Thursday, September 18, 2008

Atari 2600 Memories


ATARI 2600 NIGHT DRIVER:
I was talking to someone about this game the other day. We had this one when I was a kid and I remember playing it probably more than the other games because the rules were simple. I'd say this game was stressful and affected me years later. Because I crashed and burned so often in the night driving, it made me very nervous of driving in general....probably adding to my nervousness with my driver's ed. "If I can't avoid crashing with a video game...what type of driver am I going to be in real life?!"



RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK:
This game was probably the most complex game we had for the Atari 2600. It was hard! This was back before the time of the internet so not easy for a kid to find the hints for it. I liked the strategy of the game and the way it allowed wandering around in different rooms to try to find what you needed to move up to the next level. I did get beyond the first level and on the one hand I don't seem to remember ever winning the game but actually I think I must have watched someone solve it at one point. When I think of playing this game my impressions from my youth are:
1. Frustrating.
2. A hint at the future for video games beyond the war & sports video games that were the most common games at the time.

Too busy this week but I think I'll find an online version of this game this weekend and give it a try. I haven't tried any of the games yet and there might be other sites that offer these games also but here is a link from Console Classix to play some of the Atari 2600 games online.

No comments: