10 replies to this topic

[PINMAN]

Could someone please tell me how many different(including clones)games there are in total that were released for Atari 2600 use?.Thanks.
I've been looking at this site for 3-4 weeks now,and i was surprised at the number of people who still owned one of these things,and used them on a regular basis.It's nice to see too,although i don't own one at present,i've owned one on and off for quite a few years.I'd like to start up another collection of games too,but i've no idea how hard this is going to be for me being in the UK.Anyway,great site and thanks in advance for any help given with the above question.I do have about around another 101 questions ,but i won't bore you all with them now,they can wait for another time.

[Jess Ragan]

I'm not sure, but it's got to be at least 800, perhaps over a thousand. The strangest thing is that game designers and hackers (like me!) are still raising that number today. The late Kevin Oleniacz said it best... "No one can claim to have a complete 2600 collection."

JR

[PINMAN]

Thanks Jess.Quite a lot then.That'll keep me busy for the next 30 yrs then lol.Don't think i'd bother with the games that i knew i didn't like though,just for the sake of trying to get the set,even though from what you say,it seems an impossible task anyway.

[Alex]

Yeah, if you're talking worldwide, it's pretty much impossible to get a complete set. I'd say the total number is in the thousands, with hundreds of those being really hard to get.

It's a good idea to start with just the games that interest you. Then when you get beyond that, try completing company sets - all the Activision games for example. That actually gives you an achievable goal while still being a challenge. And it makes for a nice, neat collection.

Have fun!

[Joel D. Park]

Completing the Activision Set is a great Idea. Some other completeable sets would be DataAge, 20th Century Fox (There are a few difficult ones in there but still not over 15 bucks probably.)

There's always Mythicon (hehe). There's only 3 in that set.

[liveinabin]

Hallo, I'm in the UK too (carts are not too easy to come by here are they?). it's worth noting that the amount of games in PAL format is not going to be anything like as much as the NTSC library.
I'm only just starting to collect properly (and, like a previous post here recommended) I'm starting with Activision. careful with these though, you'll see a lot of games on ebay as 'mint boxed' - these are usually modern Telegames rereleases with cruddy white labels and black and white manuals (proper activision carts and manuals are class!).
have you got an Atari yet? get yourself a nice woodgrain six-switch - might as well do it properly
By the way, a bit off topic, does anyone English know anywhere in the UK thats good for getting games? I'm in Brighton and I've not got 1 cart 'wild' yet.
The only decent find I ever had was my boxed woodgrain VCS for £1.50
Anyway, welcome to the fray

[atarimastermarty]

Not sure, but my educated gues is about 3500. At tops

[PINMAN]

Thanks for all the information and advice given folks,it's nice to know that helpful people will be available to advise me when needed.The first thing that comes to mind is this.In the past,i've seen countless Atari 2600 systems and games for sale at various places,and now that i've decided to start up a collection,you can bet that i will not find a thing .To be honest,what really got me back into this in the first place,was the fact that there is so many 2600 emulators and roms available on the net,and now that i've had a go with that,i want the real thing once again.Not to try and bring back youth memories,or anything like that,it's just that i find the basic simple games are always more fun.The fun factor is the main thing here imo.who wants to play a game with fab looking graphics,that hasn't got any gameplay?.This applies to a lot of modern day games.That is why the Atari 2600 is so good,because of the playability factor with a lot of the games available for it.

[Ze_ro]

quote:

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Originally posted by liveinabin:
it's worth noting that the amount of games in PAL format is not going to be anything like as much as the NTSC library.

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It's also worth noting that there's also a lot of games available in PAL that are either impossible or extremely hard to find in NTSC format. For example, Motorodeo, Fatal Run, and Xenophobe to name a few... though overall, there's probably more NTSC games than PAL.

As for how many games there are overall, it's a difficult number to track down. You see, there's a lot of pirated cartridges out there that are either exactly the same game, or sometimes with only slightly modified graphics (Not to mention companies like Sears that legally sold exact copies of Atari games with different names). There's also the issue of PAL and NTSC cartridges, and the huge number of label variations. Depending on which of these you consider as adding to the total number of games, you'll get entirely different numbers.

As a basis though, there's a program called Good2600 that catalogs Atari ROM files for emulators, and last I checked, it recognized just over 1500 different games (though this has since increased I believe... but I'm not sure how much). In this case, PAL/NTSC games are different, but most pirate games aren't (As well as Sears games, etc), and label variations are definitely not counted. So, make of it what you will. This discussion comes up every once in a while, and I don't think we've ever come to a conclusion on it. I'd say that there's probably somewhere between 3000 and 5000 differences altogether (That's considering ALL differences), but obviously, that's a huge range.

Don't expect to find everything. There's a lot of games out there you'll probably never find. This includes prototypes where maybe only three of them are known to exist at all.

... Of course, this hasn't stopped the rest of us from trying

--Zero

[PINMAN]

Thanks Zero,it's amazing just how many different variations there are.I can see why it's so hard to answer my question.On the collecting side of things,i'd probably be content with the really common titles at first,just to actually start the collection off.Even though i don't own a 2600 at ths moment in time,i'd still snap anything up(cart wise)as i may not get the chance again of some of my sightings once i've actually obtained my 2600.Thanks for the info about the catalogue program,i'll try to hunt it down.

[liveinabin]

Xenophobe is PAL only? Cool, I'll track down a copy Its not often we get exclusive stuff with our wierd (but way better haha) TV standard. On that note, my all-black 2600jr (the one only sold in Ireland) arrives tommorow. can't wait