What games did you have.......

[adams_ale]

What games did you have as a kid and how many did you have? The 2600 was passed down to me from my older brothers who are now 38 and 34, I'm 27. Anyway, I guess someone threw out the boxes before they came to me, because all I had were loose games: Frogger, Return of the Jedi, Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak, Pac-Man, Berzerk, and Space Shuttle(all the games as far as I can recall). I lived in a small country town far from the city and we didn't go to the mall all that often so I don't recall ever seeing Atari games in a store. We ordered plenty out of the Sears catalog, but sadly no Q*Berts Qubes. Speaking of which, what rare games did you own or see in stores? Anyone remember seeing rarity 7's, 8's, 9's, or Holy Grails?

[shadow460]

Adventure

Adventures of Tron

Air Raiders

Alien

Armor Ambush

 

plus 251 more all the way to Yars' Revenge...

 

Here, then are some highlights:

 

Old Collection:

Spike's Peak/Ghost Manor

Chuck Norris/Artillery Duel

all six Telesys games

first 12 Starpath games

Final Approach (blue)

Turmoil

Subterranea

 

New Collection:

Night Driver (Sears Pic)

Ghost Manor single end

Sea Hawk

Submarine Commander

Stellar Track (green end label)

Fathom

 

Common to both collections:

Yars' Revenge (Sears Pic)

Official Frogger

all five black label US Games titles

 

That's based loosely on rarity.

 

As for fun, well... both collections have Astroblast, Gran Prix, Pitfall II, and quite a few others.

Oh, both collections feature the Amiga Power Stick.

Like many others here, my old collection was completely lost--every bit of it. The new one was started from scratch.

[adams_ale]

Like many others here, my old collection was completely lost--every bit of it.  The new one was started from scratch.

950067[/snapback]

 

Nice lot of games both then and now. So did you sell your games in a yard sale? I clearly remember letting go of the 2600, wish I hadn't.

[keilbaca]

Well I have 4x as many carts as I used to. However, I used to have a silver label Gravitar and I had no idea at the time (I was like 10) if it was even worth anything. Go figure.

[adams_ale]

Well I have 4x as many carts as I used to. However, I used to have a silver label Gravitar and I had no idea at the time (I was like 10) if it was even worth anything. Go figure.

950090[/snapback]

 

How did you get the Gravitar cart? Did you have it boxed?

[keilbaca]

Well I have 4x as many carts as I used to. However, I used to have a silver label Gravitar and I had no idea at the time (I was like 10) if it was even worth anything. Go figure.

950090[/snapback]

 

How did you get the Gravitar cart? Did you have it boxed?

 

I don't remember, but I did have the box. I'm pretty sure it was one of the games we bought from big lots.

 

I also remember seeing a brand new Xenophobe there as well.

[Shawn]

I don't remeber every game I had cause I got my ATARI when I was like 3 (Christmas 83) But I remeber having this stuff over the time I had my ATARI: ATARI system, 2 CX-40's, Paddles and the games: Smurfs, Popeye, Kaboom, Video Olympics, Yars Revenge, Star Wars: Arcade Game and Ms. Pacman. I had a few more games I think but I can't remember. I moved on up to the NES in85 or 86 (christmas it was avalible in Canada) and didn't play Atari again unitll about 10 years ago and I started to collect atari about 3 years ago.

[SteveW]

I had around 30 to 40 games when I was a kid. I did slow down a few years on buying games after the crash, but once Atari relaunched the VCS as the 2600Jr, I bought one and started picking up more games. The only time I ever stopped buying 2600 games was after the crash, because I didn't have money to buy any. I did trade a few here and there, though. I think I lost more games by loaning them out than I really got back in trades.

[carpecarne]

Combat. That's it.

 

 

Seriously. I belong more to the NES generation than the Atari 2600, but my older siblings had a 4-switcher in our basement and we'd play it on a 9" B/W television. All they had was combat. That's probably why we never played it all that much

 

But when the NES came for Christmas back in 86 or 87, the atari didn't stand a chance. It just wound up being my prop for my imaginary spaceship.

