Your Personal Top Ten: Atari 2600

[digitalpress]

Let's end Atari 2600 Week with a bang.

I want everyone who has ever played the system to list their personal top ten. It doesn't have to be in order, just tell me the games you'd consider "top ten" for the system and, optionally, why.

Mine is as follows.

Adventure - This is the game that first showed me what videogames COULD be: completely open-ended, with the possibility of exploration and even some hidden surprises.

Towering Inferno - I don't know what it is, but to this day, this game gets my heart pumping. The crazy movement of the fire (something that truly seems random and unpredictable) make the game a challenge every time.

Warlords - Four players. Paddles. 'Nuff said.

Robot Tank - Say what you will about Pitfall, but I always found Robot Tank to be the most technologically impressive game on the 2600 (at least until Solaris came out). This is basically Star Raiders in a tank, monitoring more variables in your environment than a 2600 should be able to.

Jr. Pac-Man - My favorite maze game on a system with lots of maze games. by the time they got to Jr., they had it all figured out. In my opinion, this game is more fun than the arcade version.

Solaris - A masterpiece among space combat sims of its era, the game is remarkably complex but like most 2600 games, very easy to pick up and play.

Frankenstein's Monster - A "love it or hate it" game, more of a nostalgic addition to my list than any other. My best friend Kevin and I, both big horror movie buffs, went nuts for this game when it came out. It does a lot of things right and is one of the few quality platformers on the system.

Space Invaders - Better than the arcade? Oh yeah. The clincher is that you can play two players simultaneous with all of the brilliant options (moving bases, invisible invaders, etc) of the one player game.

Pooyan - Not nearly recognized enough. A great port of the pigs and wolf theme on the 2600.

Burgertime - One of the best coin-op conversions ever, considering the hardware limitiations. The game is really HARD but with practice you can get to all five screens. FIVE SCREENS!

[boatofcar]

Activision games dominate my list.

River Raid
Freeway
Defender
Dragster
Kaboom!
Stampede (I been herdin' cattle most of my natural life :) )
Frogger
Warlords
Adventure
Pitfall!

[Sniderman]

My 2600 collection is always in "flux," but here are the 10 games I will never part with - ever.

1. Adventure - Loved the "exploration" aspect. Plus, no scoring and was open ended. Was "Zelda" before "Zelda."
2. Pitfall II - Knocked my freaking socks off when I first played it. The only 2600 game with a rockin' soundtrack.
3. Entombed - The only 2600 game my dad played with me as a kid. Also, since it's one of the few head-to-head games, it makes for some frantic party games.
4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points. (http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&pi=5&gi=2502&vi=3780)
5. Pac-Man Arcade - Yeah, I know it's a "hack," but this alteration showed what the 2600 version *should've* been like. Spot-on perfect.
6. Berzerk: Voice Enhanced - See above. Atari Berzerk *with* robot taunting. Fantastic.
7. Dragonstomper - A Supercharger adventure and the closest thing to an RPG the 2600 has yet seen.
8. Crypts of Chaos - Picked this up as a kid when I was heavily into D&D. Was the first "first-person" game I ever played and holds a special place in my heart.
9. Turmoil - Frantic, fast-paced shooter that I can lose myself in for hours. Even better, I won my copy from a contest held by 20th Century Fox back in the day. :D Never would've bought it on my own.
10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.

[dcescott]

My choices are based on what I play the most. The top ten should be a top 20. There are too many great titles too play.

pitfall 2
pitfall
jr. pac man
missle command
kaboom
keystone kapers
stargate
berzerk
mr. do
millipede

[PhoeniX]

I am admitedly not a huge 2600 fan but I do have some favorites, so here goes...

01 Berzerk- by far my favorite!
02 Phoenix- ok, it's not my favorite but I like the name
03 Pitfall
04 Kaboom!- this game gets funner the drunker you are
05 River Raid- the best shooter on the console
06 Adventure- this game rocks!
07 Burgertime
08 Space Invaders
09 Defender
10 Battlezone- I played a version of this at CGE with 2 joysticks, it was even better!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.
:)

BTW: Any chances of "Ravenous Dead" eventually getting done?

