Revisiting the Atari 2600
Revisiting the Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 (originally called the Video Computer System) is what started it all for me. I already had an interest in technology (anyone remember Coleco Alien Attack or Mattel Baseball?) but the Atari took things up another notch.
Like everyone else in the early 80s, my family got an Atari 2600 and ended up with quite a few games. Eventually I got bored with playing the rather simplistic games and started teasing my parents for a real computer, but that’s a different story.
The Atari 2600 was an unusual system, even for the time (1977). It only had 128 bytes (!) of RAM. That’s less than the text of a tweet today! It used a stripped-down 6502 CPU, called the 6507 (not sure why the number is higher for a lower-powered CPU).
It also didn’t have any video RAM. Drawing was done one scan line at a time by the game. But this limitation is what actually allowed the 2600 to live beyond its useful life. You can really tell the scalene drawing when you look at an Activision game. Here is Kaboom:
Notice the many different colors for the bomber and the buckets. Look more closely and you’ll see that that the color only changes horizontally because those are the scan lines.
Back then you used a TV for the display and those were big, bulky CRTs (cathode ray tubes). Images were drawn on the screen by moving an electron gun inside the tube. This gun moved from left to right, top to bottom.
Each move from left to right draws a horizontal scan line. When the gun reaches the right, it had to move back to the left. This took a small amount of time, which allowed the game to do things, such as perhaps change color values.
This is an enormous simplification, of course.
This technique was called “racing the beam” and there is a great book by the same name that I highly recommend if you want to learn more about this.
I do own an Atari 2600, although it’s not the one I had when I was a kid. There were several models, from the original Atari VCS (the heavy sixer) to the model I have (the 4-switch woodgrain). The name Atari 2600 was not actually used until 1982 when the all-black version was introduced (this also matches up with when the 5200 was introduced). In 1986, the Atari 2600 Jr. was a shrunken version that sold for just $49.
I don’t actually have my 2600 hooked up to anything at the moment (something I need to remedy), but here’s my system with the games I have:
These are the games in case you don’t want to zoom in on the photo:
Mario Bros. (x2)
Skiing
Pole Position
Carnival
Freeway
Mouse Trap
Ice Hockey
Target Fun
Joust
Yar’s Revenge (x2)
Missile Command (x2)
Asteroids
Defender
Kangaroo
Dig Dug
Space Invaders
Canyon Bomber
Demon Attack
Q*Bert (x2)
Donkey Kong Junior
Space War
California Games
Jr. Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Pitfall!
Combat
River Raid
Video Pinball
Jungle Hunt (x2)
Donkey Kong
I also have this odd cartridge switch box. It lets you plug in six cartridges into it and then it has a fake cartridge on a wire that you plug into the Atari 2600’s cartridge slot. You can then switch between cartridges with the push of a button! It seems like such a weird flex!
Out of that big game list, my favorite game is probably Asteroids. I mean, it contains “66 video games!”
In general, Joust is one of my favorite games, but the 2600 version is not great. It’s a bit too simplistic.
I also really like Pac-Man, even though it is universally panned. Poo-di-pee-do. Donk. Donk.
Pitfall! is a classic. I never actually finished it, but I love the colors, the different screens and the program design behind it.
River Raid is also one of my favorites. Yeah, Activision really made a lot of the good ones.
I also love Donkey Kong in general, but the 2600 version is just terrible. The story behind it is amazing, though!
As far as hooking my system up, since the Atari 2600 only has RF output (without modifications) that means I need a TV with an RF connector that can display the old analog channels 2 or 3. I do have a 27” Sony Trinitron in the basement, but that thing is HUGE and I don’t really have a great place to set it up.
As you see above, I am using the excellent Stella emulator to get screenshots of these games from my Mac. Although that works, it is just not the same. Everything looks just a little too sharp and I don’t yet have a Mac-compatible substitute for an old-school Atari joystick (one is on the way, though).
In my office I do have an old analog LCD TV (that I also use with my 800XL), but space in here is pretty limited. I probably will try to get the 2600 hooked up in my office anyway, at least for some testing
What are your favorite Atari 2600 games? Do you have any good stories to share?
New to Goto 10? Here are some other posts you might like:
My Atari 2600 was my first Atari also and I still have the original in storage. It will need a composite video modification to display any video and sound these days assuming it still works. My favourite games were Space Invaders together with The Empire Strikes Back. I may have to go and find it now...
Another great post. Megamania! was always one of my favorites. I loaned it to a friend and he never returned it! Need to check eBay for a good condition one. What do you think about Harmony cartridges and the like?