The olden days......

[BadMouth]

Since we were having a good time reminiscing about old consoles and TVs in an unrelated thread, continue here.

Post pics if you got em.
Unexpectedly found this one last month.
It's from a birthday party.  I'm in the yellow shirt.  Any of my childhood friends on BYOAC? 😀

[wp34]

Activision boxing?

That's a cool picture.

[BadMouth]

Activision boxing?

That's a cool picture.

Pretty sure it would have been Atari, but my dad was always bringing home oddball used systems from the flea market.

[Token]

Did someone say Atari Boxing? My left thumb got PTSD from that game.

[yotsuya]

That looks like Activision Boxing.

[Howard_Casto]

Man I can't find any good pictures from the NES/Atari era.  I've got to think I've lost a photo album or something. 

I remember that game.  It was on the 2600 but I can't remember if it's the official boxing game or not.  I just know it was like rock-em-sock-em robots minus the fun.  Atari kind of sucked.... their best game was the first... combat.  I wore that thing out.  I've been thinking of getting an Atari again because the games can still be had for a song.  I'd want a cheap one that I can mod to use modern video outputs though. 

You know something I've been looking for that I think we'd all like is a really cheap, really small dvd player that takes coaxial in and outputs to composite to be used as a way to hook up the pre-historic consoles. 

[yotsuya]

https://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareID=882

And Atari did not suck. The thousands of hours upon hours I spent playing on that thing prove that statement false.

[BadMouth]

Ok, Boxing by Activision for the Atari2600.
For some reason last night I was thinking there was some other console called Activision.
This morning I woke up and thought...duh.

EDIT: back to reminiscing

When I was a kid, I thought that if a game's cartridge was shaped differently than the standard Atari 2600 ones, it was a higher end game. 

[yotsuya]

My favorite Atari licensee was the Mattel "M Network" stuff. The name just sounds totally radical. My favorite M Network game was Air Raiders. I own a new in box, still shrinkwrapped copy.

[yotsuya]

[Token]

Atari kind of sucked....

I've been thinking of getting an Atari again because the games can still be had for a song. 

[pbj]

When I was a kid, I thought that if a game's cartridge was shaped differently than the standard Atari 2600 ones, it was a higher end game. 

This was basically always true for every system.

[Howard_Casto]

Atari kind of sucked....

I've been thinking of getting an Atari again because the games can still be had for a song. 

I don't see your confusion.  Atari as a whole kind of sucked... that doesn't mean there aren't good games to be had.... there are good games on the virtual boy. 

[yotsuya]

Atari kind of sucked....

I've been thinking of getting an Atari again because the games can still be had for a song. 

I don't see your confusion.  Atari as a whole kind of sucked... that doesn't mean there aren't good games to be had.... there are good games on the virtual boy.

Granted, I never owned or played on a Colecovision or Intellevision console BITD, so maybe I wasn't aware of it,  but I never found the Atari to be lacking. There were plenty of games that played perfectly, and my 1981 awareness was just fine with the games available on the system. The graphics weren't the best, but the playability was there. Missile Command, Space Invaders, Defender, Asteroids, Vanguard and Moon Patrol were all very playable and enjoyable versions.

[Howard_Casto]

Notice how all the games you mentioned had superior arcade versions?  I've had this argument with sega fans before, if your console only had arcade ports then it doesn't have a good library because we now have access to the arcade versions. 

Shoot we didn't even have to wait until emulation.... Once the NES was released many of those titles were re-released on it and they were vastly superior ports. 

Like I said though, that doesn't mean there aren't good games on it.  Just as a whole it's kind of skipable.  I did like many of the activision games though... it's worth it just for them and I would like to get one while they are still relatively cheap. 

I think Pat and Ian said it best on their podcast last week when they were talking about the upcoming Atari vault for steam..... try to name 20 titles on Atari systems that were good and Atari actually has the rights to.... unless you are an Atari super-fan like the guys over at the Atari age forums, it's kind of hard. 

[yotsuya]

I would agree that Activision made the best games.

Some great Atari non-ports/first party games:

Canyon Bomber
Combat
Demons to Diamonds
Haunted House
Maze Craze
Real Sports Baseball
Star Raiders
Super Breakout
Video Pinball
Yars' Revenge

[BadMouth]

Granted, I never owned or played on a Colecovision or Intellevision console BITD, so maybe I wasn't aware of it,  but I never found the Atari to be lacking.

The Colecovision was da bomb.  I had never seen or heard of it until my father brought a used one home from the flea market complete with the steering wheel and dukes of hazard (pretty sure that's why he bought it)
I fired up Donkey Kong expecting an Atari 2600 like experience and then holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- it looks just like the arcade game!
OK, maybe it wasn't arcade perfect, but that's what I thought at the time and it was a helluva lot better than the Atari 2600 version.




Somehow my neighbors ended up with one around the same time so we could trade games, but nobody else at school had one.

[yotsuya]

Yeah, I love the Honeycomb cereal barrels and big brown poop - looking ape in the Atari version.

