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What does Atari mean to you?


atarigal

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My family's first Atari 2600 was a used one with games that my father bought for $50 from a friend. This would have been around 1980 when I was 7 or 8. My parents were broke as a joke, so this was a huge purchase for our family. I begged and begged for a copy of Asteroids for my birthday and they bought me that too at retail price! In retrospect, that was kind of like a miracle considering how poor we were. Most likely a relative gave them the money for it.

 

My brother and I (and my mom) spent countless hours on our Atari all the way through our high school years and I have many fond memories of "playing Atari." :) We kept our high scores in a glossy pamphlet that came with one of the games for that purpose (wish I still had that bit of family history!). My brother's games were Berzerk and Pitfall, mine were Asteroids and Super Breakout, and my mom's were Space Invaders and Stampede. Each of us got so good at our respective games that no one in the neighborhood could beat us. Maze Craze was the "family game" that we shared an obsession for and we still play that when we get together at holidays. My mom and I loved playing Raiders of the Lost Ark together as well. When the Atari Flashback 2 came out, my brother and I unknowingly bought it for each other for Christmas. It was hilarious opening them at the same time, LOL.

 

My brother got an NES in the late 80's, and although we used it a lot, it doesn't have the same nostalgia for us that the 2600 does. I think the fact that my mom, brother, and I all still have Atari units says a lot about the profound impact it had on us and the good memories it generated. My childhood wasn't great in other ways, and I remember in times of stress my mom saying, "Hey, want to play Atari?" We'd all forget our troubles for a few hours as we sat on the tattered couch in our drafty old house laughing our butts off as we played Freeway.

 

So, that's what Atari means to me. What about you? :)

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I got my Atari when I was in 2nd grade. It was a get well gift for a series of surgical procedures I had to endure. While recovering, all of my neighborhood friends would come to visit. They came to wish me well, but more importantly...this was 1979. My house became the Atari house, as we were the only ones in town who had this six-switched, space-age miracle! I had three games to start: Combat, Space Invaders and Adventure. Talk about hours and hours of play time! I never got bored.

 

My favorite memories were those later on, as more of my friends also got their Atari's. We would go to each other's houses and each bring our game collections. Since money was tight back then, all of the kids would buy games someone else didn't have. When we would get together, it would be a day of Atari with one "huge" library of games (and by huge I am talking about maybe 40 total between the whole group). It was awesome getting to play those games I didn't own!!!! I used to look forward to that so much. Back then, we appreciated everything so much more. Those were the days!

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Same here.

 

I couldn't sleep when a friend of mine promised me I could borrow his Zaxxon cartridge the other day.

 

I owned 14 titles back then and I played them to death.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/83514-the-original-collection/page__view__findpost__p__1017727

 

8)

Edited by Rom Hunter
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My favorite memories were those later on, as more of my friends also got their Atari's. We would go to each other's houses and each bring our game collections. Since money was tight back then, all of the kids would buy games someone else didn't have. When we would get together, it would be a day of Atari with one "huge" library of games (and by huge I am talking about maybe 40 total between the whole group). It was awesome getting to play those games I didn't own!!!! I used to look forward to that so much. Back then, we appreciated everything so much more. Those were the days!

 

As the 80's wore on, we ended up with a lot of our friends' games as they moved on to other systems. By the time I was in high school, we must have had a very large collection because I look at my current stash of about 75 carts and see tons of holes and "missing" games. I don't think we had any super rare ones, but we probably had all of the mass produced titles at the time. I remember being at Zayre's (or some similar) department store and picking up games out of the "clearance" bin with my babysitting money. I think us kids bought most of the games over the years, so we definitely appreciated them!

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Same here.

 

I couldn't sleep when a friend of mine promised me I could borrow his Zaxxon cartridge the other day.

 

I owned 14 titles back then and I played them to death.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/83514-the-original-collection/page__view__findpost__p__1017727

 

8)

 

Those were pretty good titles if you only had to have 14. :D I think the Atari my dad bought came with about eight, but I can't remember anymore what they were. I do clearly remember seeing the games in their holder as he brought it through the door and into the living room, though! My brother and I were so excited, LOL.

