You just wanted to talk HERO again

I'm happy you put Megamania on your honorable mentions ^_^ Its so far my favorite Atari game I've actually just started collecting for the 2600

I think the advantage Activision had over Atari was, Atari was locked into trying to port over the arcade hits which was a daunting task. Activision took a lot of the same ideas but were free to expand and work within the 2600's limits but still concentrate on fun instead of duplication.

for me Kaboom is the best

STAMPEDE is a must have! Love it still today! As you mentioned, KABOOM with a paddle is one of the best games ever. Oh wait, don't forget the all-time "controller destroyer" TRACK & FIELD!

very nice list. Laser Blast and Keystone Capers were 2 of my favorite 2600 games. I had completely forgotten about Seaquest. I really enjoyed that one as a kid too. My only minor quibble is that you didn't mention one of the most remarkable features of Pitfall 2 which was that it actually had multichannel background music, which was completely unheard of for the 2600.

How could Keystone Kapers not make it as one of the top 5??

Great video. Surprised Ice hockey didn't even get an honorable mention. Personally I find River Raid over-rated. I don't think it's random as you suggest because the enemies seem to be in the exact same spot every time.

it's kind of amusing to think Activision began life as a company founded by a bunch of disgruntled Atari programmers who were upset at how the new owners(Waner Bros.) ran things only to eventually become the very thing they were founded against

I played Pitfall 2, Hero & River Raid to the death. Activision made so many great games on the 2600! Also my favs are: Beamrider, Chopper Command, Decathlon, Keystone Kapers & Ice Hockey. Thanks for the video!

Remember when Activision did some work into their games and made sequels original and fresh? MetalJesusRocks remembers

Nice list. Beamrider, Megamaina and Laser Blast were among my favorites too. Somebody could make some money printing up Activision replacement labels. Mine look that bad too.

Great stuff!! So many good memories. I saw a MAJOR omission from your list. At the end of the clip, you show your MEGAMANIA, but it wasn't on the list!?! That was an AMAZING game and was always my favorite! Rock on...

Hi MetalJesusRocks, long time watcher, first time commenter here. First of all, I'm a big fan of your work. You do a fantastic job, and I love how enthusiastic you are for games, and it helps that some of the games you absolutely love are some of my favs too. Anyway, you made a couple of errors in this one, which I thought I should point out: * Pitfall 1 isn't randomised at all. Everything in the game will always appear in the same place - enemies, traps, treasure. It's possible to map it out in exactly the same way as Pitfall 2. There are 256 levels or screens in pitfall 1, and 32 treasures to collect, a perfect game would be if you got 114,000 points within the 20 minute time limit, without losing any points. * River Raid, also isn't randomised. The enemies and everything appear in the same place each time, and the levels are all exactly the same. The interesting part was that River Raid was the first game to feature procedurally generated levels, so each level didn't have to be stored in any way, but they would all be the same each time. It meant that the levels were practically unlimited. But no, certainly not random. However, the enemy movement was random, so sometimes they may not move, other times that same enemy might fire and move. I'm also a BIG fan of Activisions early works on the Atari VCS/2600 and think many of these games are just as much fun to play now as they were when they were released. I am curious why you prefer Star Master to Star Raiders? Although, having said that, I only played Star Raiders on the Atari 400, on which it was an excellent game and made great use of the keyboard. My brother and I used to play it as a 2 player game, with one of us the co-pilot on the keyboard, and the other the pilot on the joystick. Rock on my friend!

Man, I'm a big fan of yours. I love your videos and I love the fact that we are almost the same age (I was born in 1975) so I did too grow up playing Atari back in the day, i even remember when my dad brought home the Pong console for the first time. Some of my favorite Atari games are: (not in order): Adventure - Superman - Combat - Grogs and flies - Boxing - Chopper Command - Ice Hockey - Defender - Sea Quest, among many others. Greetings from Venezuela!

