Atari 2600

A wood panel 4-switch model.

The Atari 2600, originally called the Video Computer System, is a video game console created by Atari and first released in 1977.

This was the very first home video game console I ever played, somewhere around 1986. My parents bought a used system with a bunch of games, and I played it a lot. Our set included two wireless joysticks, two regular joysticks, two paddle controllers, and one of the 4-switch models (I think the all-black one). A friend of mine had a later Atari Jr. model.

Favorite Games

Of the games I've played on the system, I have particularly enjoyed:

• Combat
• Defender
• Frogger
• Megamania
• Missile Command
• Pitfall!
• Spider Fighter
• Vanguard
• Yars' Revenge

Review

Good

• The joysticks were very solid and could take a lot of abuse.
• Compared to its competitors, this platform had the best game library of the day.
• For a system designed to be able to play Pong, and not much else, it did amazingly well.

Bad

• Having only one button on the joystick made it pretty much impossible to make a complex game.
• The vast majority of the games released on the platform are terrible.
• The system's audio capabilities are pretty bad.
• The controller ports are stupidly placed on the back on the console.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600 - Wikipedia.