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Honestly, though I grew up around the tail-end of the 2600's life, I always liked the system. My uncle owned one from his graduate school days, and my father's friend also had one hooked up in the back of his home in a den. My brother and I would often take the time to play some classics, though we were raised on the NES. Asteroids and Air Sea Battle come to mind. Eventually our father found one for us at a garage sale and we started to play it more. I eventually sold it, and then got back into collecting the time you see I joined AA. Now it's a big part of my life. I love playing games and one of the things I think about is having fun with this collection well into my old age. By that time it might be the only thing I'm capable of doing without vomiting or crapping my pants, so I'm well prepared for it. I also like Atari games because they're more focused on skill. I play later systems for more content and depth, but the Atari is all about skill, and I like that. I think it's a shame modern games don't really focus on this as much anymore.

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I remember the first time I saw a VCS. They were not called 2600 until later on. Was at a good friends house, and I had come over with my Mom to pick something up. Walked in the garage door, through the door to the kitchen, turned left, and saw BREAKOUT on the screen in color! Prior to that time, I had only seen the standard "circuit as game" PONG chip type machines, and this was new!

 

The sounds were clear and interesting, and the controller was not part of the machine, allowing for sitting on the couch, or just hanging around.

 

I walked over to the thing, where my friend and his older brother were checking out a set of games they had purchased. They had VIDEO OLYMPICS, BREAKOUT, STARSHIP, COMBAT, MINIATURE GOLF, INDY 500 (a game that we so seriously need to make updates to), BASKETBALL and some others I can't recall.

 

At the time, I was floored. The machine was very techy for the time period, and elegant, and well constructed. The "Game Program" carts were fascinating with the little doors, and it all hinted at both fun, and sophistication, even though we know now it was just the bare minimum. Sure presented as a lot more than it really was.

 

Of course I asked the usual kids, "can I stay 'n play?", and did just that! We spent most of the day, and a good chunk of the evening playing the different titles, inserting the different games, controllers, and had a lot of fun on the thing.

 

Had to have one.

 

Got one later that year for Xmas. Combat was a trip then. Being able to play against somebody, and do stuff on the screen was pretty amazing, and the graphics for the time were bold, fast, and generally interesting to me.

 

On that note, I think people imprint on these kinds of things. For years, the VCS colors, and it's graphics, and in particular, the way games were frame locked to the display because of how the machine works with a kernel to do graphics, states in the blank, etc... were things I prefer, even though the overall package really wasn't all that powerful, or even elegant, compared to other means and methods I would see later on.

 

That day, for me, started real gaming and some desire to get control of the TV. For some reason, the PONG games didn't have that spark. I think it was due to the very simple nature of the discrete circuits used to make them. The VCS had that bit of smarts to it, where there was just enough depth to intrigue and suggest there was a lot of potential untapped, and there you go.

 

Hooked on pixels to this day.

 

My VCS, which is one of the ones that says "Video Computer System" on it, currently sits in the office where we have been having some "Midevil Mayhem" and INDY 500 tag contests over idle times. Some of my peers are 10 years younger, and the machine strikes them too, even though they saw it at a lesser time, they identify with it's unique appeal in most of the ways I do.

 

When I turn one on, and turn the paddle, the flood of happy days gone by almost always comes back, and of all the things about newer gaming I miss, I think the paddle and driving controllers and the simple dynamics that go with them are the ones I miss most. Still need to knock out a round of KABOOM! once in a while, or I just get cranky. :)

 

A coupla years later, the experience repeated with the Atari 400 computer. Same friend, same brother, who made good money and bought lots of stuff, where I was to learn he hoped we would go jam on it big, never telling us that until later. He would get the things, make a big show of how we needed to be careful, etc... then grin from the back room, where he would watch us yell, play, scratch our heads in wonder. Nice guy.

 

On that day, we played "Star Raiders", and that game set the bar for home computing gaming for me again, imprinting on me that style of graphics and sophistication. I had seen some other computers and arcades by then, and the 400 looked like a machine out of the future, with it's sleek lines, funky keyboard, and impressive graphics and sounds. Often, we played that game two player, with one person manning the keyboard and the other running the stick, trying to get the better ranks. If you can, do that with a younger person. Star Raiders on a nice old 400 ranks as one of the better game experiences no matter what, even today.

 

That was a stay over. We had "Star Raiders", and some games on cassette. Loading those took forever, but it was another one of those early things where I just watched the wheels turn, feeding the bits in, intrigued...

 

On the following morning, I got up early, looking at the books, and decided to put the BASIC cart in, and typed in some of the little, goofy example programs. That experience, with my friend walking out to see the text on the screen, was the first time I really got to jam on a computer and make it do stuff. We spent the whole day looking at the programs, changing stuff, trying to understand how it all worked.

