Most Popular Atari 2600 Games - Page 9
Stunt Man
1983
Stunt Man
1983
Players take on the role of a stuntman who has to escape various dangers and make it to a flying helicopter. Stuntman is broken down into three timed stages. The first stage has the stuntman climbing ropes in order to get to a helicopter while also dodging flying birds. The second stage has the stuntman climbing ropes again but now arms him with a sword and requires him to defeat the flying devilfaces before he can make his escape. The third stage has the stuntman climbing ropes again dodging enemies, but he must also grab a hold of all of the balloons on the stage before he make his getaway. The stages then repeat in this order two more times with the later stages increasing the challenge by adding more enemies. After completing the nine stages, the game repeats at the next highest speed level. There are six speed levels in total and the desired speed level may be chosen from the beginning also.Ixion
Ixion is a port of the unreleased 1983 Sega coin-op of the same name, Ixion is an interesting game that doesn't seem to play like anything else in the 2600 library. Your goal in Ixion is to grab the five white squares scattered across the screen and spell the word Ixion before your time runs out. At the start of each level only certain squares are visible, and to get around more easily you must first reveal the missing squares. To reveal the missing squares, the player must move a brown sphere over an empty square. This sphere is normally stationary, but it can be moved by shooting or ramming into it. This sends the sphere bouncing around the screen, revealing squares and destroying enemies in its travels. After a short time of bouncing around the sphere will stop, requiring the player to move it again to reveal more squares. Learning how to move the sphere where you want is the key to mastering Ixion. Also moving around the game grid are enemy drones, which will attempt to destroy your ship. Unfortunately, their sI.Q. 180
1983
I.Q. 180
1983
The title screen shows us 25 letters of the alphabet (where did the Z go?) and 5 symbols, representing little figures. If you press F1 to start, you will see the first screen with all the letters and symbols randomly presented and numbered from 1 to 30. If you move the blinking cursor with your joystick down (in the direction of the red arrows), the second screen will appear with the same letters and symbols also numbered 1 to 30, but in a different order. You will also be confronted by a horrible tune. While the tune is playing, you will have to memorize the positions of the letters and symbols of both the screens by looking at their corresponding number (use your joystick to move the cursor in the direction of the arrows to let the other screen appear) or just write down the thirty letters and symbols of one screen on a piece of paper. When the tune stops, all the letters and symbols of both screens will change into little squares and a timer will count down from 1000 to 0. You have to memory match the same letteGuardian
1982
Guardian
1982
Guardian is an arcade action game for one or two players. In an intergalactic war, an enemy ship called Dromeda is attacking your home planets and you need to defend them! The planets are located at either the top or the bottom of the screen, and are defended by a shield. Dromeda is in the middle of the screen, and will be launching explosive devices at the planets. You control a spaceship which is the last hope to save the planets. Unfortunately, your ships lasers are unable to reach Dromeda, so you you must shoot the explosives as they come in. If you miss any explosives, they will destroy part of the shield. If a large enough hole forms, an explosive could get through and destroy an entire planet. The game ends when all of your planets have been destroyed.Mole Hunter
1983
Mole Hunter
1983
Mole Hunter is a whack-a-mole-style game for the Atari 2600. You control a man with a hammer, who seems to be in the desert, and is surrounded by holes. Periodically the holes will light up and then some sort of rodent appears popping out of it, and you need to smash him back down to his burrow. If you don’t hit him in time, then he will escape and run around the screen trying to bite you. Hitting a rodent gives you 100 points and if he touches you then you will lose points. You also have to be careful not to fall down a hole as you run around the screen, if you do, then you will lose one of your 3 lives. You are given 20 minutes to get the highest score possible. When the times run out, or you lose all 3 lives, it’s game over.Heart Like a Wheel
