Systems Really worth having.

[Luke]

I imagine you spend hours on your Odyssey aswell?

I'll pass on the Halo anyhow. Back to Blaster Master for me

I don't own an Odyssey, ass swell.

But yes, I spend a lot of my gaming time on the 2600. Doesn't reflect much as you can't beat most of the games I play in it, but I LOVE the 2600. Not just for nostalgic reasons, but for how awesome the games are. I will never tire of Yars' Revenge and Missile Command.

Blaster Master rules. Good on you.

[noiseredux]

But yes, I spend a lot of my gaming time on the 2600. Doesn't reflect much as you can't beat most of the games I play in it, but I LOVE the 2600. Not just for nostalgic reasons, but for how awesome the games are. I will never tire of Yars' Revenge and Missile Command.

oh man Yar's Revenge is so so brilliant.

Y'know what I was thinking of recently - I've still not been able to beat Pitfall.

EDIT: Oh and Luke I'll second that Halo suggestion. You should definitely play Halo 2600. It's amazing. Seriously.

[alienjesus]

[ But I think it takes even a more niche group of gamers, and a further subset of retro gamers, who enjoy it still.

AtariAge registered users: 30,000
NintendoAge registered users: 15,000
Sega-16 registered users: 6,000
Racketboy registered users: 6,500

Maybe there are Nintendo/Sega sites that are bigger than AtariAge, but I can't think of any. 2600 love is "niche" only here, for some reason. Playing and collecting for the system is a staple of retro gaming as a hobby.

This seems like a pretty narrow set of statistics to base it around. I could just as easily quote numbers from the backloggery at you, which says that 16940 users own a SNES, 11851 own a NES, 7584 own a Mega Drive or Genesis and 1225 an Atari 2600, but I don't really feel it proves anything.

In addition, the Lemon64 Commodore 64 forums have 10335 registered users, so I guess people should start recommending the Commodore 64 as an essential console too. Hell, World of Spectrum forums have a similar number to Sega 16, so lets add ZX Spectrum to the list too. I don't think those site numbers are a reliable number to go by at all.

However, whatever, if you think the Atari 2600 is a must own console, you've certainly made your argument. Like I said, you won't be changing my mind on it, but it's not me who's asking.

[dsheinem]

[ But I think it takes even a more niche group of gamers, and a further subset of retro gamers, who enjoy it still.

AtariAge registered users: 30,000
NintendoAge registered users: 15,000
Sega-16 registered users: 6,000
Racketboy registered users: 6,500

Maybe there are Nintendo/Sega sites that are bigger than AtariAge, but I can't think of any. 2600 love is "niche" only here, for some reason. Playing and collecting for the system is a staple of retro gaming as a hobby.

This seems like a pretty narrow set of statistics to base it around. I could just as easily quote numbers from the backloggery at you, which says that 16940 users own a SNES, 11851 own a NES, 7584 own a Mega Drive or Genesis and 1225 an Atari 2600, but I don't really feel it proves anything.

In addition, the Lemon64 Commodore 64 forums have 10335 registered users, so I guess people should start recommending the Commodore 64 as an essential console too. Hell, World of Spectrum forums have a similar number to Sega 16, so lets add ZX Spectrum to the list too. I don't think those site numbers are a reliable number to go by at all.

However, whatever, if you think the Atari 2600 is a must own console, you've certainly made your argument. Like I said, you won't be changing my mind on it, but it's not me who's asking.

I think those forum numbers are meaningful and help illustrate my point about the 2600 enthusiasm not being a "niche" or "niche subset" of the hobby . If I lived in Europe, the ZX Spectrum would absolutely be a recommended pick for retrogaming. The size of the community on the forum suggests lots of active enthusiasm. I don't consider the C64 a console, but it would be high on the list of classic PCs to pick up.

For Backloggery: Most Atari 2600 games aren't really "backlog" material since they can't be beaten. Backloggery isn't a strictly retro gaming site, either. I don't know how much I value that stat

[Jmustang1968]

Haha man you guys get touchy and defensive about the 2600. I feel safe to say I am a retro gamer even though I don't enjoy the 2600 much anymore. I don't hate it, and it has good games, but they are just too dated for my tastes now.

I would still say those who retro game are more commonly focused on 8 and 16 bit consoles and those are more universal. Whereas the 2600 is hit or miss with many and so wouldnt classify as an esssential recommendation in my mind. Maybe I am off base.

I actually had a very clean cib 2600 and a nice colecovision collection until I sold them last year in my mini purge sale. I just never wanted to play them.

[Luke]

EDIT: Oh and Luke I'll second that Halo suggestion. You should definitely play Halo 2600. It's amazing. Seriously.

Any carts under $50usd floating around? That's a lot of change for a 2600 cart.

[noiseredux]

EDIT: Oh and Luke I'll second that Halo suggestion. You should definitely play Halo 2600. It's amazing. Seriously.

Any carts under $50usd floating around? That's a lot of change for a 2600 cart.

NO idea. I played the ROM which was made freely available on the dev's website.

[dsheinem]

I would still say those who retro game are more commonly focused on 8 and 16 bit consoles and those are more universal. Whereas the 2600 is hit or miss with many and so wouldnt classify as an esssential recommendation in my mind. Maybe I am off base.

I don't disagree that there's more interest in 8 and 16 bit games as a whole, but to suggest that 2600 interest is "niche" in retro gaming is, I think, a result of spending too much time on this forum

[dsheinem]

EDIT: Oh and Luke I'll second that Halo suggestion. You should definitely play Halo 2600. It's amazing. Seriously.

Any carts under $50usd floating around? That's a lot of change for a 2600 cart.

$30: http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=p ... tail&p=998

One of the best homebrews ever made, easily. Stunning what Fries did with the system.

[Tweekers237]

first videogame system I ever played was 2600. it was my dads and I would drool when he busted it out.

I still get down on boxing, bowling, berzerker and breakout (alliteration much).

a lot of those game are still fun IMO aside from them being completely archaic.