10:50 - MEGAMANIA!!! Love it. Never played this until about 7 years ago. Was impressed with its look, the animation, and the play mechanics. Played it for hours and hours.

I loved enduro, when the weather changed for me that was just mind blowing, especially the fog. I guess we just had better imaginations as kids! Pitfall 2 was a game I dreamed about owning but never did. Our local games store didn't have it.

One thing I love about Atari games in general is their ability to light a dark room with their special effects. When you see these kinds of effects for the first time, it's unlike any game you can play today. The only time it's really been matched is when getting hit by directly by a Flashbang in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019, and that's with HDR turned on. The reason this happens is that a lot Atari's early arcade games, which are some of their best work BTW, have black backgrounds and thus high contrast ratio.

Great video :) I managed to pickup a 2600 with a stack of games before xmas, I'm surprised how fun it is to play! :)

No love for 'Dragster' :( One of my all-time favs

Nice video man! Good choices

@ Metal Jesus Rocks. Heres some rare gems Demon Attack, BarnrStorming, Air sea Attack, Demons to Diamonds, Asteroids, Space Invaders, combat, video pinball, Armour Ambush, Jungle Hunt (based on Pitfall), Football and Mouse Trap. Also, my favorite Frogger. Lmao I recently found this Atari 2600 covered in dust buried in a closet with a bunch of other games besides the rare ones I mentioned. It was, me and my brothers shared console back in the old days. It was fogetton due losted controllers, power supply and a/v cords.

Laser blast was one of my all time favorites. I also loved stampede. If you have never played that, I highly recommend it :)

Keystone Kapers I have the fondest memory of while thinking of the Atari 2600. Played it on my dad's old Atari when I was little. I'm glad you didn't forget about it. I'm ok with it being an honorable mention.

You are right about River Raid. It was a terrific game. You had to know when to pull back (hit the break). I also had Chopper Command, and that was harder for me. I guess I was better flying vertical than horizontal.

KABOOM! was my game! Did you know when you pass a score of 10,000 the guys face who drops the bombs at the top changes from a smile to a look like "ooh!":-0 I can't tell you how impressed my friends were when I moved the paddles at that speed! Hours and hours i played that game!! Sigh.....good times! :-) I'm a first time viewer today (1/7/14) and I have to say I am VERY impressed with your videos and all your games. I still have all my games from every system and I would LOVE to have a "display room" like yours. Your love of video games really shows in your videos and you say what I WOULD say about each one! Thank you! Kids today sell their games back to GameStop or wherever for a fraction of what they paid for them! That's crazy! It's history / memories / art!!! I have never sold/returned a game in my life! (Even the bad ones!) I guess now I am considered a collector because its overwhelming how many I have amassed over the years: Pong / Atari / Odyssey / microvision Intellivision / Colecovision NES / sega genesis / "gameboys" (all generations) SNES / dreamcast / playstation / N64 GameCube / playstation 2 / Xbox / PSP Wii / playstation 3 / Xbox 360 Xbox one Please keep making "hidden jems" and top 10 lists, they make me happy because finally someone is speaking MY language. I will now begin to watch all the other videos you have and leave way shorter comments! Lol --M, Simi Valley, CA

Another Activision game for the 2600 I really enjoyed as a kid is "Skiing". I doubt it would make anyone's personal top 10 list, but I quite liked it.

Great top ten but no Keystone Kapers?

Awesome mention of Pressure Cooker, loved that game as a kid.

I was in 10th grade in 1983. I mowed yards all summer to buy the Atari 2600 and a black and white tv. River Raid was the first video game I had for it. I played it for months until I could afford another game, but I have to say it’s my favorite Atari game of all time.

this is the best atari list I've ever seen. hands down.

Seaquest was amazing! I remember playing it when I was really little like around age 4 or so. That's one of the games that really started me on gaming.

Love the video! More Atari videos would be great! Also a NES Hidden Gems from John would be awesome too!

