Be Warned: Better Left As A Memory
Written: Sep 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great system for its day. Extensive library.
Cons: Not worth a modern encounter.
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| skadar's Full Review: Atari 2600 |
Everyone has fond memories of the Atari 2600. It was the main staple electronic toy for kids growing up in the early 80s. Everyone has their unique stories as well as their similar experiences with the 2600.
Some of you may have been cutting edge and bought some of the first original consoles... and others may have been a little behind the curve and ended up getting the Sears licensed console. All nostalgic Atari users can talk about the joysticks and how they were always wearing out, with the rubber sleeve coming off to reveal that too-thin white plastic stick underneath.
Everyone has their favorite games. Just as most Super Nintendo owners have a soft spot for Super Mario World, all Atari owners past and present share a common love for Combat. I'd wager that more people have played Combat on Christmas morning than any other console game ever. Some of us liked River Raid, others went ga-ga over Pitfall. Many classic console game reviewers will gladly expound upon the horrible licensed games such as the infamous E.T. The Extraterrestrial. Personally, I liked the game and I played it for hours. But hell, I was a little kid and I liked the movie... give me a break.
Nostalgic memories for the Atari 2600 come flooding back when you open the discussion to Easter eggs. Remember the Space Invaders double-shot Easter egg? How psyched were you when you heard about that one? And then there was the Adventure secret dot that led to the secret room with a message from the programmer. Wow! What a reward for a lot of hard work! Then there was Venture, Warlords, Yar's Revenge, Indiana Jones (another questionable license game [that I liked]), Missile Command, Defender, and all the rest.
What a great system it was for it's day. Simple to operate, it provided hours and hours of entertainment. All the kids in my neighborhood swapped cartridges like they were gold. Remember when you cracked open your first cartridge to see what was inside? And then you plugged it into the console directly without the plastic case... didn't you? We all did.
A few years back I was living in Portland, Oregon. One day, during a trip to a Goodwill looking for cheap goodies I found a complete Atari 2600 system. I was in grad school at the time and I was feeling quite nostalgic. I bought the system and at least 20 cartridges for something like $15.
I went home and plugged it in, and was treated to the faint 25 year old electrical smell of early electronic toys. A sweet smell. I snapped in a few cartridges one after the other. Wow. I used to like this? I just couldn't get into it. I soon discovered that the nostalgic feeling was MUCH better than the actual thing itself. Afterwards I was a little disappointed that I had even had this experience. It would have been better for me to just admire that Atari 2600 as a complete memory of childhood. My modern experience with the system kind of knocked it down a bit for me.
When it came time for me to move away from Oregon, I ended up leaving my resurrected 2600 and all its cartridges in a shopping bag next to the dumpster in my apartment complex. Maybe that 2600 is in someone's cabinet beneath their television right now. Maybe it's in a landfill. Who knows? My 2600 is in my mind... where it should remain undisturbed. I recommend the same for you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
skadar
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Location: Connecticut
Reviews written: 158
Trusted by: 168 members
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