Who collects Atari 2600 Homebrews / Hacks?

[GrandAmChandler]

Just like the title says, there are plenty out there, whether you purchase from Atari Age, Packrat, other vendors, or visit a classic gaming show. My question is, who has a good size hack / homebrew collection, and what is really worth getting? There are so many, but I don't want to waste money on something that is truely not FUN. (or broken) So, share your pics here of your 2600 homebrew / hacks cartridge collections, and make some recommendations!

-GAC-

[Maxx]

Excellent topic. I've always wondered about this myself. Sadly, I have none... Yet...

[dcescott]

The synthcart from Atari Age.
It's not programmable, but it is very cool to own. Paul Slocum used every aspect of the soundchip, creating 4/4 measures. There is alot of features but it is limited. His loop cart I think is out or in the works. That's programmable with a cuttle cart or another way to record the info.
I'd check it out over at www.atariage.com.
There's mp3's and screenshots.
EDIT, Using the AtariVOX to record, not the cuttle cart.

[ghostangelofcky]

I have been staring at that Wolfenstein game for the 2600 that atariage sells on ebay.

Anyone here own it?

[k8track]

Hacks: The best hack ever is the outstanding Hack 'Em, which is not for sale as a cartridge but is available for download. Absolutely phenomenal--this is what he 2600 Pac-Man could and should have been. A close second is Bottomless Pitfall, which substantially alters and improves upon the original, and looks gorgeous to boot! (Don't delay--check 'em out at Atariage! Atariage rocks!)

Homebrews: Thrust+ Platinum is amazing and has the best 2600 music ever, in my opinion. But my favorite homebrew (for the 5200 and 8-bit) is Castle Crisis. Wowee! I've got the 8-bit cartridge so I can play it with real 2600 paddles on my XEGS. I've also got Cafeman's two homebrews on back order, one or both of which may very well move to the top spot.

[dcescott]

Wolfenstein?
cool... Kinda Venture-ish.

http://www.atariage.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=824

20 bucks there. How much on ebay?

[theshizzle3000]

I have thought about it, but the problem I constantly find is that they are a bit steep in the price.

[dcescott]

Yep they are pricey. Usually at shows or cons, they are not as expensive. However we are supporting an individual as opposed to a corp. Even if that, a brand new game still costs 30 bucks more...

Another cool thing is they hold design contests. I entered a few but lost horribly to some geniuses who posted waaayy better cover art for the games.

Another side note, before a game is released, the author usually puts out a beta to try.
Stella keeps being upgraded. It's a great emulator for all those hacks too.
The Pac-Man hack, it is unbelievable. Pisses me off Atari rushed the game out too fast. Of course I still played it back in the day like everyone else:)

[Ze_ro]

I have a shoebox full of homebrews and then some... I still have a few on the way too. It's a little hard to justify $20 or more for an Atari game, but at least I know it's going to a good cause, and my purchases will hopefully encourage more homebrew releases in the future, so I'm cool with it. Besides, it's getting impossible to find 2600 games locally these days.

It's hard to tell how good a 2600 game is from screenshots, but you can actually find ROMs for a lot of them online, so give 'em a try in an emulator to see if you like them. There's actually a pretty wide variety of homebrews available for the 2600, so you're almost guaranteed to find something you like. Some of my recommendations are:
Thrust+ Platinum
Vault Assault
Ultra SCSIcide
This Planet Sucks
Go Fish! (It's not a card game)
Qb
Conquest of Mars
Honourable mention goes to LadyBug... it's hard to recommend it, since you could easily get the (better) ColecoVision version for a fraction of the price, but it's an amazing achievement on the 2600, and likely far better than a real Coleco release would have been. I love seeing programmers push the limits of the system like this.

I'm generally not a fan of hacks, since they very rarely provide a new experience, although Wolfenstein VCS is probably the best I've seen... the author also hacked in ammo and items to make it somewhat it's own game, rather than just Venture with different graphics. It's about as close to the original Castle Wolfenstein as you could ever hope to get on the VCS, really.

--Zero

[Mayhem]

I've probably got more homebrews than original games, though that's due to supporting the programmers and owning a CC2 (so really, I can play almost anything bar Pitfall 2!). What ones? Lots to list, and most are packed away ready for moving so I can't even produce pictures.

[Wester]

I have a few:
Fall Down
Gunfight
Reindeer Rescue
Toyshop Trouble
Mad Max

As most of my gaming stuff is packed away at the moment I still haven't played most of them.

[le geek]

I have (or have had) a few of the 2600 Homebrews:
If Man Goes Down is ever finished, that would be a must buy!
Of the Ebivision titles I recommend Allia Quest which is a nice twist on Megamania. Alfred's Challege and Poweroff are pretty good. Pesco is too hard and Merlin's Walls is more of a tech demo...
Thrust is excellent but kind of expensive.
Dark Mage is a fun attempt at a 2600 text adventure but has limited replay value.
Seawolf it a good arcade conversion in the vein of Air Sea Battle but I found it a bit dry.
Star Fire (from what I've played of it) is pretty cool, particularly if you remember playing this Star Wars "homage" as a kid...
Qb doesn't have much in way of sound, but it's a fun game and a nice twist on the Q*bert/Frostbite concept...

Slightly off topic: if you have a Colecovision, track down Space Invaders collection.

Cheers,
Ben

[bangtango]

I always wanted to get Edtris. Not sure if it is any good or not, I assume it is half decent and it would appear to be hard to mess up the Tetris concept. Unless of course you take legal action against another company over releasing a version of it.

[Omegamatrix]

I have a few homebrews... Lets see:

Ultra SCSIcide
Gunfight
Falldown
QB
Crazy Balloon
Marble Craze
* Thrust Platinum +
* Medieval Mayhem
* Toyshop Trouble
* Reindeer Rescue
* Strat-o-gems Deluxe
* Ladybug

The ones with stars are my favorites. In terms of hacks some of the best are:

Q*boing
Santa's Helper
Super Mario: Rescue in Bowser's Castle
Bottomless Pitfall

and the ultimate hack: Hack'em! / Hangly Man combined.

[ianoid]

I have many, although I'm not going for completion- too many hacks and BS. Even the limited hack stuff various authors offer on AA (not through the store) isn't worth the time for me.

However, I can recommend several games as solid and fun titles from the AA store. Medieval Mahem just came out and it seems to be comparable to the joyous Castle Crisis. Both are translations of arcade Warlords and some of the best 4 player fun arond. I recommend them.

Alia Quest is a great shooter. I recommend it.

Swoops mini game collection has some great simple games. I recommend it.

Combat rock is just Combat with a Clash sound track. More novel than super interesting. The soundtrack is impressive, but it's still just Combat, the most common Atari 2600 cart ever.

I'll try to look through the dozens of other homebrew/newbrew titles that I have and post some other recommendations.