Megamania
Worst: Demons to Diamonds

[davidbrit2]

I've been trying out a lot of homebrews/hacks on my Harmony lately. Here's a few more you should check out:

Space Rocks - amazing Asteroids clone
Wolfenstein 2600, Wolfenstein The Next Mission - extensive hacks of Venture; basically entirely new games
Juno First - I'll second this one
Star Fire - like a REALLY enhanced version of Star Voyager

[Steve W]

Planet Patrol (Spectravideo) is an interesting little horizontal shooter. Space Cavern is a sort of rip-off of Demon Attack, and then there's Spacechase by the same company (Games by Apollo) that's a vertical space shooter. If you've got an Arcadia/Starpath Supercharger, I highly recommend Communist Mutants From Space. Then there's Worm War I, an odd scrolling shooter with pretty decent wriggly worm graphics.

[jammajup]

Avoid: Astrosmash ,that aside-
Megamania certainly is towards the top of the list and the obvious Galaxians and Phoenix. I agree with Chopper Command and I think the desert sunset effect is great on it, Demons to Diamonds is actually very good only in two player. If you like a challenge try Communist Mutants From Space and for looks and playability try the game Solaris which many people would consider the best looking A2600 game.
Solaris on youtube http://youtu.be/buhHMAcRSwU

[The Clonus Horror]

One of my favorite hectic shooters is Spider Fighter. Love that one.

Agreed. I also really like Seaquest, Fantastic Voyage, Megamania and Space Cavern.

[The Clonus Horror]

I've been trying out a lot of homebrews/hacks on my Harmony lately. Here's a few more you should check out:

Space Rocks - amazing Asteroids clone
Wolfenstein 2600, Wolfenstein The Next Mission - extensive hacks of Venture; basically entirely new games
Juno First - I'll second this one
Star Fire - like a REALLY enhanced version of Star Voyager

Juno First is GREAT! I sprung for a copy off atariage this Winter and freakin' LOVE it!

[Scotterpop]

Spider Fighter!!! Like several others have mentioned, if you're looking for a good shooter on the VCS, it doesn't get any better than this. This game is twitch-shooter perfection distilled down to its very essence. No other game puts me "in the zone" quite like this one.

[wizardofwor1975]

My vote for best 2600 shooter is Berzerk. As for the worst 2600 shooter I'd like to nominate Super Cobra as a possible canidate. The arcade version was a descent game but the 2600 port was pure garbage. The sfx alone could have been used at gitmo back in the day for enhanced interrogation purposes. What happened Parker Bros???

[Rickstilwell1]

Astroblast was pretty fun.

[Atarileaf]

Astroblast was pretty fun.

A little off topic, but there's a nice port of this on the 7800 called Meteor Shower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRRicRJ-X0

[A Black Falcon]

Megamania is my favorite shooter on the 2600.

Other good 2d shooters include Demon Attack, Phoenix, Turmoil, and Astroblast (use the paddle controller!).


For 3d, or behind-the-vehicle-perspective, games, my favorite one is Buck Rogers. Great fun game!

Next best is probably Solaris; it plays well, and definitely has some of the system's best graphics. Star Trek is pretty good as well. Juno First also looks great, but I haven't played it myself.