Programmer Jim Collas confirmed that this game was called Heart Like a Wheel and was based on the 1983 movie of the same name. 20th Century Fox had contracted a company called Micro Computer Technologies to create a game to tie in with the movie. Unfortunately the movie didn't do so good and the game was cancelled. Heart Like a Wheel was never completely finished before being cancelled. While the core gameplay is there, the prototype is missing some finishing touches such as correct level progression, the races starting automatically, and more tracks. Although Collas never went on to develop any more VCS games, he had a long and successful career in the computer industry including becoming President of Amiga during Gateway’s ownership of the brand.Secret Agent
You, the Secret Agent, must catch the falling agent items, like U.S. documents, money cases and money bags, while avoiding the undesirables, like bugs, grenades and guns. After a time, a tone will sound. This is when the boats on the water below you will stop moving and you need to get above them and 'make the hand off'. Be careful, though, for although the boats stopped moving, the falling items have not. In two-player games, the players alternate. Secret Agent was the last Data Age game to be completed, but the crash forced them out of business before it could be released.Shooting Arcade
Shooting Arcade is one of only two Atari 2600 games to use the Light Gun (Sentinel being the other), but was never released. Interestingly, it appears that Shooting Arcade was not developed in the US, but rather in Mexico by a company called Heuristica. How Axlon was involved is unknown, but they may have simply sub-contracted the game out to Heuristica instead of doing it themselves. So why wasn't Shooting Arcade released? No one knows the true reason, but one possibility is the flawed targeting system of the Light Gun. Another possibility is the late date of the game (1989). It's doubtful that an Atari 2600 target shooting game would have sold in great numbers, and this is probably why Atari went with the more action oriented light gun game Sentinel instead.SCRMNN
While the prototype was labeled SCRMNN, the actual title of this game is currently unknown (some have speculated that the name on the label might stand for "Screen Manipulation"). Found in a salvage yard in 1998 by Ben Liashenko, the identity of this mysterious Activision prototype has eluded collectors for years. This prototype plays like a cross between a Rubik's Cube and the old sliding tile puzzle game. The goal of the game is to line up all the colors in each row from light to dark. If you've done it correctly the board should look like the start-up screen with the colors descending from red to purple. However lining up all the colors is easier said than done due to the unique way the squares move across the board. When you move your square up or down a row or column, the last square in that row will move behind your square's new position. For instance if your square is the light green one (center of the row), and you move it left it will result in the last square in the row (the light blue one) moving behindRampage
1989
Rampage
1989
George, Lizzy and Ralph were just ordinary Americans, until an experiment went wrong, turning them into a Gorilla, Lizard and Werewolf respectively. Following this, the three of them plan to go round destroying buildings, and up to 3 human players can join in. Smashing at the edges of the buildings for long enough will make them collapse. The police and military are after you, and will shoot at you, so try to destroy them (failing that, you can avoid the bullets). You will need to eat regularly, with things like plants on offer, to avoid shrinking back to being humanPeek-A-Boo
Since Peek-A-Boo was intended for very young children the gameplay is very simple. The main character of this game (a cat named Smart Seymour) moves in and out from behind a square. Depending on the game selected the various elements of the game change slightly. The square may be a single block, a rectangle, or four colored squares. The cat may move far away from the square, or he may barely move half his body out. The cat may move rapidly in and out from behind the square, or he may stay behind the square. There are eight different types of games, each with a slightly different objective.Miss Piggy's Wedding
Miss Piggy's Wedding was a two-player game created in 1983 for the Atari 2600 console. The game was advertised in Atari catalogs, but never made it to final release, due to Atari's cancellation of their Children's series. A prototype of the game was discovered in the late '90s by a private collector. The object of the game was for one player to maneuver Kermit through the church and outside to a waiting taxi, without getting caught by Miss Piggy (controlled by the second player), who insisted that they be married. The obstacles to Kermit were the wedding guests (represented by blocks in the picture), who try to impede his progress through the maze. He also must touch a key in order to open the doors and escape, although if Miss Piggy touches the key, the doors close again. The most complete version currently known for this game was never finished, so the consequences of Kermit escaping or being caught by Miss Piggy are unknown. Additionally, Gonzo appears at the top of the screen as the minister, yet he has no purpMeltdown
