bryan_65 wrote:I have had the same thoughts as you, but none pop up in this neck of the woods. So my main questions is how much bigger is the 7800's foot print compared to the 2600 and the 2600 jr. It is hard to tell in the pictures. Is it huge like the 5200's?
2600Jr -- Tiny
5200 -- HUGE
7800 -- Just right (about in between the other 2)
Xeogred wrote:The obvious answer is that it's time for the Dreamcast 2.
As the owner of the 7800 (and as such, 2600 due to B/C), I'd say the Atari is totally worth buying. Not only for it's historical significance, but because there are some genuinely awesome games on it. Especially if you're into 80s arcade games.
As Hatta said, the 7800 library is mostly a bonus. There isn't a whole lot there, let alone unique titles. It does however have the definitive versions of Asteroids and Centipede, as well as some others that allow 2 player co-op. I sort of regret not buying a 2600jr. While I do enjoy the 7800 library, the 2600jr is small, sexy, and cheap (the 7800 is a bit large).
Don't gauge your Atari prices off eBay BINs. If you watch the auctions, you can easily score a 7800 with a few games for like $30-40, and 2600s go for about that price as well (except the jr, which can be had much cheaper).
Some of the stuff that was coming out on the 2600 late in it's life, as a low cost NES competitor, is pretty amazing. Solaris, Pitfall 2, Up 'n Down, and more are just plain awesome despite the crude graphics.
One other reason to get a 7800 in particular, are the home brews. Homebrewers have been filling out the library a little bit with some sorely missed arcade games like Scramble!, Beef Drop (BurgerTime clone), and b*nQ (Q*Bert clone). However, the real cool stuff will be coming on the XM expansion module. This basically amounts to a homebrew 32x (without the extra power supply), giving the 7800 two more sound chips and extra ram.
The homebrew on the 2600 certainly isn't skimpy either, and there are some real gems there such as Thrust.
Frankly, I'd put the 2600 in the sort of "required" consoles for retro gamers along with the NES, Genesis etc. There's so much to like about the console, and even non-gamers tend to get a bit bright eyed over them.
My first consoles were the NES/Genesis. A few years ago I got my older brothers an Atari 2600 for x-mas. I really tried to like some of the games but can't get into them. Its just no good for me.
As others have said, I agree that $80 (or even $60) is too much for a 2600. If you find it for $20, or $40 with a bunch of games, then I say go for it!
The 7800 does play 2600 games, but, also agreeing with others here, the 2600 games are really where the bulk of the classics are at. So, don't pass up a deal on a 2600! Likewise with a 7800.
The 7800 is smaller then the 5200 and similar in size to the original 2600. The 7800 is a great choice for an Atari, supports both 7800 and 2600 games. There are 7800 Arcade conversions that have exclusive simultaneous two player modes. Keep in mind the 7800 has a unique proprietary plug on the power supply.
I got a minty S-Video&stereo modded heavy-sixer from ebay for $52 US last year from This Guy. Awesome deal for such a well-modded system.
There's so many great games available for cheap. I'd also reccomend a Harmony Cart, even if it's just for the great homebrew games available.
It's worth having for it's historical significance in gaming, if you're into that sort of thing. However for the games themselves, you can find them re-released on many, many formats. The Atari first-party games, Activision games, and Midway/Williams games in particular.
However $80s for one, seems pretty steep to me. I bought mine off of eBay for $50, and it included 35 games, 2 joysticks, a pair of paddle controllers, a keypad controller, and even an official Atari game collection holder.
I just got a atari flashback 2 for 10.00 I love the thing but now more than ever I want to get both consoles if I get them cheap. I can't wait to get into the atari scene.
I grew up playing and loving the 2600. However, I can't imagine recommending it to anyone but the most bored gamers. Possibly if you had a consistent partner to play with you, but that would require two bored gamers.
Zing wrote:I grew up playing and loving the 2600. However, I can't imagine recommending it to anyone but the most bored gamers. Possibly if you had a consistent partner to play with you, but that would require two bored gamers.
I disagree. I really don't remember having one. I do remember seeing my friend get a 2600 jr and playing river raid and pitfall and my oldest brother had one but he never let me play it so I never thought I could get into one. Now I know that there are ALOT of bad games out there for the 2600. The 7800 doesn't compare to the great library of the sms and nes. But as I have been playing my flashback 2 all day, There are great games and arcade games for the 2600.
Let's take donkey kong, dkjr,mario bros and popeye for example. They were all on different systems. The nes version is the best imo on these games. That doesn't mean not to try to play and use your imagination on the 2600 version of these games. The 7800 versions of these games are very good ports too but I think when you think of arcade games you think atari.
I have donkey kong classics and kung fu and popeye on my nes but I want to play the 2600 and 7800 versions of the game they way it used to be in the early 80's.
I also played sonic 1 and 2,ms.pac man and arcade classics on the genesis using the atari joystick lol. The arcade classics were great and ms pac man was fun but sonic was hard to control. I guess it's his blast processing speed was too much for the atari controller
