Video Game Lane: Atari

The first video game system I ever owned, Atari was amazing. Looking back the graphics are no doubt horrific, but to a little kid of the 80's it didn't matter. I was playing games on tv. Below are my top favorites.... along with the box art which was a bit misleading. Most of the boxes didn't have screenshots either. When it came to buying a game you were out on a limb- "Please don't let this game be as bad as E.T." Stupid E.T.- yeah, I owned it.












Basketball: As mentioned above, I was playing games on a tv. Games I sucked at in real life. Simple and fun. Go Green!












Bowling: Who knew this would help my skills in WiiSports?












Boxing: The best boxing game I've ever played- next to Punch Out! on Nintendo. I don't why the boxers look like Olive Oyle from Popeye.












Breakout: Horizontal Rainbow Pong. It was always a challenge to get the ball stuck at the top racking up as most points as possible.












Circus Atari: Spring your second player into the air and pop balloons. Fantastic. Sometimes I miss catching him on purpose just to see him fall on his head with his legs dangling in the air. Ouch.












Combat: Battling a friend/sibling with tanks. Moved like real tanks too. The suspense of making it behind a barrier before the bullets hit....Gold.












Dodge 'em: The original Crazy Taxi! Sort of. Drive a spider-like car around a track over dots like Pac-Man while switching lanes over and over. Was surprisingly harder the further you got in the game.












Donkey Kong: Save your girlfriend from a damn dirty ape. Watch out for those chocolate chip cookies Mario!












Fishing Derby: What fishing should be in 'reel' life. Ha. Race a friend to catch the most fish while avoiding the hungry shark. Would make a great Wii Sports game.












Freeway: The Frogger knock off that was better than Frogger. I could actually win this game, and it was two player. Gold.












Joust: Ride your flying ostrich shooting and picking up eggs that turn into powerups. Then turn into something else. I can't remember. Fun to play and hear the flutter of the ostrich wings.












Jungle Hunt: What I thought was the sequel to Pitfall! was actually something else. The first game where the screens actually changed between levels. Swing through the trees. Swim with sharks, run and jump over tikki men all to rescue the damsel in distress. Gold.












Mario Brothers: I got this game towards the tail end of the Atari's amazing run. By this time I wanted something more than just a black screen with pixels. I had no idea that these two plumbers would bring video games into the future. Weird.












Maze Craze: The premise: A cop chasing a Gallager-like theif in a box factory. Umm..yeah. As you can see by the screenshot, it made you dizzy fast. The bright colors didn't help either. I loved running around aimlessly in the maze, but my eyes couldn't take it after awhile.












Minature Golf: Played similar to Combat and Breakout. Bank your ball off the corners to sink the putt. Quite the great game for being so simplistic.












Ms. Pac-Man: A true classic. My sister can still kick my butt at this game. Darn it.












Pitfall!: Another classic- despite the game never quite ending. I could never quite get past those alligator heads- so I'd just head downstairs until I hit a brick wall six screens in. D'oh!












Skiing: Living in Texas at the time, this was the closest to skiing I got. Was werid seeing an all white screen but handled great.












Space Invaders: The third and final classic. I'd always blow out one of shields to get to those pesky aliens.


And that's it for the Atari 2600. Thanks for starting the addiction. I blame the 80's.