[farfel]

Space Invaders
Asteroids
Missile Command
Chopper Command
Jr. Pac-Man

Cosmic Ark
Berzerk
Defender
Demon Attack
Kaboom

Thought about adding Pitfall 2 here but after you beat it's not much fun to play again.

[Sniderman]

10. Venture II: The Abysmal Abyss - For obvious reasons.
:)

BTW: Any chances of "Ravenous Dead" eventually getting done?
Yup. But not for the 2600. See your PM. 8-)

[chadtower]

4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points. (http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&pi=5&gi=2502&vi=3780)

Now I have a new gaming goal.

[ARCZero]

The 2600 was my first video game console growing up, but there's only about 20 games I'd go back and play. I find most 2600 games too simple and repetitive even thought I'm a huge classic arcade game fan. Here's my top 10:

1. Adventure
2. Superman
3. Demon Attack
4. Indiana Jones
5. Mountain King
6. Venture
7. Pitfall
8. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
9. Warlords
10. Sorcerer (admittedly a bad game, but the first game I bought with my own money)

[Oobgarm]

1. Demon Attack - I recently became interested in this one again. Played it a lot growing up.

2. Megamania - It started my love for the shooter genre. Still have a hell of a time with the falling tires.

3. Midnight Magic - This one got a lot of play at my house, mainly due to my Dad's love for pinball. I was sucked in and I love it.

4. Berzerk - It's missing the voice, but it's still a great port.

5. Maze Craze - Simple and fun. Even better with 2 players.

6. Warlords - Joe said it best.

7. Yar's Revenge - I loved the sound effects in Yar. It's the first thing I think of when I think of the game.

8. Laser Blast - So incredibly simple. So incredibly addictive.

9. Dodge 'Em - One of very first introductions to videogames. The 'nack nack' sound is classic.

10. Robot Tank - Rediscovered on the Activision Anthology. Fun and difficult at the same time.

[Sniderman]

4. Halloween - Love the gameplay, the music, and everything about it. Love it so much, I hold the Twin Galaxies' World Record at 1,400,400 points. (http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&pi=5&gi=2502&vi=3780)

Now I have a new gaming goal.Good luck on that. It took me 4 hours of playing *one game* to hit that mark. And I plan on shattering my old record this Oct. 31st. 8-)

[Kim Possible]

In NO particular order:

1. Adventure: What Snider-man said.
2. Solaris: This is a 2600 game? No way. Incredible. Blew millions of hours on this as a kid, and never left the first map!
3. Dragonstomper. An RPG for the VCS? And a damn good one too.
4. HERO: The best Activision game, perhaps VCS game of them all. 20 hard hard levels and all of them fun. Very colorful, action packed.
5. Pitfall II: The game that captured my whole family's attention the Christmas we got it. Another VCS milestone.
6. Marble Craze. Perhaps the most innovative game ever created for the VCS and a wicked hard challenge for ANY gamer.
7. Tapper: Fast paced Beer slingin' and a mix'em up game with that nutty Mt. Dew sign in the background, anytime you need a reflex test, apply here.
8. Ms. Pac-man: Best Pac-man for the VCS, despite how good Jr. is.
9. Crystal Castles: A seemingly never ending variety of levels and an awesome looking game as well.
10. Star Wars Arcade: And for the VCS its pretty darn close too. Nothing beats blasting Vader's TIE spinning off into space!

There are about 10 more tha rival these as well. The VCS just has to many great titles!

Oh, and Snider-man, I happen to have it on good authority that while you have the TG record for Halloween, you cannot beat the TG record holder for Entombed in head-to-head combat. So HA! :P :P :P

[Mayhem]

Yeesh, tricky. Based not only on what I played more than 20 years ago, but coming back to the system in the last few years and seeing a lot of new stuff made.

Pitfall
Adventure
Combat
Starmaster
Sky Diver
Marble Craze
Quadrun
River Raid
HERO
Berzerk

[Sylentwulf]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1560&highlight=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it :)

[Flack]

This was a lot harder than I thought -- 15 would have been a lot easier!