Edited October 18, 2005 by carpecarne

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Back then I had about 20 games I think.

 

Dig Dug and Kangaroo, Demon Attack and Dragonfire, Gangster Alley and the rest were Quelle titles. Quelle games were a lot cheaper than real stuff, so whenever my pocket money could afford one, I ended up buying one of those, while the others were christmas presents

 

Of course, sold them all at a flea market when I was 15 or 16...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[nester]

I still have all the games from the "Grandma Collection." These are the games that my grandma had for her 7800 that originally inspired my love of video games. It was mostly common 2600 numbering about 20 and 6 Atari 7800 games. I do remember that she got me Crack'ed for Christmas in 1989 (or sometime around in there). I had no idea that Atari had made games in my lifetime.

 

Anyway, the were mostly all common ones. There were a few odd ones like Wabbit and Gopher and there were quite a few red label games. I have them all now and I keep meaning to go back through and figure out which are which.

[A.J. Franzman]

We had a light sixer bought probably sometime 1978-80, and stopped playing it shortly after the time of the crash because the C-64 became the new plaything. We probably had about 2 dozen carts, let me see if I can remember:

 

Combat

Adventure

Air-Sea Battle

Asteroids

Battlezone

Casino

Defender

Enduro

Krull

M*A*S*H

Missile Command

Space Invaders

Pac-Man

Pitfall!

Raiders of the Lost Ark

RealSports Baseball

RealSports Football

Riddle of the Sphinx

River Raid

Space Shuttle

Star Raiders

Superman

Swordquest: Earthworld

Video Olympics

 

Also, I remember playing these at homes of friends, neighbors, and relatives:

Basketball

Demon Attack

Dragonfire

Football

Haunted House

Home Run

Indy 500

Laser Blast

Maze Craze

Space War

Street Racer

Surround

Wizard of Wor - not sure if this was on 2600 or C-64

 

I also played a few C-64 versions of titles that were available for the 2600, like: California Games, Ghostbusters, James Bond, Jungle Hunt, Moon Patrol, Pitfall II, Spy Hunter, Summer Games, Super Cobra, Winter Games. Together, these make up just about my entire exposure to 2600 games back in the day.

 

I never played or owned another gaming system, and the next computer after the Commodore was a PC in 1996.

Edited June 14, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[silverpoodleman]

Only had fourteen games as a kid - nothing of monetary value (although reacquiring Pong was considerably more expensive than I thought it would be!)

 

Pitfall!

Pong (came with the system)

homerun

basketball

missle command

Space Invaders

sky diver

bowling

human cannonball

Black Jack

Slot Machine

Breakout

Activision tennis

Surround

 

Growing up, my best friend was an only child and it seemed he had every new game that came out with the 2600 and intellivision. As a result, we played everything (my favorite was kaboom - couldn't get enough of that one). There were four of us that were a group and man, did we play that system!

 

I brought my 2600 to college in 1986 and it was a HUGE hit in the dorms. We had bowling tournaments, sky diver elimination brackets (one of the best two player games on the 2600), and BONGPONG (I'll let you use your imagination for that one!). Eventually, my 2600 vcs, my dear friend, died at the too-young age of nine.

 

Forward to present day - Now I have acquired 216 unique titles since I started collecting a few months ago and my kid loves the 2600, our friends love it, and even my father - 71 years old and still working a 42 hour week (three 14-hour days a week - he is a pharmacist) - went right to the 2600, pulled out tennis and started playing. I caught him at 3:30 am in the basement playing superbreakout, which is weird because usually I catch him at 3:30 am watching cable porn!

 

Today, the 2600 is worth so much more than the money I spent building my collection. The value lies in memories (the ones from my youth and those we are now creating) and fun (simplicity works best in almost every aspect of life)

Edited October 19, 2005 by silverpoodleman

[davepesc]

I probably got my Atari somewhere around 1980 and my brother and I must have gotten at least 50 games for it, probably more (Mom and Dad were REALLY good to us )

I know my favorites were Cosmic Ark, Berzerk, Pitfall, Riddle of the Sphinx, Frogger and Ms. Pac-Man, among others. I don't remember having anything that is valuable today and I know all of the boxes were thrown out. Heck, most didn't make it out of the back seat of the car!