[yotsuya]

Oh M Network, you were so ahead of your time...

http://atariage.com/catalog_thumbs.html?CatalogID=48

That's style.

I used to love the catalogues and manuals almost as much as I loved the games.

[ark_ader]

Yars Revenge.  Enuf said.

[Slippyblade]

Yars Revenge.  Enuf said.

For HOURS at a time.  In the dark, on the carpet.

[RetroGreg]

I know it's Activision, but Kaboom is still one of my favorite games. It's great and still holds up.

[monkeybomb]

Atari came out before Colecovision so it's not fair to compare the two.  Colecovision was way better and even played the actual atari cartridges with an add on module. Before colecovision, atari was lots of fun and it only sucks because time moved on.  I think if we look at the picture from the OP, it's clear that the atari did it's job well.

[vwalbridge]

I know it's Activision, but Kaboom is still one of my favorite games. It's great and still holds up.

Fruit Ninja = Kaboom 2.0

[dkersten]

Notice how all the games you mentioned had superior arcade versions?  I've had this argument with sega fans before, if your console only had arcade ports then it doesn't have a good library because we now have access to the arcade versions. 

Shoot we didn't even have to wait until emulation.... Once the NES was released many of those titles were re-released on it and they were vastly superior ports. 

Your logic is all based on what you can do TODAY, not what you had back then.  Atari was the best when it was the ONLY way you could play arcade games at home.  Face it, as a kid you weren't going to go 3 years without playing games just because you wanted to wait for technology to get better (that you didn't even know was going to come out).  You played at home on the Atari and when you could afford it you went to the arcade to play the "real" games.  For some of us, going to the Arcade was a privilege we seldom had, so when we had the opportunity to play at home it was AWESOME.  And yes, when something better came out YEARS LATER, you played that instead and the Atari became a dust collector.  But that was YEARS later. 

As for today, the way I see it, while some people that stick around here have a love for arcade games of old, MOST people either lose interest quickly in this hobby or are more interested in the building and restoring part than the actual game play.  Twenty years from now there will still be some die hard World of Warcraft players who are building "retro" computers to play that outdated and ancient game.  And some people who played it for a short time will dabble in it just to see if it recaptures what they felt when playing it when it first came out (before they lost interest and went on to the next big thing) before moving on to some other nostalgic idea.

Personally, I moved on from Atari and aside from the couple minutes of nostalgia I got when I fired up the emulator, I haven't had any interest in going back.  But back then it was the coolest thing in the world and I loved playing for hours on end. 

As for Intellivision, it isn't much different but I still spent dozens of hours playing D&D and Utopia on it.. LOVED those games.  Are they the best in the genre (or title) now?  No, but that isn't the point.  At least not to me it isn't. 

[Malenko]

Notice how all the games you mentioned had superior arcade versions?  I've had this argument with sega fans before, if your console only had arcade ports then it doesn't have a good library because we now have access to the arcade versions. 

Shoot we didn't even have to wait until emulation.... Once the NES was released many of those titles were re-released on it and they were vastly superior ports. 

Your logic is all based on what you can do TODAY, not what you had back then

My problem with that logic is that I don't have fond memories playing the arcade version in my living room, I have fond memories of playing the inferior console ports. I don't allow someone else's opinion define what I consider a good library.  He's totally right to have that opinion and I wont try to change it, doesn't mean I have to agree with it though. Some people think FFVII was good, all you can do is agree to disagree and move on.

[Howard_Casto]

And I don't get people relying on nostalgia to buy stuff.  I get it, I have fond memories of consoles as well (not the 2600 though, NES FTW) but nostalgia will only be a temporary feeling if you live with the thing again.  After that wears off there has to be something there that appeals to you now.  I appreciate and respect the past, but I don't live in it.  If I want to play a particular title, I want to play the best possible version of it, which is exactly why my snes copies of the MK and SF games have been collecting dust ever since the day I discovered emulation. 

[wp34]

As for Intellivision, it isn't much different but I still spent dozens of hours playing D&D and Utopia on it.. LOVED those games.  Are they the best in the genre (or title) now?  No, but that isn't the point.  At least not to me it isn't.

Loved me some Utopia.  It is the first SIM that I can remember seeing/playing.   

[Malenko]

And I don't get people relying on nostalgia to buy stuff.  I get it, I have fond memories of consoles as well (not the 2600 though, NES FTW) but nostalgia will only be a temporary feeling if you live with the thing again.  After that wears off there has to be something there that appeals to you now.  I appreciate and respect the past, but I don't live in it.  If I want to play a particular title, I want to play the best possible version of it, which is exactly why my snes copies of the MK and SF games have been collecting dust ever since the day I discovered emulation.

You cant speak in absolutes for everyone. I have SNES and still frequently play it, same goes for my Saturn and others. I mean I buy giant 250+ pound boxes that play a single game based on nostalgia and take up a ton of room; a console I can toss in a box if I decide to not play it for a while is no big deal. What you consider the best isnt always what someone else considers the best; I prefer Spy Hunter on NES over the arcade version even if the arcade version is better.

Im not gonna go back and forth with you, I'm just telling you different strokes for different folks.