 

A month or two later, I had written a simple PONG game that we played, and had saved to the tape. Had that damn tape until a forced move and a loss a few years ago too. The game was written in graphics 7, I believe. The "ball" was a bit tiny for the old TV of the time, but the movement was better, with that being my first experience with pixels and the classic trade-off between detail, program speed, and overall movement on screen.

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All I know is I don't remember much before 2 things:

 

Atari (and video games in general)

Star Wars

 

I used to eat, sleep, and breath those two things. Where Atari was concerned if I wasn't playing a game, I was reading about them (manuals, "how to beat" books), drawing graphics of my favorites, or just plain thinking about them. Atari and the arcade games of the time literally defined a good portion of who I am as an adult.

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I didn't get an Atari 2600 until I was almost 17, so I don't have any childhood memories (if 'child' means under 13).

 

The Atari 2600 was mysterious, magical, and scary at first. Thanks to Atari, 1982 and 1983 were two of my favorite years. I was given a Commodore VIC-20 in the summer of 1983, so I was caught up in a swirl of Atari magic and Commodore fun, playing games and making my own.

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I was five when my family got a 4-switch woody (the one in my avatar). I remember going to a friend's house to play Pac-Man, which we eventually got. He had BASIC Programming too, if I remember correctly. We only had nine games growing up: Combat, Empire Strikes Back, Maze Craze, Video Olympics, E.T., Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Defender, and Chopper Command. Had a great time with all of them, especially Combat where I could try to get to my brother's spinning tank to unload another shot after I blew it across the screen. We'd always argue about who had to play "the bomber". Two-player Maze Craze was always intense when played with the variation that stuns your player when a robber touches you. Good times. My Atari was always a "background" form of entertainment. I didn't eat and breathe Atari but I knew it was there when I wanted to play a game. I was too preoccupied with Star Wars, GI Joe, Legos, Tinkertoys, and playing outside. It wasn't until my teenage years when I bought a lot of games (and a 7800) from a friend did I really start to get into it and appreciate it even more. Not much later, the toy stores in the mall were clearing out 2600 games at about $2.50 each. By then I had an NES, but I was still fascinated by the Atari and wanted to discover more.

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I also like Atari games because they're more focused on skill. I play later systems for more content and depth, but the Atari is all about skill, and I like that. I think it's a shame modern games don't really focus on this as much anymore.

 

I agree. Last year my kids got a Wii for Christmas (not from me) and they got bored with it pretty quickly because the games were more about setting up your little Wii person and learning about the environment of the game than building skill. Once they mastered the movements involved there wasn't much more to do.

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I remember the first time I saw a VCS. They were not called 2600 until later on. Was at a good friends house, and I had come over with my Mom to pick something up. Walked in the garage door, through the door to the kitchen, turned left, and saw BREAKOUT on the screen in color! Prior to that time, I had only seen the standard "circuit as game" PONG chip type machines, and this was new!

 

Breakout is still one of my favorites! :) I'm pretty sure the first game we played was Combat, LOL.

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All I know is I don't remember much before 2 things:

 

Atari (and video games in general)

Star Wars

 

I used to eat, sleep, and breath those two things.

 

Yup, same here. My mom build us a huge "space station" for our Star Wars guys out of what was basically trash (old plywood, cardstock, wooden thread spools, etc.). It had an elevator, sleeping areas for Luke and Leia, a landing port, and even a bar with a raised stage for the Cantina band. :D Best toy ever.

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The Atari 2600 was mysterious, magical, and scary at first. Thanks to Atari, 1982 and 1983 were two of my favorite years. I was given a Commodore VIC-20 in the summer of 1983, so I was caught up in a swirl of Atari magic and Commodore fun, playing games and making my own.

 

What kind of games did you make back then? I wish I had taken an interest in programming as a kid--it's much harder to catch up as an adult.

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Childhood memories all the way. I have tons of 'em, but one in particular that springs to mind right now is summer, baseball and the Atari. Always loved the sport and got pretty good at Baseball on the Intellivision (two of my friends had that system) and we would compete pretty fiercely as we'd take turns playing the winner. By the time Super Challenge Baseball came out for the 2600, I had to have it. My brother and I Played the hell out of that game and would even take it over to friends homes to play.