 

I gave everything to my cousin when I hit about 11-years-old and was "too old" for video games. Shortly thereafter, I got a Sega Master System (too old, right), so the Atari was forgotten about. Don't know what ever happened to the Atari. I know my cousin still had it as of like 5 years ago, but I don't want to ask. Feel like an Indian giver or something, let her have it.

 

The only games I can think of that I know I had but have not been able to land again are Spiderman and 007.

 

EDIT: Just to come full circle, I now have more than 250 games and my 3-year-old daughter already has an appreciation for Pitfall, Frogger, Frogs & Flies, Chopper Command and Laser Blast. I even gave her one of those storage cases where you push the lever and it shoots out your game. She loves that, too.

Edited October 19, 2005 by davepesc

[A2600]

My dad bought a VADER in '84 and manage to aquire tons of games for not that much!! My mom liked bump and jump my old man enjoyed activision boxing, whn the system was handed to me 1989-90 I was hooked on Adventure!! Sadly by 1992 my dad bought a SNES and bye bye VCS, she stayed my grandmas house untill 1993 when she threw it out thinking it was broken!! I threw a BAD fit that day!!

 

We had maybe 40 to 50 games

 

PICTURES:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22759&hl=

[maibock]

My parents loved shopping at Sears so of course, Christmas time 1980 we had a tele-games. I remember vividly going shopping with my mom to try out the display Atari.

 

I can't remember when, but most of the games were gifts that we got. I remember in Jr High, a buddy and I would take off after school and race down to a local Pharmacy which rented Atari games. We'd get a few and race back for baseball practice..

 

These are the ones I remember playing a lot of as a kid..

 

Adventure

Baseball

Football

Basketball

Pong Sports

Breakout

Skiing

Pitfall

Tennis

Combat

Target Fun

Sky Diver

Space Invaders

Boxing

Dodge 'em

Circus Atari

Kaboom

Riddle of the Sphinx

Space Combat

[Cassidy Nolen]

I had like 28 games as a kid. For some reason I had two Defenders and two Star Raiders so I think they were yardsale finds. Dad sent me a box once and there were all loose games (I am sure thats where he got them). That would have been 83-ish?

 

My rarest game was Piece O Cake. I never really saw the "rare" games growing up. I got my games for Christmas and Birthdays. Think we bought that at a toy store in the area.

 

Most of my games came from Sears as well. The game shops were for the older kids and my Mom was a big believer in Sears. I am sure thats where my system came from, too.

 

Cassidy

[+FujiSkunk]

When Santa Claus gave me my first Atari, he also left Asteroids, Donkey Kong, and Outlaw under the tree, along with Combat of course. "Somehow" my uncle heard of Santa's generousity, and gave me Defender that same Christmas. A few days later I talked Mom into buying Video Pinball for me.

 

Games came in steadily after that. Pac-Man, Centipede, Pitfall!, Missile Command, Zaxxon, Gorf, Wizard of Wor and Astroblast, among others, were all bought by Mom or friends for birthday and holiday gifts. Ms. Pac-Man was the first game I bought for myself, and the first thing I ever made a conscious effort to save money for.

 

It's hard to say what games I got as a kid and what games I got as a collector, because there never was a time that I fell out of playing my Atari. Even in junior high and high school, when other kids were playing their Nintendos and Segas, I was clinging to my Atari. I remember Mom buying me Yars' Revenge and Star Raiders while I was in junior high, and then Joust and Midnight Magic among other games while I was in high school (around 1990). It was soon after that that I talked her into buying me an Atari 7800. I've been vacuuming up games for those systems ever since.

