Retrogaming

 The 2600 can do more with 4k than the PS3 can with 4 gigs!

The funny thing is that half of the folks who read this node have never played, let alone seen, an Atari 2600.

In 1977 the Atari 2600 launched in North America, quickly becoming a household name synonymous with video games and the video game industry.

Atari has put out many wonderful video games, of which has given us many years of delightful family entertainment. This is a list of ten of our family favorites.

Below is a list of my favorite Atari 2600 games. Some are current favorites and others I liked better when they were new back in the 1980s. There are many games I haven't had a chance to play, so this list will probably change as I discover new favorites. Each game is linked to the appropriate AtariAge.com page in case you want instruction manuals, screenshots, scans, or ROMs.

The Atari 2600 was not without software. The first mainstream videogame console sold over 30 million units on the strength of both its newness and the breadth of its game library, which numbered in the hundreds... as in, several hundreds. But the rush to publish games for the Atari 2600 was also the system's greatest weakness, as consumer confidence in the Atari 2600 -- and the entire industry -- was severely damaged by scores of high-profile bad games.

Digital Press Online is dedicated to the "Pac-rats" among video gamers... short attention spans, library-sized collections, consoles precariously wired in spider-web fashion... Sound like you? Check around - we cover just about everything "retro" including Atari, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Vectrex, Odyssey, Nintendo, and Sega Master System as well as all of the most recent consoles.

It was 1989. Nintendo's NES had reigned supreme in the videogame market for nearly five years, and it was time for a new system to take over the throne. Sega's Master System, while graphically superior to the NES, failed to make any kind of lasting impression in the U.S. market (although it was very popular in Europe), and Sega knew that their next system would not only have to be superior to everything else out there, but they'd have to have a lot of third-party developers lined up. The lack of third-party support is cited as the main cause of the Master System's demise.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

Usually, when you get a new-to-you console, you can usually find or remember the major games to check out. But what happens when you need something different to play? This is where the "Hidden Gems" come in.

There are hundreds of excellent games that have been released over the last two decades that never quite got the attention and sales they deserved. Many times it is because of lousy marketing, but at least some of these games find an afterlife as a cult classic. While not all of these titles are "retro", I hope that you consider taking a look at all of these games.

As the first installment of my Games That Pushed the Limits: Portable Edition, I chose to take on the games for both the original Gameboy and the Gameboy Color. While most of the games that I cover in this piece are only playable on the more powerful Gameboy Color (The processor is twice as fast as a Game Boy's, and has three times as much memory), there will be some mentions of some games that were primirily for the original Gameboy.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

The Sony PlayStation essentially came out of nowhere in the mid 1990's to take on both Nintendo and Sega in the heated console wars.  With some impressive technology and a heavy marketing budget behind them, Sony rallied a number of the best game developers in the industry to create a powerhouse library of games - many of which laid a solid foundation for generations to come.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

The RetroGaming 101 series is aimed at gamers who are just starting out in the classic gaming scene or are curious about an older console that they don't know much about yet. Those of you that are especially knowledgeable about the featured console, I encourage you to add any information that you think would be beneficial into the comments section. If you are new to the featured console, and still have questions, you can also use the comments section and I will do my best to help you out.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.