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Not much later, the toy stores in the mall were clearing out 2600 games at about $2.50 each. By then I had an NES, but I was still fascinated by the Atari and wanted to discover more.

 

I remember that era well. My friends had moved on to other game systems but I was still loving my Atari, haha.

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I remember the first time I saw a VCS. They were not called 2600 until later on. Was at a good friends house, and I had come over with my Mom to pick something up. Walked in the garage door, through the door to the kitchen, turned left, and saw BREAKOUT on the screen in color! Prior to that time, I had only seen the standard "circuit as game" PONG chip type machines, and this was new!

 

Breakout is still one of my favorites! :) I'm pretty sure the first game we played was Combat, LOL.

 

Me too. That happened to be the one in the machine that day. Ended up playing a LOT OF COMBAT tho'

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The Atari 2600 was mysterious, magical, and scary at first. Thanks to Atari, 1982 and 1983 were two of my favorite years. I was given a Commodore VIC-20 in the summer of 1983, so I was caught up in a swirl of Atari magic and Commodore fun, playing games and making my own.

 

What kind of games did you make back then? I wish I had taken an interest in programming as a kid--it's much harder to catch up as an adult.

I made all kinds of random stuff. There were dot eating maze games (including one called Burgers and Bones based on the

). I made a game or two based on a couple of things on the Price is Right game show. I made a Jolly Green Giant game that was loosely based on a Star Trek episode called The Apple where you had to collect peas, if I remember correctly, and feed the Jolly Green Giant or he would become angry (he was just a big head in the top right corner of the screen). I don't remember everything I made, but I do remember various bouncing ball games and a game that was similar to Solar Plexus. I also had fun changing games that I typed in from magazines.

 

From what I read in magazines, there seemed to be a ton of kids under 12 that had been making their own games for years, so I felt like I missed out and was too old at 18, like I'd never be able to catch up. There were freakin' 10 year old kids out there with more experience and knowledge than I had. Now 18 doesn't seem so old.

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I remember a friend of ours had a Pong game system, and I thought it was incredible...you could actually play a game on your TV! It was unheard of!

 

Then the Atari came out in the 70's. I don't know how my Mom afforded one, but she bought one for me (I was an only child) and Dad from K's Merchandise Mart in Danville, Illinois for Christmas one year. Of course, it was packaged with Combat, so for a while, that was the only game cartridge we had.

 

I know we ended up with Space Invaders and Missile Command pretty early on, but the best Christmas present I ever got was Adventure for Atari. It was the most amazing game I had ever played.

 

I remember some of the other games from the early days I owned were Space War, Tac-Scan, Radiers (got that almost as soon as it came out), ET, Pac-man, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, Adventures of Tron, Phoenix, Vanguard, Yar's Revenge, Space Attack, Star Voyager, Star Raiders, Night Driver, Pole Position, and others.

 

I love my Atari, and have kept my original from when I was a kid. I've picked up cartridges through the years wherever I've found them cheap (garage sales, Big Lots, flea markets, etc).

 

A few months ago, I made the game "Another Adventure" because I love the original Adventure game so much. I wanted to make the game similar to the original, but "tweaked-out" like I would have absolutely ADORED as a kid.

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One thing I remember fondly was the absolute thrill of going to the corner video store that rented games to check out the new games that showed up and to actually look at the boxes as opposed to looking at them in a magazine. We didn't own a ton of games, so it was nice to get that little snapshot of a game that came with a rental and it was so fun to try an figure out which game I'd like based on the blurb on the box and the box art.

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The Atari 2600 was mysterious, magical, and scary at first. Thanks to Atari, 1982 and 1983 were two of my favorite years. I was given a Commodore VIC-20 in the summer of 1983, so I was caught up in a swirl of Atari magic and Commodore fun, playing games and making my own.

 

What kind of games did you make back then? I wish I had taken an interest in programming as a kid--it's much harder to catch up as an adult.

I made all kinds of random stuff. There were dot eating maze games (including one called Burgers and Bones based on the

). I made a game or two based on a couple of things on the Price is Right game show. I made a Jolly Green Giant game that was loosely based on a Star Trek episode called The Apple where you had to collect peas, if I remember correctly, and feed the Jolly Green Giant or he would become angry (he was just a big head in the top right corner of the screen). I don't remember everything I made, but I do remember various bouncing ball games and a game that was similar to Solar Plexus. I also had fun changing games that I typed in from magazines.