River Raid
Laser Blast
Asteroids
Warlords
Yar's Revenge
Keystone Kapers
Basketball
Centipede
Indy 500
Moon Patrol

[digitalpress]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1560&highlight=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it :)

Heh, pretty funny but you do realize that's entirely different. That list is the forum consolidated top 25. This particular list doesn't have to conform to anything - every choice can be strictly nostalgic. Hence, it is not the "recognized best games" but rather "my favorites".

Hope that helps. Try to get into the spirit of the week, we can split hairs next week if you'd like.

[kainemaxwell]

Please refer to this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1560&highlight=atari+games

<LOCKED>


Sorry, had to do it :)

Request denied. :P

Anyhow, here's my list (of what I played as a kid and what I played now getting into this great hobby):
River Raid
Yar's Revenge
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
HERO
Combat
Enduro
Chopper Command
Demon Attack
Cosmic Ark

[Sniderman]

Oh, and Snider-man, I happen to have it on good authority that while you have the TG record for Halloween, you cannot beat the TG record holder for Entombed in head-to-head combat. So HA! :P :P :P Stan rather soundly handed me my ass years ago. Yup. :embarrassed:

[ubersaurus]

1. Starmaster-I played this so much as a kid. I thought the graphics were crazy good considering the fact it was on the 2600.

2. Armor Ambush-combat with a landscape. WOO!

3. Vault Assault-this is one of those great games you can lose yourself in and get into the zone. I know I have-an hour later, I was wondering why my trigger thumb hurt so damn much.

4. Beamrider-I didn't discover this until after I got my cuttle cart, but it's a great game, obviously inspired by tempest. Although I prefer the coleco and intv versions, this one is still awesome.

5. Ms. Pac-Man-this has nostalgia for me, playing it at my grandparents house as a kid, trying to beat my cousin's score. Damn good port.

6. Keystone Kapers-you're a cop. Running around a mall. I was sold from the get go, but the game itself is just one of the sweetest run & jump games on the platform.

7. Thrust- I think everyone who's played it can agree this is one of the top 2600 games ever written. A great conversion, I managed to come in 3rd in a high score contest a few years back(though a few hardcore players managed to oust me as of late).

8. Cosmic Ark-I don't know what it was about this game, but I thought it was awesome. Maybe it's the fact you're taking animals to "save their species", and we all know what that entails.

9. Space Invaders-Duh.

10. Frogs n Flies-This is probably my favorite multiplayer game on the platform. I played it alot back in the day with my cousins, and I play it frequently nowadays with my friends. Gotta play it on mode A though.

[Sylentwulf]

Heh, pretty funny but you do realize that's entirely different. That list is the forum consolidated top 25. This particular list doesn't have to conform to anything - every choice can be strictly nostalgic. Hence, it is not the "recognized best games" but rather "my favorites".

Hope that helps. Try to get into the spirit of the week, we can split hairs next week if you'd like.

I know, just screwing with ya :)

If I picked 10 for what I would play right now if I hadn't played atari in 10 years, I would probly do:

Atlantis
Pitfall
Pacman
Combat
Oink
Kaboom
River Raid
Frogs N Flies
Riddle of the Sphinx
Freeway

Some weird picks, but that's what I had when I was a kid :)

[9c1lt1]

Centipede--It always ready to play on my Atari
Pac-Man
Breakout
Keystone Kapers
Space Invaders
Freeway
Frogger
Berzerk
Warlords
Kaboom

[Crush Crawfish]

Not a huge atari fan, but I do love it. Here's my favorites:

Demon Attack
Cosmic ark
Jungle Hunt
space invaders
Phoenix
Warlords
Frogger
Missle Command
Taz
kaboom

[TheRedEye]

I don't know if I'll hit ten, but:

1. H.E.R.O. - Videogame perfection.

2. Freeway - This was my favorite party game until Wario Ware on the GC came out.

3. That Imagic "abduct puppies in your spaceship" game whose title I always forget. I think it's the surreal aspect that appeals to me. Cosmic Ark, maybe?

