Nominate Games That Defined Atari 2600

[Gao]

This list is going to be flooded with arcade conversions

You say that like it's a bad thing.

And it's not like they're the exact same thing. The limitations of the 2600 forced developers to rethink how the games should function, and they often end up with quite a different feel. For instance, Missile command plays quite different with 1 missile base rather than the 3 of the arcade version, as does Asteroids with it's reduced horizontal movement of the asteroids.

[Czernobog]

I don't really know about it helping to define the 2600 since iirc there were better versions elsewhere, but I always think of Breakout as a 2600 game everyone should have.

[Hatta]

And it's not like they're the exact same thing. The limitations of the 2600 forced developers to rethink how the games should function, and they often end up with quite a different feel.

Great point. For that matter, Yar's Revenge was originally intended as an arcade port (Star Castle). Obviously they had to change it up a bit. Check out Racing the Beam if you haven't already.

[noiseredux]

Great point. For that matter, Yar's Revenge was originally intended as an arcade port (Star Castle). Obviously they had to change it up a bit. Check out Racing the Beam if you haven't already.

I've heard that book mentioned like five times in the past month. I'm really gonna have to check it out.

[Gao]

Great point. For that matter, Yar's Revenge was originally intended as an arcade port (Star Castle). Obviously they had to change it up a bit.

Yeah, and in this case, I think what we ended up getting was a better game.

Check out Racing the Beam if you haven't already.

I actually just read that a couple weeks ago, and I second your recommendation to everyone else. It really made me appreciate the amount of work and creativity that was required to make something work on the VCS.

[Anapan]

This list is going to be flooded with arcade conversions and non-exclusive titles.

No! The only way you can play them is on an Atari 2600.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjSzAS7NcI

[Erik_Twice]

This list is going to be flooded with arcade conversions and non-exclusive titles. I love the 2600, but when I think of the games that "defined" the console, it makes me wonder why I keep one around...

Nowadays there's little reason to play most of those ports but those ports were the reason the 2600 was so popular. The possibility of bringing the arcade to your house was what defined the 2600.

It's not going to have many good gay for today's standards, but the defining articles are mostly historical.

@Anapan

I liked that commercial. It threw a lot of punches to the competence

[flamepanther]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

At the time, it wasn't a bad thing at all. Now that we all live in the future and much better conversions of nearly all of those arcade games are readily available, it sort of damages the current play value of the system. In retrospect, I wish there had been more high profile games that were exclusive to that console. It's just a regret that this topic is suddenly making me realize.

I do think Pitfall! should be excluded from the list, however, since it could equally be said to have defined the Intellivision... and a game that defines both consoles equally really isn't a defining game at all.

[Gao]

I do think Pitfall! should be excluded from the list, however, since it could equally be said to have defined the Intellivision... and a game that defines both consoles equally really isn't a defining game at all.

I think it's alright to include games that were later ported to other consoles. After all, if we didn't, we'd have to remove things like Mario World and Donkey Kong Country from the "Games that Defined the Super Nintendo" article due to the GBA ports.

[noiseredux]

I do think Pitfall! should be excluded from the list, however, since it could equally be said to have defined the Intellivision... and a game that defines both consoles equally really isn't a defining game at all.

I think it's alright to include games that were later ported to other consoles. After all, if we didn't, we'd have to remove things like Mario World and Donkey Kong Country from the "Games that Defined the Super Nintendo" article due to the GBA ports.

and in a sense, I think an argument can be made that one game can define two consoles. Case in point, certainly Mario World defined the SNES -- but the GBA is often defined by ports of NES and SNES games. Omitting them from an article because they were ports would be ignoring what the GBA was well known for.