 

From what I read in magazines, there seemed to be a ton of kids under 12 that had been making their own games for years, so I felt like I missed out and was too old at 18, like I'd never be able to catch up. There were freakin' 10 year old kids out there with more experience and knowledge than I had. Now 18 doesn't seem so old.

 

 

I'm 45 and just starting to study basic programming. Talk 'bout feeling old! :roll:

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We were poor, too. But, my mom was able to stretch a dollar into ten somehow. Still, it was a pretty big deal when we got an Atari 2600.

 

One of her tricks was to shop all year long for Christmas and bought things when they were available at really good prices. She died in early December after being ill for a couple of months. Because of her shopping habits, we got Christmas presents from her that year. We got several 2600 cartridges (I don't remember now which ones (it was almost 30 years ago). So, Atari is associated with the last gift I ever received from my mom and that gift symbolized how well she took care of us despite having very few resources.

 

 

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Lots of neat stories about the back ground of how everyone got the Atari bug.

 

I, like the original poster of this thread grew up DIRT poor, so poor we had to put water on layaway!

 

My first VCS I got was the day after christmas. This one year in particular I guess the family came to my moms aid with the presents? It was the best one I ever had as a child. My mom was opposed to the idea but, got me a pellet rifle, a GOOD one. For any one that had owned a Daisy power master 77 knows it's probably not for someone under at least 12. I was younger we shall leave it at that LOL.

 

I never got to fire it the next day I left out, and went to a friends house he saw it, and before the day was up I was asking mom if I could trade it. He offered his VCS, and a bunch of games for it. Mom sure didn't oppose, and said that was fine. I still think I came out better on that deal even to this day? Those pellet rifles cost a mint back then but, bet the VCS was more granted this was in the 80's. It didn't deprive him of one because his older brother had one. So, win win.

 

I did covet that thing I'll tell you. Before long I had quite an arsenal of games I always wound up trading for titles that my friends didn't want anymore. During the summer I would do odd jobs to buy games, and things with. Some seriously fun times were had between me, and my brother. Those were the only times, as we never got along back in those days.... The Atari gave us something to stop the quarreling at least for a while.

 

Then the Nintendo came out my brother bought one I did play it some but, I played my VCS a lot more. I would continue to play that very system till Dec 20 1989. That morning at 9:35am my house caught fire, and burned to the ground. There was no stopping it. The first two pumpers on scene were near empty, and what little was in them was frozen. They tried to tap the hydrant just adjacent to my house the water had frozen in the top portion, and no water came from it till they heated it. Surrounding towns sent there guys to back them up. But, even though they found other sources there was little that they could do at that point. That was the coldest winter in our history. Fine time for that wasn't it? My brother was the only one home, nearly not making it out. I had actually went to school as it was the christmas party that day, and the last day of school till after new years.

 

My mom finally got there, and told them I was in school. They waited till the worst was over to come check me out of class. The cause was a switch on the stove shorted, and caused an eye to heat as if it were on high. On that eye was a vision ware steer filled with vegetable oil we had used the night before to make french fries.... The eye had malfunctioned once before, and stayed on before mom just turned it to the on position, and it went off on the second attempt to turn it off. That day it had a mind all it's own. Also forgot to move the steer off the eye as well, I guess???? I didn't recover a thing as I had decided I would distance myself from it. So, I really don't know if there was some games salvageable. I have a debilitating fear of being in a house on fire so much I panic, and just freeze up from the thought of it. Seeing it happen to my own home caused many sleepless nights.

 

On a side note I bested my fear of just that in Apr. 09, and faced it head ON... Long story condensed my refrigerator stopped being just that, and turned itself in to a char broiler. I came down the hall from my room scared silly by it. But, thought of the last time this happened. I grabbed up my extinguisher, and bombarded it till it was out. I only lost some hair, my eyebrows LOL, and very lightly burned my hand yanking the hot cord out of the wall. But, I held together long enough to put it out.

 

So,a short time later fate would bring another 2600 in to my life. An art teacher that knew my brother had found out about our misfortune, and she had one. And, a bunch of people pooled some games with it along with a TV. They give me a four switch wood grain 2600 that looked brand new. Along with a suitcase full of games. I had it till around 93 or so, sadly I messed up and sold it..... I would do without one till just a couple of weeks ago. The games are still as fun to me now as they were many a year ago. Even if I had been playing the newer gen games. Its always a blast to step back to the games that REALLY built the road for modern gaming as we know it.

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