Prometheus
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 9,472
I just figured I'd start one of these for the venerable old Atari 2600. 
Cosmic Ark - Shooting and Rescuing - Believed to be the first sequel to a home video game, Cosmic Ark is the follow-up to Imagic's Atlantis. The survivors of Atlantis (who could be seen escaping when you lost at the original game) have travelled to the Alpha Ro solar system, with the intent of saving as many creatures as possible from a fiery fate, because the sun there is about to burn out. You get to travel between planets, braving meteor storms along the way (these are defended against simply by pushing the controller in the direction that the meteor you want to hit is coming from - the Ark will then shoot that way; It's slightly unusual, but you get used to it quickly), and, once through those, you have to rescue two animals from the surface of each planet you visit, using a neat little shuttleship with a tractor-beam. You have to be quick, though, because those meteors don't stay gone for long!
Freeway - Crossing the Road - A good game for trying to beat personal bests, in Freeway you have to try to get as many chickens across a busy road during a set period of time as you can. Flipping the Atari 2600's difficulty switches changes how much traffic is on-screen, and how the traffic moves (in the manual, each of these patterns are named after busy US freeways, at different times of day and night). How many chickens can you get across the road?
Keystone Kapers - Policing - Play as a police officer who has to chase down and recapture an escaped robber who's running loose inside a shopping mall. You have to retrieve items, and catch the burglar before he gets to the roof. This is actually more challenging than it first appears, especially once harmful obstacles start appearing as the game progresses, and it strongly has that "Just one more go!" factor.
Pitfall! - Treasure-hunting - Play as Pitfall Harry - gaming's legendary equivalent to Indiana Jones - as he searches for treasure in a dense and dangerous jungle. There are 256 different screens, each connected to the other, and you have twenty real-world minutes in which to try to find every piece of treasure. You can tackle the game from whatever direction you choose, which was fairly unique at the time. Travelling underground will skip a few screens at a time, so you can use this to your advantage in order to traverse through the jungle more quickly in search of your goal.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns - Treasure-hunting and Rescuing - Pitfall Harry returns, this time with his niece Rhonda, and pet Quickclaw (a cowardly mountain lion). He needs to find the valuable Raj Diamond, and rescue Rhonda and Quickclaw from the places they're stranded in, all whilst picking up any treasure he can find along the way. This game goes far beyond the original Pitfall!, and could even be viewed as something of a predecessor to games such as Metroid. The lost caverns from the title are far vaster than the jungle from the original game, and Harry can now even take a swim in an underground river that lies at the bottom of the caverns. It also has a soundtrack which changes depending on certain in-game events, which was way ahead of its time.
Cosmic Ark - Shooting and Rescuing - Believed to be the first sequel to a home video game, Cosmic Ark is the follow-up to Imagic's Atlantis. The survivors of Atlantis (who could be seen escaping when you lost at the original game) have travelled to the Alpha Ro solar system, with the intent of saving as many creatures as possible from a fiery fate, because the sun there is about to burn out. You get to travel between planets, braving meteor storms along the way (these are defended against simply by pushing the controller in the direction that the meteor you want to hit is coming from - the Ark will then shoot that way; It's slightly unusual, but you get used to it quickly), and, once through those, you have to rescue two animals from the surface of each planet you visit, using a neat little shuttleship with a tractor-beam. You have to be quick, though, because those meteors don't stay gone for long!
Freeway - Crossing the Road - A good game for trying to beat personal bests, in Freeway you have to try to get as many chickens across a busy road during a set period of time as you can. Flipping the Atari 2600's difficulty switches changes how much traffic is on-screen, and how the traffic moves (in the manual, each of these patterns are named after busy US freeways, at different times of day and night). How many chickens can you get across the road?
Keystone Kapers - Policing - Play as a police officer who has to chase down and recapture an escaped robber who's running loose inside a shopping mall. You have to retrieve items, and catch the burglar before he gets to the roof. This is actually more challenging than it first appears, especially once harmful obstacles start appearing as the game progresses, and it strongly has that "Just one more go!" factor.
Pitfall! - Treasure-hunting - Play as Pitfall Harry - gaming's legendary equivalent to Indiana Jones - as he searches for treasure in a dense and dangerous jungle. There are 256 different screens, each connected to the other, and you have twenty real-world minutes in which to try to find every piece of treasure. You can tackle the game from whatever direction you choose, which was fairly unique at the time. Travelling underground will skip a few screens at a time, so you can use this to your advantage in order to traverse through the jungle more quickly in search of your goal.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns - Treasure-hunting and Rescuing - Pitfall Harry returns, this time with his niece Rhonda, and pet Quickclaw (a cowardly mountain lion). He needs to find the valuable Raj Diamond, and rescue Rhonda and Quickclaw from the places they're stranded in, all whilst picking up any treasure he can find along the way. This game goes far beyond the original Pitfall!, and could even be viewed as something of a predecessor to games such as Metroid. The lost caverns from the title are far vaster than the jungle from the original game, and Harry can now even take a swim in an underground river that lies at the bottom of the caverns. It also has a soundtrack which changes depending on certain in-game events, which was way ahead of its time.