Nice episode, always good to see anything Atari focused but personally this felt a little brief i would of just done an activision general episode or extended the number of games as there are far too many other great ones not mentioned here.

River Raid, Stampede, Chopper Command, Pitfall, Plaque Attack, Kaboom, Freeway, Keystone Kapers, HERO, and Spider Fighter

Was there anything better than the beatiful sky in a lot of 2600 Activision games like Barnstorming and Keystone Kapers?

To nitpick a little - actually, Pitfall isn't random, it's got a fixed map that makes a loop. You will always get the same sequence of 256 screens, and if you continue left or right far enough, you'll make it back to the beginning screen. I still agree, however, that Pitfall II was much more fun to explore.

Glad to see some love for Seaquest. One of the most addicting games of my childhood, along with Plaque Attack, which I think I’m the only one who really enjoyed that gdme game

My two favorite games for the atari got mentioned. One made it onto your top ten list, the other was on your honorable mentions. The two games that I love a lot are keystone capers and seaquest. I can't even remember the last time I played some of those atari 2600 games, its definitely been a long time.

I have to say that my all time favorite Activision game on the 2600 is Robot Tank. That game just utterly blew me away as a kid. SO many things that could happen to your tank, and there was really nothing that complex on the system at the time. I also spent many an hour on Megamania. "You gotta shoot to survive..."

Excellent choices - pressure cooker and frostbite were my favorites as a kid.

I'd also be interested in a top 10 non-Activision games for the 2600, as I have kind of forgotten the 2600 games i used to play back when i had the actual console, but I still have fond memories of Activision's games through the ps2/psp retro sets that came out

That was a great tip for collectors. Sometimes I pass on atari games if the condition is really bad. If I see any of these Activition games, then I will for sure pick them up. Great video, thanks.

I managed to restore 2 of my Activion games labels recently: Enduro and Plaque attack. It now looks awesome!

I have that 45 game atari2600 activision compilation game-pack for the ps2. My favorites on that disk right now are Skiing,Ice Hockey,Robot Tank,Chopper Command,Atlantis,Stampede,Barnstorming,Sky Jinks,River Raid,and SeaQuest.

My best friend and grand parents had Atari 2600 consoles, so I don't remember half or more of these games. I remember playing River Raid and Pitfall at my grand parents homes. I don't think we played many Activision games at my friends house. We played Combat, Donkey Kong, Adventure?, and Pac Man. Fun times!

Oh man, the nostalgia! I played more than half of those games, with Spider Fighter being my favorite of the top 10. I gotta say though... No Yar's Revenge? idk, That was always my favorite game for the Atari 2600.

Nice video, and the glue issue isn't the only system with that problem Intellivision labels had the dame issues.

Great vid MJR! My favorite was and will always be MegaMania. Wow, like, remember when *imagination* was a key ingredient to videogaming?! The graphics you see on the screen were never the graphics we saw in our minds while we played (or dreamt about) these games. The cover art or catalog art had residual impacts on our collective interpretations. It would be great to see a follow up vid highlighting some of that artwork. Oh, and don't forget that Activision invented the videogame achievement with their patch award program for those games. Btw, the Activision Anthology app is a great way to experience these games on modern tablets/phones - complete with virtual patch achievements. The iOS version even works with iCade. Check it out.

Holy cow, is that a Tess Turbo shirt, as in Bloom County? Where'd you get that?!

Now we are talking! Classic 2600 !

Great video! I'm surprised to see Seaquest so low on the list. That's my #1 for sure. I'm also surprised not to see Freeway or Cosmic Commuter.

Thank God you put Keystone Kapers in honorable mentions. That one was always my favorite

Chopper Command, River Raid and Hero played those games to death man, brilliant games!

Hooooly Shhhhhh***tttt!!!! You've kept the original box!!!! You have just sent me exactly 31 years back in time when my dad got me one for my 13th b-day, a thousand memories have just popped up. I still play video games but that was a big milestone, thanks man!!!!