4. Q*Bert - 2600 Q*Bert was the first videogame I ever played. I was born with it in the house.

5. Circus Atari - Still kicks my ass.

6. Megamania - A coworker and I used to emulate this on our work PCs when nobody was around.

7. Yars' Revenge - Yes, I too am a victim of "Why do I love this game so much? WHY??"

8. Berzerk - This is the robot/smiley face game, right? This was like, the epitome of what a 2600 game should be. Simple as hell, but seems oddly huge somehow.

9. Taz/Asterix - I got addicted to this after hanging out with Steve Woita for the first time.

10. Missle Command - I'm not into it anymore, but it's here for pure nostalgia reasons. I was playing this and Q*Bert when I was 2/3 years old.

[Dr. Morbis]

Adventure- I love game 3 where everything is random. It truly is endless adventure. If they could do this on the 2600, why couldn't they do it for Legend of Zelda?

Kaboom- I love how frantic this game is, and I love using the paddles.

Pitfall- I'm a huge platform fan. Too bad not many games on later systems are as well designed or as playable as the original Pitfall.

Pitfall II- not quite as good as Pitfall, but still excellent.

HERO- I cannot believe how fun this game is!

WARLORDS- It's a toss-up between this and Bomberman for the greatest multiplayer/party game design of all time.

Reactor- very unique and really fun.

Frogger- Not as good as the Colecovision port, but a very solid game.

Carnival- Purely for nostalgia reasons. The first video game that I distinctly remember playing in my life, and I still own that original cartridge.

Mr. Do's Castle- Mostly for the background music: it's excellent!

[Keir]

Adventure
Cosmic Ark
Demon Attack
Escape from the Mindmaster
Frogger
H.E.R.O.
Mountain King
Pitfall II
Q*Bert
Quick Step

and don't forget Poland!

[tom]

1: X-Man: Gaming and Sex, it cannot get any better
2: Phoenix: Came with my console, played it to bits.....
3: Star Wars/Death Star Battle: Excellent variety and a great goal
4: Pitfall 2: Wow, that music was great, and a dancing ending, wonderful
5: Frogger 2/Threedeep: Lot of flicker, but still good fun
6: Enduro: Great racing, I had to get that trophy on day 7
7: H.E.R.O.: played it day and night.
8: Keystone Kapers: Sent away the screenshot to get my patch.
9: Super Cobra: I loved Scramble, this was the closest we got on VCS
10: Stellar Track: reminded me of Star Fleet 1 (interstel)

[VinnyT]

Solaris
Space Invaders
Ms.Pac-man
Frogs and Flies
Atlantis
Keystone Kapers
Donkey Kong
Jungle Hunt
Football
Crystal Capers

[o2william]

It's tough to pick only 10, but here goes...

Pressure Cooker - Great "think on your feet" action/puzzle game, and damned if it doesn't make me hungry for hamburgers every time I play it.

Solaris - A real graphics and gameplay extravaganza. Has anybody actually reached Solaris?

Spacemaster X-7 - Not to everyone's taste, but I find it a fun, odd little shooter.

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator - I've been a huge Star Trek fan since I was about 7 years old, so I can't help but love this game. But even without the Trek trappings, it's still a solid piloty/shooty game.

Adventure - Random quests and evil ducks. What's not to love?

Crystal Castles - I have trouble with the isometric view of the arcade version, so the simplified look of the 2600 version makes it more playable for me. Fantastic game!

H.E.R.O. - Activision was so great at combining action and puzzle-solving, and this game did both very well.

Frankenstein's Monster - I purchased this game when I read Joe's glowing Psych-O-Pedia entry about it, and I ended up agreeing with his review 100%. This is a Data Age game??

Warlords - Great 4-player action, and even the single player game is enjoyable.

Haunted House - This has a lot of the qualities that make Adventure so great. Its randomness makes every game a little different, and it's still one of the few games that can really make me jump. (I admit to being scared of you, Old Man Graves' Ghost.)