 

The rarest game I remember seeing back in the day was probably Tax Avoiders (rarity 5). Kay-Bee was still giving prominent shelf space to the Atari, even as the Nintendo was getting popular, and that was among the games they were still offering. It didn't seem too impressive to me at the time. My eye was on Solaris.

[joeybastard]

The first year I had a VCS, I only had Combat and Surround. I got a few more the following year but in 1983 I discovered a place called the Record Van and my family's financial situation jumped from borderline poverty to very firmly middleclass. The Record Van sold used carts and by then the crash must have been starting because that Xmas(my mom went a little overboard since it was the first one, we had $$$) I got a CV, like 15 used CV games and probably 20 used VCS carts. I also started getting $10 a week allowance. The Record Van started selling used carts from anywhere from .50 up to about $5 for used games. I bought many many games for both the CV and the VCS. Most for like a buck. I don't even know how many anymore. Probably around 150-200 carts. All I know is that I had a lot of games that are now 7-9 in rarity. When I bought NES while they were test marketed in NYC with birthday dough in 1985, I sold my entire CV and Atari collection for $300 and bought my first(and most beloved) guitar.

 

I wish I hadn't done that though. Now that collection would be worth WAY more than $300 and I'll never be able to find/afford many of those games again. On the other hand the guitar made me a rock and roll star in my own mind so that was good too.

[Laner]

I probably had around 30 at most... the ones I remember:

 

Combat

Space Invaders

E.T.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Q*Bert

Frogger

Super Breakout

Missile Command

Surround

Defender

Night Driver

Submarine Commander

The Empire Strikes Back

Centipede

Star Raiders

Riddle of the Sphinx

Star Voyager

Robot Tank

Circus Atari

Swordquest: Earthworld

Video Pinball

Word Zapper

Gopher

 

When I got the 2600 bug last year, surprisingly I still had most of those to start off my collection. I know my parents gave the 7800 and quite a few games to a neighbor that is long since gone - I have no idea what they have/had.

 

As far as rare carts go, the most rare one I originally owned was Submarine Commander - and I'm pretty sure someone just handed it off to me - it wasn't something I actually wanted or purchased myself.

 

I distinctly remember reading Atari Age and lusting after the Quadrun cart. Too bad I never was able to obtain it...

Edited October 19, 2005 by Laner

[ATARIPITBULL]

As a kid I did not have very many games, thats because all my friends and I would trade our carts to play ones we did not already have, so there was no need to buy every thing that came out, but I did have:

 

1) Adventure.

 

2) Pitfall.

 

3) Yars Revenge.

 

4) Combat.

 

5) Crazy Climber.

 

6) Stampede.

 

7) Raiders of the lost Ark.

 

Wizard of Wor.

 

9) Pac - Man.

 

10) Venture.

 

11) Defender.

 

12) Asteroids.

 

13) Frogger.

 

14) Spider Man.

 

15) Tutankham.

 

16) Swordquest Earthworld.

 

 

I only had the 2600 system!, no extras like cart holders, Super Chargers, carrying case or anything like I do now.

 

Edited October 19, 2005 by ATARIPITBULL

[keilbaca]

Oh, I forgot one more. My mom was taking me to a psychologist because of my love of games (I was always opening up my systems and even my computer. My parents put a padlock on the case so I couldn't open the comp, so I picked the lock and continued to explore). So, the one I had had some atari 2600 games and I had a 2600. So, at the time it was, if I behaved and such, that she would let me borrow a game for the week. One of the games was... swordquest waterworld. Years later when I found out it was quite scarce, I couldn't believe it.

Edited October 19, 2005 by keilbaca

[RickHarrisMaine]

Lets see, I remember winning my first Atari in one of those McDonald's games, and I was about 11 or 12 I guess. I had a paper route then, and all of my money went into that thing for a few years. I don't remember all the games I had, but some of my favorites were

 

Pitfall, Chopper Command, Asteroids, Atalantis, Frogger, and Vanguard. I loved Starmaster, and its one I've not yet re-acquired. I also loved Dragonfire, and I still do! I'll try and think of some of the others I had.