[pbj]

Soon as a new system comes out, I very rarely have any interest in playing the old ones ever again.  If the PS4 read DVDRs better, the 360 would have been in the trash a year ago.  Wii and PS3 haven't been touched in almost 2 years.  I've gotten rid of anything older than that.  No ragrets.

[vwalbridge]

Soon as a new system comes out, I very rarely have any interest in playing the old ones ever again.  If the PS4 read DVDRs better, the 360 would have been in the trash a year ago.  Wii and PS3 haven't been touched in almost 2 years.  I've gotten rid of anything older than that.  No ragrets.

I used to be just like pbj...latest and greatest or GTFO.  However, within the last couple of years, I've turned around and started moving backwards in time. I'm starting to appreciate the "oldies" more and more.

Sure I still enjoy the brand new stuff and play it when I get the chance but I feel like the modern gaming industry has hit a bit of a point of diminishing returns. Especially moving from the PS3 erra to the PS4 era. There was just not a far enough leap in technology to this current gen. There doesn't seem to be much innovation from the major developers any longer. Same games just regurgitated with higher resolution. IMO, Nintendo and indy devs are the only guys making big enough strides right now.

So for me, re-enjoying some old classics is what I enjoy at the moment.

[Slippyblade]

Soon as a new system comes out, I very rarely have any interest in playing the old ones ever again.  If the PS4 read DVDRs better, the 360 would have been in the trash a year ago.  Wii and PS3 haven't been touched in almost 2 years.  I've gotten rid of anything older than that.  No ragrets.

I used to be just like pbj...latest and greatest or GTFO.  However, within the last couple of years, I've turned around and started moving backwards in time. I'm starting to appreciate the "oldies" more and more.

Sure I still enjoy the brand new stuff and play it when I get the chance but I feel like the modern gaming industry has hit a bit of a point of diminishing returns. Especially moving from the PS3 erra to the PS4 era. There was just not a far enough leap in technology to this current gen. There doesn't seem to be much innovation from the major developers any longer. Same games just regurgitated with higher resolution. IMO, Nintendo and indy devs are the only guys making big enough strides right now.

So for me, re-enjoying some old classics is what I enjoy at the moment.

I second this.  Not to mention that across all the consoles there have just been so many games that were worth playing.  For example, I played Chrono Trigger for the first time last year.  Amazing game, loved it.  There are games on almost every console that I never played - and I can play them now.

[pbj]

That's nice and everything, but it's hard to go back once you've held that Dualshock 4.

[harveybirdman]

It's funny, what I loved about Bushido Blade is sort of what I hate about all modern gaming.

Besides being tantalizingly realistic when it comes to getting hit with a sword (---fudgesicle--- your life bar ---smurfette---) I absolutely loved that in Bushido Blade you ran around stages and weren't constrained by a 2D themed stage per the status quo of most of it's contemporaries.

Unfortunately this concept became invasive, to the point now where every game is in the first person and only the skins seem to change.

I admire the old games for having to be fun within the constraints of the technology.  I think of 8 Bit as an art form.  With regards to Atari, I was not as lucky as some, I ended up with the 400 where most had the 2600.  Still I played enough Combat at my friends houses to remember the system fondly.  I don't emulate it though,  however I've considered doing so for Demon Attack.

[Ginsu Victim]

I have a Demon Attack cartridge I could send you if you have a system to run it.

[harveybirdman]

Meh still don't have a 2600, but we're so close I'll keep that on the list of excuses to have a beer with ya some day.

[Ginsu Victim]

I might have an extra one of those as well. I play all of my 2600 games on the 7800 anyway. (We're both in Oklahoma?)

[lcmgadgets]

I never got into the early console stuff--I was old enough & had access to the arcades. The console versions of the arcade games just didn't measure up for me.

With the exception of the dedicated combat game my parents bought us 1 Christmas. We played that thing to death. Broke 1 of the joysticks--melted it back together a dozen times. It was from learning how to steer the tank on that thing that I was instantly decent at Battlezone when it appeared. & I learned the advantage of running backwards in a rocket fight in Doom--you're running away from his rockets while he charges into yours...heh heh heh.

It wasn't until the NES came along that I really started to pay attention. But the arcades were still there. & computer games weren't doing it for me either--the early 1's were just arcade knock offs. It wasn't until Elite came along that I got into that. After that I was an arcade/PC gamer exclusively until the arcades were gone. Now I have an Xbox360, PS3 and a WiiU. But I'd trade them all & probably my brother's soul too to bring the arcades back

[harveybirdman]

I might have an extra one of those as well. I play all of my 2600 games on the 7800 anyway. (We're both in Oklahoma?)

Claremore,  so not exactly neighbors,  but I've considered going down to Lawton area a couple of times for machine pickups.

[Le Chuck]

I don't think it's nostalgia so much as the comfort of the familiar. Same reason I watch movies I like over and over, same reason I read and reread the same novels. Yo! Noid sucks but I'll still play a few levels when I get the chance because it fits like old jeans. Video pinball is lame but I found myself playing it for 15 minutes not long ago. Like an old security blanket.