[-hellvin-]

My favorites from what I've played:

1) Pitfall II
2) Space Invaders
3) Pepsi Invaders
4) Plaque Attack
5) Megamania
6) Wizard Of Wor
7) Kaboom!
8) River Raid
9) Yar's Revenge
10) Custer's Revenge (I have dominated that indian woman so many times)

[Vigilante]

My list would include:

Kaboom
Warlords
Circus Atari
Breakout (wierd, so far all paddle games)
Target Fun
Ms PacMan
Demon Attack
Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back
Adventure
Asteroids

[Dire 51]

Seeing as how the 2600 was the first system I ever owned, I have to go ahead and list mine.

10. Haunted House
09. Snoopy And The Red Baron
08. Riddle Of The Sphinx
07. Mountain King
06. Adventure
05. Laser Gates
04. Tutankham
03. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
02. Yar's Revenge
01. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

[Old Man Graves' Ghost]

(I admit to being scared of you, Old Man Graves' Ghost.)

You SHOULD be scared. VERY scared. DON'T TOUCH MY URN!!!

[Atarian75]

Here are my top ten:

1. Pressure Cooker (this is not on nearly enough lists)
2. HERO
3. Kaboom!
4. Cosmic Ark
5. Warlords
6. River Raid
7. Vault Assault
8. Megamania
9. Seaquest
10. Pitfall

[Goodwill Hunter]

My top 10:

1. Indy 500: My brother and I could not get enough of this game
2. Pengo: One of the best arcade ports on the system
3: Flag Capture: A great 2-player game, often overlooked
4: Wizard of Wor: Back-to-Back monster blasting
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark: Still trying to get the name at the end!
6. Surround: Tron-like action (plus the ability to write dirty words on the TV!)
7. Superman: Get over here Lois!
8. Space Invaders: Felt like an insider when I learned of the "double-fire" trick
9. Midnight Magic: The game Video Pinball wanted to be
10. Adventure: How could it not be in any 2600 top 10.

Think I'm going to do play some Pengo :D ...

Rich

[le geek]

Pitfall! - a brilliant design for a 2600 game and still a lot of fun
River Raid - ditto!
Seaquest - Still one of the Best Twitch games
Pele's Soccer - Loved it as a kid, fireworks a nice touch
Combat - Still great two players
Starpath's Frogger - prefer it over the arcade!
BMX Airmaster - great graphics and a lot of fun (espeically the halfpipe)
Atari Video Cube - Love the rotation effect
Snoopy and the Red Baron - silly, a little too easy, but fun
Super Breakout - the selectable dittys and progressive pwns!

Cheers,
Ben

[ty896]

Bezerk -- Best ever 2600 arcade adaption
Choper Command -- Best 2600 "Defender" game
Circus Atari -- Best Breakout game
Battle Zone -- Ever better than arcade
Space Invaders -- Classic all the way
Asteroids
Activision Skiing
Missle Command
Gorf
Pitfall

[Kim Possible]

Here are my top ten:

1. Pressure Cooker (this is not on nearly enough lists)
l

This and Starpath Frogger are tied for 11 on my list! Two other amazing VCS games.

[tom]

my (at the time) wife's Top Ten:

1: Popeye: She cheated!
2: River Raid: She finished it
3: Keystone Kapers: She said it was typical English
4: Mario Bros: 2-player mod with me, finished it
5: Star Wars/DSB: One of her faves too
6: Fishing: She always beat me
7: Sky Diver: Ditto
8: Ghost Manor: Great action, good idea
9: Freeway: good fun
10: Kangaroo: Ok'ish

[Kim Possible]

how do you cheat on Popeye?

[Quickclaw]

Keystone Kapers
Frogger
Megamania
Yar's Revenge
Pressure Cooker
Adventure
Frostbite
Vanguard
H.E.R.O.
Asteroids

[Kid Ice]

I feel like I did this one before for some reason. Anyway, I'm going to go with an unranked list here, and I'll throw in a few comments.

Demon Attack- still one of my favorite games. Play Surround then play this; it's hard to believe it's on the same system.