Meltdown is basically a game of hide and seek that place on a 4x4 grid of atoms. At the start of each round you will see a rogue quark move about the reactor agitating the atoms. Each time the quark touches one of atoms it will strip off some of the electrons and atom will shrink. Once an atom has lost all it's electrons it will become unstable, if all the atoms destabilize the reactor will blow! Why 20th Century Fox decided to cancel Meltdown is unknown, but was most likely due to the collapsing video game market. The decision to cancel the game must have been made at the last moment, as advertisements proudly boasting 'Just Released' had already been printed. Although Meltdown was displayed at the 1983 CES show, it was never seen again after the show closed. Long thought lost, Meltdown surfaced in a resale shop in 2004 where by chance it was discovered by a passing collector.Grover's Music Maker
Grover's Music Maker was originally called Monkey Music and featured a dancing monkey instead of Grover. Grover's Music Maker was an attempt by Atari to introduce children to the music through some well known (and some not so well known) children's tunes. Selecting one of the twenty letters (A -T), will cause Grover to start jumping around while some music is played in the background. It's unknown why the game got canned, but it may be due to Atari pulling the plug on the 2600 Children's series after its less than stellar performance. Other reasons may have been poor beta testing results or limited long term playability.Good Luck, Charlie Brown!
Good Luck, Charlie Brown should have been the last of the Children's Work Shop releases, but never saw the light of day. Although the game was found a long time ago, the rom had not been dumped until quite recently so the game is still a bit of a mystery. The only known version is very incomplete with little gameplay implemented, but rumors persist of a far more complete version in existence. The game only consists of one screen in which you control Charlie Brown as he flies his kite around the screen. At the bottom of the screen there's a wind gauge which shows the speed and direction of the wind. There's also a timer a the bottom of the screen which slowly counts up which may be part of the scoring system (based on total time instead of score). You goal is to fly your kite as long as possible while avoiding birds, balloons, rockets, and of course the deadly Kite Eating Tree. According to the catalog description, if Charlie Brown lost his kite he would have to earn another chance by raking leaves (what fun!). ObviFrisco
Frisco is an action game, published by Homevision, which was cancelled before it was released.Spinning Fireball
1983
Spinning Fireball
1983
The goal of the game is to have your wizard create and shoot a fireball at the catapult that movies across the top of the screen. The controls for Spinning Fireball are bit difficult to master, which is just as well as you probably won't want to play this game very long. To create your fireball, simply push and hold the joystick forward. Once the fireball starts to spin, press the fire button to shoot it. The direction the fireball flies is based on the direction it was spinning when the button was pressed (sort of like the hammer throw in Track and Field). If you are facing right the fireball will rotate clockwise, otherwise if you left the fireball will rotate counterclockwise. If your shot actually manages to hit the catapult, then you will be taken to the second level. If your fireball hits the sides of the screen it will bounce back at you. Likewise if you shoot your fireball straight up, it will come back down. If you manage to get hit by your wayward fireball, you will lose a life. Also, the catapult at theWalker
1983
Walker
1983
Walker (also known as 'Clown Downtown' or 'Schussel, der Polizistenschreck') is an action game, developed by Starsoft and published by Quelle, which was released in Europe in 1983. The game is similar to another Atari 2600 game: Bobby is going home.Treasure Island
1983
Treasure Island
1983
Explore the Island, treasures are hidden there in unbelievable abundance. Your boat trip there is full of dangers: whales and sharks will attack you. The natives are tirelessly bombarding you. And of course rivals have also started looking for the treasures for themselves. You have an unlimited supply of bumps to use against them but only 6 lives to wager!Treasure Below
1983
Treasure Below
1983
There's fabulous golden treasure down there, just waiting to be taken. There's also much danger with jelly fish, octopus, sharks and other undersea creatures patrolling the deep. You've got your trusty knife and speargun for protection. Be careful, sometimes these sea monsters will surround you and you have to fight your way to the top to keep your golden treasure along with your quest. The action gets faster and faster. You test every video skill you know, plus invent a few new ones, but get that treasure you will.