Awesome list, and it would be so difficult to come up with a top ten as there are just so many good Activision games. Good to see Seaquest is on your list, that is my favourite, but someone has beaten my high score :)

Great pics from the Activision library. Games of simplicity but yet challenging and fun. Looking forward to more Atari reviews. Thanks

I first played HERO on a commodore 64. It quickly became one of my favorite games, even over Super Mario on the NES. I didn't even know it came out on the VCS until I started collecting hardcore a couple years ago. It seems rare-ish for every console, but a CIB c64 cartridge version was the hardest to find for a reasonable price. The colecovision version is great as well, but the controllers hold it back. C64 with a suncom slikstik is still my favorite way to play. It came out for GameRoom on xbox live a couple years ago and that was fun as well.

Ahh, Activision. I loved playing these games to earn patches if your score was high enough or time was good enough! I still have them laying around somewhere in storage and was proud to sport them on my light blue hoodie when I was 12. Good times...

My girlfriend just got my a 2600 and I am so excited! Thanks for this video. I wasn't born when the 2600 came out and I love learning and experience video game history so this video helped me seek out games to try.

Thing about River Raid that never made sense to me was, you were an airplane that could only fly 1 basic forward direction. Then every now and then another plane you shot at flew the other direction, yet you're also an airplane that if you fly left or right too far, an invisible wall makes you crash. I realize this is just a game, but not too realistic.

I think your list is right on! You should do a colecovision top 10! Happy new year and thanks for the great videos!

Chopper Command was my favorite game.

Frostbite was developed by Steve Casrtwright, who also developed Barnstorming Megamania Seaquest Plaque Attack Frostbite Hacker Hacker II Aliens Air Rally

some of my fave activision games are Keystone Capers,Plaque attack,sea quest,laserblast,pressure cooker,stampede,and the pitfalls

When you mention how Frostbite was a rare title for you I thought that was odd as myself and friends I know had it. I suspect back in the day many title's availability depended on what region you lived in

I had most of these, great fun! In retrospect, seems like most were versions of shoot-em ups or side scrollers, but Activision always added enough twist to make the new variations engaging. I'll mention Plaque Attack, a shoot-em up that doesn't get much love.

I agree 100% with HERO as #1. It plays great on every system it was ported to. I consider it to be a spiritual Pitfall III.

i see you had the nice fancy version of the 2600, the one that looks like wood, and the nice levers. mine was the plain plastic one, with cheap plastic buttons.

Great call with H.E.R.O. at #1. Not owning it as a child on the 2600, I first played that it on the C64, which is a great port of the classic. H.E.R.O. is definitely in my top 5 of original (i.e. non-arcade ports) 2600 games.

Great list. I dont remember HERO but it looks great. My fave was always Keystone Kapers, then Pitfall 2.I have the PS2 Activision Anthology which has everything.

That's interesting, I didn't realize that about the labels. My copy of River Raid has a pretty junky label, and I guess that explains why.

I liked Dragster, because you could finish a game in a few seconds. Circus Atari, which was one of the early releases, was also excellent.

I only had five Activision games back in the 80's: Laser Blast, Boxing, Stampede, Starmaster and Kaboom. That's not a bad percentage though since I didn't have a huge amount of carts altogether. Proves just how good Activision titles were. They're still some of my all time favorite 2600 games. My top 10 is: 1 - H.E.R.O. 2 - Megamania 3 - Frostbite 4 - Beamrider 5 - Stampede 6 - Starmaster 7 - Seaquest 8 - Keystone Kapers 9 - Pitfall II 10 - Pitfall

My dad used to love "river raid" (tough we called it "bermuda" as that was the name the pirate multigame 301-in-one cartridge showed) and he still asks me if i have that game to play. I remember spending hours and hours playing "joust" with my brother , for me, that was the best ATARI2600 game ever

Activision Anthology is one of my top 10 favorite PS2 games. Great games, awesome 80's soundtrack, patch unlockables, commercial unlockables like the Ice Hockey commercial featuring Phil Hartman, I mean, c'mon!