Space Invaders- still prefer this to the arcade version, or any other version.

Pitfall- it was truly amazing in its day...it was almost like having a Colecovision game on the 2600.

River Raid- the vertical shooter is still my favorite type of game.

Spiderman- probably the oddball out of this lot. There's something addictive about trying to reach the top of the buidling.

Ms. Pac Man- if the first 2600 Pac Man was this good, the machine would have been around for a couple more years.

Berzerk- as faithful an arcade conversion as the 2600 ever got. Minus the voice, of course, but doing the voice yourself was part of the fun.

Missile Command- first game I scored more than a million on.

Yars Revenge- I didn't like this game as a kid, but it's grown on me. Helps that it's had 20 years to do so.

Tennis (Activision)- to beat the computer on difficulty B, you must become a computer.

BTW, is there some we can can surgically remove every one of theaveng's posts?

[digitalpress]

how do you cheat on Popeye?

http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/26popeye.htm

[Kroogah]

Missed this the first time around.

Fast Food
Venture II
Bowling
Asteroids
Pitfall!
H.E.R.O.
Jr. Pac-Man
Frostbite
Warlords
Night Driver

[SegaAges]

yar's revenge
defender
empire strikes back
asteroids
combat
warlords
jr. pac man
space invaders
pitfall
missile command

[Kim Possible]

how do you cheat on Popeye?

http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/26popeye.htm

ahhhh, so THAT'S how you cheat at Popeye

Thanks

[Kamino]

After opening my 2600 drawers and carefully pondering:
#1: Demon attack. Say what you will, it was the first VCS game i played and the one i always go back to.
#2: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Bloody violence on 2600? cool. Great cart to own, it was a pain to trackdown(thanks jagdiesel!)
#3: Frostbite. Holy hell. Just an addictive game for me, and being a true wisconsinite, the concept of COLD gets me going :)
#4: Robot Tank. Feels incredibly like an FPS......oh wait, it almost is one.
#5: Pooyan. Gotta love Konami...i agree, Joe, this one is underrated!
#6: This Planet Sucks. I was drawn in by the title of this homebrew...it's a challenging game to me.
#7: Fishing derby. It's fishing! it's cool.
#8: Pong Sports. When i bought a VCS, i wanted pong, dammit. Well here is pong.
#9: Jungle Hunt. great action.
#10: Aw hell, i have to throw pitfall in here. So, pitfall gets #10.

[TRM]

Pitfall
Super Breakout
Defender
Joust
Ms Pac Man
Bezerk
Pac-Man
Adventure

The only 2600 games that I played and enjoyed were *mainly* the arcade hits.

[digtempest]

1. Combat- a great and simple game for two players. 2. Air-Sea Battle- shooting duckies! Also the other game varartions are fun! 3. Superman- the sound Lois and Supes make when kissing 4. Yar's Revenge- Big Bug! Rainbow colors! A hidden cheat! 5. Adventure- cool box cover and confusing catacombs(at first) 6. Outlaw- a great two player game. 7. Slot Racers- a pre- twisted metal? 8. Flag Captuer- none of my friends back then liked this game. I loved it 9. Activision's Boxing 10. Atari's Championship Soccer(aka Pele's Soccer) Fireworks when your teams scores!! Woo-HOO!

[Nature Boy]

Atari 2600 Week Never Dies! :)

I'm gonna be a *bastard* and suggest somebody compile all these top 10 lists to make one master list :D

Adventure
One of two games I remember *really* wanting for Xmas. Loved it as a kid. And when I picked it up years later, loved it just as much if not more. The rest of my list isn't ranked really, but this is my favourite 2600 game.

Dodge 'em
Ther other game I *really* wanted for Xmas (and I got both that year :) ). I'm not sure what it is I still like about it. I certainly don't find it easy (I think I was better when I was 10). But I'll sit down and play with this for hours trying to best my top score.

Circus Atari
There's something amusing to me about jumping a clown up into a bunch of balloons.

Asteroids
The game I'd spend *hours* playing just to see the score roll over. Asteroids was the first arcade game I fell in love with, and the port to the 2600 suits me just find.

