Anybody else grow up with Atari 2600, but don't really care to play the games ?

[WCP]

One thing that is pretty weird about me from a retrogaming standpoint is that I don't really care to play Atari 2600 or Atari 800XL games, even though these were the games I was playing from the age of 7 years old to 14 years old. You'd think I'd have the most nostalgic feelings about those particular games, over anything else.

At one point, I had an Atari 2600 and got the S-Video mod and everything, and really tried to get into the 2600, but for some reason, I just can't seem to get into it. I played all those Atari 2600 games as a kid. Asteroids, Air-Sea Battle, Combat, Outlaw, Indy 500, Adventure, etc, etc.

I played a number of different games on the Atari 800XL as well. I especially remember Blue Max. Also a war strategy game called "Eastern Front" or something like that. I definitely have fond memories of all that stuff, but don't really care to play it.


The oldest systems I really like playing are TG-16 and Sega Genesis (1989). Even though I was 18 or 19 years old when the TG-16 and Genesis first arrived, for whatever reason, that seems to be my most nostalgic period of time. Doesn't really make sense to have your most nostalgic era from when I was 18 to like 24 years old. You would think it would have been more of my childhood. I guess it's mainly cause the games are just so simple, and kinda prehistoric, compared to games now, but for whatever reason, I can really get into 16-bit.

[Tanooki]

I had a couple of friends with the thing but I never owned it. I'd play it at their house, but try as I might some years back with the first couple releases of the atari flashback and access to stella(emulator) and ROMS I just can't handle it more than once or twice roughly for a few games and I just lose interest.

In all fairness I grew up with the NES from the moment it came out as a test basically and I really find myself having more trouble sitting down to those games than the SNES which was my second. The games are in no way as crude from a gameplay, audio and visual standpoint as the pre-NES(Famicom) systems, but they're still rough around the edges a lot of them have trouble holding my interest for extended periods, but just not as drastic as the 2600. I think the rose tinted glasses that cause more of a beer goggles effect only works for so long until you realize what you're waking up next to may be kind of fun but more of a wreck in enough ways it just makes things difficult to appreciate.

I haven't bought a NES game for myself to keep in I think a couple years now, more than that if it wasn't just a replacement for one I'd want back, but I still do pick off the occasional SNES game because they hit that quality threshold that even modern players on download games(console, pc) or tablets find acceptable still as they've aged just that well.

[goldenband]

I'm not generally into Atari 2600 games where the purpose is playing for high score, unless there's a high score contest afoot. (Makes sense, since for the most part I'm not into playing any games for high score.)

But the multiplayer games remain fun as ever, especially at parties and family gatherings. And games with a concrete goal, like Pitfall or Death Trap, still have appeal to me; I just beat Death Trap on Hard last year, and it was a hell of a challenge.

About the only VCS game I'll play for high score is Bugs, oddly enough. I still want to roll the score in that one...

[Emperor Megas]

The 2600 was my first console. I'm 40 now, and must have been 5 when we first got one. I enjoyed it then because it was the only way to play video games at home, but even as a young child I was painfully aware that the games were mostly terrible, and nothing near what could be achieved in the arcades. There were are only a handful of 2600 games that I felt were exceptional back then (Keystone Capers, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall!, Mrs. Pac-Man, Breakout, Missle Command), and even fewer that I would still play today.

I still collect them if I come across them, but I have no real attachment to that generation and don't actively seek out 2600 (or Intellivision or Colecovision) games. 8-Bit NES and Master System games though, and every console generation since, I still love. I probably love Master System games as much today as I did back when they were new.

[Flojomojo]

I don't feel there are any rules about what you should consider fun to play. I loved collecting the VCS stuff post-crash, but most of my friends had moved on to computers by then. Games from that era have generally not aged well, and arcade ports have been made obsolete now that it's almost easier to play the original arcade ROM than the home port.

I think I like the genre and style of "old game" (to include Nidhogg, Super Hexagon, Shovel Knight, Mutant Mudds, etc.) than the output from any particular system. The Genesis and SNES are closer in time and format to the Atari 2600 than they are to modern PC and console games.

[tom]

How can you not care about playing the old games, if you're here on DP.

I play all the old classics, SNES, SMS, Coleco, Atari (all platforms), C64, NES, Genesis, PSX, Amiga, those are the games which are programmed for real, pixel by pixel.

(Gotta say though, most gamers here cannot even make it to the Trophy level in Enduro)

[MachineGex]

Atari 2600 games are the most fun when you play with friends. I love playing them with my son. My favorite games are all 2 player games.
Maze Craze
Indy 500
Slot Racers
Space Invaders(2 player)
Combat
Air-Sea Battle
These games are all a blast with two people.