Loved these and Chopper Command too. Even got the patch on that one!

Enduro and River Raid were amazing games. Never heard of H.E.R.O. but it looks awesome with its many levels. Not an Activision game, I discovered Dark Chambers for Atari 2600 in 1988 (at the end of its run) and found its simultaneous two-player multilevel play (with levels A thru Z or so) very fun. Never finished the game but it is a dandy. Thanks for the video.

My favorites have to be... Seaquest, Frost Bite, Keystone Kapers, Enduro, River Raid.

Two I loved that ya didn't list were Decathlon & Space Shuttle. I remember finally getting high enough scores to send in for the patches for those games. I loved them more than most of the games they put out today.

Question: I am a 13 year old who loves retro gaming. I love n64, nes, ps1, and sms games. But I am intrigued by these awesome atari games.Simple, but absolutely fun. I have wanted to get an atari for a year, but I also want an snes. I can only have one, so what should I get? Should I get an atari?

I love the platform games so my n.1 is Pitfall II. n.2 is a tie between Jungle Hunt and Smurfs. Then there's Track and Field, Super Man (I like flying around the city and catching robbers), Mario Bros and Bob is Going Home!

My top 3 Activision games in order would be 1) River Raid, 2) Enduro 3) Megamania. My mom got me hooked on River Raid & I got hooked on Enduro. I have several Atari game systems & more games than I can count. And who knows, maybe someday I'll get around to playing em again.

Great list and video, thank you. I know its not a "What's your favorite 2600 game" list but it wouldn't be KZfaq if I didn't state my opinion... Moon Patrol - loved it on console, was amazing on arcade. Thanks everyone for mentioning all these games I've not thought about in 25+ years =]

I procured my 2600 from a local flea market back in '99 while attending high school. Those simple, yet colorful graphics, the rubber grip of the joystick, the smell of the plastic, dirt cheap too... Some people have an affinity for classic cars. Me, classic consoles.

Awesome video as always! River Raid, that's a VERTICAL shooter :-) How about a video on C64 hidden gems?

thats crazy how many good games they made back in the day. unfortunately i never had a atari i started off at intelevision, but even then i still knew the name activision as they made a bunch of great games for that system too

this is the list I wanted to see. Do some more Activision games. Personally I love Sea Quest and Enduro

Its awesome that you mentioned Pressure Cooker. My parents had a 2600 when I was little in the 80's and that was one of the first games I ever remember along with Donkey Kong, Private Eye, Defender, and Missile Command. I still love the 2600, and yes, Activision made some of the best games!

I put more hours into Starmaster than any other game on my 2600, maybe because I always imagined I was Luke in his X-Wing... River Raid was a close second, and a game I still play regularly today.

Metal Jesus, I can't believe Keystone Capers was just an honorable mention! Still a good list though... great video!

I agree about the 'artform'. Games also reflect the fears of the age in which they were created :o) Wow, that 'Spider Fighter' looks insane, I'd last about a second in that lol. I like how the tank game was actually honest and had a picture from the game on it!

The Sound Effects alone are Legendary

Gotta admit I started screaming at the screen at about number five shouting "WHAT ABOUT FUCKING HERO????". Glad it was number one for sure.

Keystone Capers needs to be on this list. Probably the most flawless game mechanics on the 2600.

Spider Fighter is intense. It really is one of the best games of its style. One of my favorite VCS games.

I am actually old enough to remember when all of these games originally came out. Yes, Hero was very impressive back then. Also liked decathlon when it first came out. Anybody out there every figure out how to play Space Shuttle?

No love for Space Shuttle? Good game, challenging, and used every switch and button on the console - including the difficulty toggles - for controlling various functions in game play. An overlooked gem.

These are some of the best graphics on the 2600. Great video!

kaboom wasnt even in the honorable mentions?