What Are The Hidden Gems of the Atari 2600?

[Anapan]

Hmm, I can come up with 3 - Crystal Castles, Fishing Derby (I played it a lot anyway) and Space Raiders.
Space raiders was too complex for me when I had it, but thinking back I think it was a lot like the game Elite. Moving through different sectors of space and battling in 3D. Pretty advanced stuff compared to the regular fodder. Galactic map, Hyperwarp, etc.

[Majors]

Secret Quest. I had never heard of it, but after snag'n a copy and getting some play time, I was impressed with it's attempt for aging hardware to go one-on-one with Zelda.

[flamepanther]

Secret Quest. I had never heard of it, but after snag'n a copy and getting some play time, I was impressed with it's attempt for aging hardware to go one-on-one with Zelda.

Of course you never heard of Secret Quest--it's a secret!

[noiseredux]

So I think we had discussed which games defined the 2600 enough -- now, which games fall more under the "hidden gems" category that still stand the test of time (at least to old-school fans like ourselves)?

Halo 2600?

I'm going to second this for the Hidden Gems list. The game really showed me what they 2600 was capable of and introduced me to the homebrew scene very positively. It's genuinely one of the most enjoyable 2600 games I've ever played.

agreed. I said it elsewhere, but 2600 was one of my earliest consoles. I had a LOT Of games, including most of the "defining" ones ( ), and yet Halo 2600 just shocked me. It's amazing to think that such a fleshed-out game is such a tiny program.

[AntonBD]

I played my share of the big games back in the day on friend's machines, but I've also messed around with some obscure games via emulation. I would nominate a pair of shooters: Laser Gates and Subterranea. I'm not sure how 'hidden' these are, but they're pretty awesome. Solid control, interesting environments to negotiate, and a difficulty curve that eases you in.

[CRTGAMER]

Maze Craze
Random generated rat mazes keeps this one interesting, find the exit first!
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.h ... abelID=295



Slot Racers
Another maze. Two player battle at the fast speed setting makes for interesting driving and shooting ricochet mechanics. Da Da Da Dum! (sound of stopping and starting that car)
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.h ... abelID=441



Stellar Track
A Sears Telegames only release. A 2600 version of the old Main Frame game Super Star Trek.
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.h ... abelID=510
http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/softwar ... rtrack.htm

[Gao]

Off the top of my head:

Cosmic Ark - Probably my favorite Imagic game.
Jr. Pac-Man - A really nice Pac-Man game with large, scrolling mazes. This seems to be unknown by most people due to coming out relatively late in the 2600's life.
Maze Craze - A rather amusing 2 player maze game.
Stargate - This is pretty much what the port of its predecessor, Defender, should have been, though it seems to be less well known.
Air-Sea Battle - I believe that this was one of the launch titles for the system, so I'm not sure if it really counts as hidden, but I don't seem to hear much about it from most people. It's sort of like a 2 player competitive version of Space Invaders, but the targets don't fire back, though there is a mode where the players have to attack each other.

[CRTGAMER]

A very early "E-Reader". Maybe the Starpath Supercharger? The games can be converted to load off a CD or MP3 player.

[dsheinem]

Barnstorming
Chopper Command (how is this not on the defining games list?!)
Tutankham
Sky Skipper

there's more I can think of as well, but these jumped to the top of my list...

[ejamer]

Um... are any of these considered "hidden", or are they all too well-known?

BurgerTime - nice conversion of the arcade classic
California Games - first time I remember playing mini-games
Dolphin - gameplay was based largely on sound
Frogs and Flies - simple game, great multiplayer focus
Moon Patrol - first game I remember beating
Mouse Trap - huge improvement over (Atari) Pac-Man
Keystone Kapers - cool level map and frantic action
Pheonix - another arcade classic, first "boss battle" that I remember
Seaquest - often forgotten but still a fun game
Solaris - tremendous space fighter
Space Raiders - deep and relatively complex
Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator - another interesting and complex game