Barnstorming
Didn't discover this until Activision Anthology really, but I can't get over how addictive it is. Made sure I bought the cart at the next opportunity.

Stampede
Another Activision Anthology discovery for me (and another immediate purchase on cart afterwards). As a kid all I wanted were space games, so I turned my nose up at this one. Mistake.

River Raid
I actually prefer the 8-bit version just 'cause of the slightly better graphics and more going on. But this is a classic in it's own right.

Berzerk
Wasn't Atari the King of ports back in the day?

Missile Command
Just another arcade port that I loved.

Yars' Revenge
I remember this game being *all* the rage when I had it as a kid. It's more of a sentimental favourite than anything else.

[rick weis]

boy, how did i miss atari week!!

my top 10 are (in order!!)

#1= adventure/pitfall, too close to call for #1
#3= space invaders, huge invaders fan
#4= decathlon, what a workout!
#5= super breakout, best paddle game!
#6= dragonstomper, best RPG
#7= frog and flies, best 2 player game
#8= fast food, just something about this game i like
#9= halloween, best scary game on the VCS
#10= ms pac-man, i suck at it, but still love this game.

Rick

[VG_Maniac]

My top 10 favorite Atari 2600 games in no particular order:

Dig Dug
Pit Fall
Berzerk
Super Breakout
Missile Command
Kangaroo
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Ms. Pac-Man
Adventure

[Night Driver]

Ten of my favorites.

Asteroids -- The perfect video game.
Superman -- The most under-appreciated 2600 game.
Dragster -- The most addictive 2600 game.
Ms. Pac-Man
Combat -- Still my favorite head-to-head video game.
Stargate
Keystone Kapers
Starmaster
Turmoil
Yars' Revenge

[vintagegamecrazy]

Man this would be tough and mine would fluctuate as well but here's my top 10 in no order.

1 Fireball
2 Rabbit Transit
3 Midnight Magic
4 Haunted House
5 Megamania
6 Kaboom
7 Solar Fox
9 Ram It!
10 HERO

[MachineGex]

I know I am late to the party but I see no one mentioned at least two of my top 10:
Adventure
Indy 500
Slot Racers (great two player game)
Maze Craze
Warlords
Space Invaders
Jr. Pacman
Ms. Pacman
Missle Command
Artillery Duel (If this game had a few more options, it would be a classic)
Super Breakout

[Scawt]

Pitfall II
Jr. Pac-Man
Space Invaders
Solaris
Warlords
Super Breakout
Megamania
Demon Attack
Galaxian
Haunted House

[Steve W]

My personal top ten:

1 - Escape From The Mindmaster (Supercharger required)
2 - Adventure
3 - Ixion (unreleased Sega game, I have a reproduction)
4 - Secret Quest
5 - Pitfall II
6 - Survival Island (Supercharger required)
7 - Solaris
8 - Battlezone
9 - Wizard of Wor
10 - Dark Caverns


Escape From the Mindmaster took the first spot because it was just so dang amazing to me when I first played it. A 3D maze with mini-games hidden inside, and multi-load levels to make the game huge for it's intended platform. Adventure is a true classic, and one I can play over and over again. Ixion is a great puzzle/action game that gets really addictive. Secret Quest, Pitfall II and Solaris speak for themselves. Survival Island is another game that goes beyond what you think the 2600 is capable of, and is pretty entertaining to boot. Battlezone rocks, Wizard of Wor is a great two-player game, and Dark Caverns was always a fast paced favorite, like Pac-Man with guns and robots.

[TheGam3r]

1.Pitfall
2.Adventure
3.Asteroids
4.Missile Command
5.Combat
6.Ponge
7.Ms Pac-Man
8.Frog pond
9.Donkey kong
10.River raid

[Zap!]

In no order, here's 12 off the top of my head:

Pitfall!
Keystone Kapers
River Raid
Adventure
Circus Atari
Raiders of the Lost Ark (call me crazy, I loved it)
Millipede
Vanguard
Super Cobra
Tutankham
Congo Bongo
Phoenix